Original post by Jennifer L on May 26, 2019
Sooinn Lee
CEO, Creative Lead
Founder of Enuma.
Sooinn Lee is the founder of Locomotive Labs, now known as Enuma. They design learning apps for children ages 3-8, specifically geared towards children with special needs and learning differences. Todomath, its most popular app, has been downloaded more than 1.1 million times. In 2013, Enuma launched Todo Telling Time, an app to help children learn to “tell time to the hour and minute, calendar concepts, digital time, and the components of a daily schedule” (source). Enuma creates apps that are inclusive to all children: engaging apps meet their specific learning needs in areas of mathematics, and provide accessibility options such as language, left-handed mode, OpenDyslexic font, simplfied keypad, and more. Other apps include Visual Schedule, a wearable schedule for children with autism, and Kid in Story, a storybook maker for children with autism.
Biography
After graduating from Seoul National University with a Bachelor of Fine Arts, Sooinn Lee immersed herself in the video game industry for the next 12 years. She went from being an illustrator at Mirrsoft, to game designer, to corporate strategist at Ncsoft, to project lead at Project Injini, to finding Enuma—then Locomotive Labs—in 2012.
Lee’s entrepreneurial success can be attributed to her ability to identify a specific need and provided a solution. Lee desired to create ways to keep her son with special needs motivated once he starts school. The conception of Enuma came to fruition shortly after her son was born. “We come from Korea, where academic environment is particularly competitive and intense,” Lee says. “We thought, how could our son have a good experience in his early academic career? That was our motivation to start this company.”
In contrast to Kumon, a popular after school “cram school” in Asia, where rigorous worksheets and drills are used to strengthen mathematical understanding, Lee changes the way children can practice math outside of school. Kumon lacks the accessibility that Lee touts in her apps.
Her apps have been listed in the Apple App Store under “New and Noteworthy” and “What’s Hot”, and “Best Autism Apps” by parenting.com. Her app was a “Best Special Needs App of 2013” finalist and won the Parents’ Choice Award in 2012.
I chose this original post by Jennifer L because it really resonated with me. Sooinn Lee’s story and what she was able to accomplish is really quite amazing. Having taught in the various school systems in South Korea I witnessed first hand the many challenges children face especially if they have special needs. For example, there is such a strong focus on college prep exams and not enough focus on the development of the learner. At one school I was fortunate to be able to work with a student 1-on-1 who clearly had learning and developmental difficulties but was undiagnosed. Although it was enjoyable to work with him, it was both frustrating and challenging trying to figure the best approach to teach him. The apps Sooinn has created would have been a great tool for me if I had known at the time.
What stands out for me about Sooinn is that she seems to have such strong determination and perseverance, two qualities that I think shape an entrepreneur. Like most parents who want what is best for their children, Sooinn was really determined to help her son at a time when it seemed like there was not much help out there for him. She found a way to use her skills to not only help her son but thousands of children around the world as well. See the link below which goes into more detail about her story and venture.
https://www.ashoka.org/en-us/fellow/sooinn-lee
I like the visuals and sounds of this Enuma. I think this app is student-friendly, and it reminded me of Algebra. I remember teaching students with special needs, and this app is helpful for those students.