S8E3 Passing the Baton, Song Kim, VP of U.S. Operations, Sanius Health

Social change is never achieved at the first attempt. The question is not whether you fail or succeed but to whom you pass the baton and how. In this episode of Impact and Innovation, SOM alumnae Song Kim shares her journey with KovaDx, a start-up working on a medical device that monitors red blood cell health for sickle cell and other blood diseases.
Before coming to SOM, Song worked as a human rights lawyer defending worker and immigrant rights. She joined SOM to obtain her MBA and explore new pathways for creating social change. Graduating into the pandemic in Spring 2020, Song was recruited to join the KovaDx team and seized the opportunity. When I caught up with her a year ago on the podcast, she was transitioning into the chief executive role. But, there were red flags, about how the team was working together. In the end, they were not able to see eye to eye, and the company shut down. In the process, Song asked questions like, how can I do right by our stakeholders, all the people who supported and invested in us along the way? What would it look like to fail successfully? We explore the different options she considered, and learn how she navigated the process of admitting failure and moving on to continue in the ongoing work.