Bright idea
A cancer survivor’s desire to leave something for her son to remember her by helped inspire a fledgling business that collects memories.
A cancer survivor’s desire to leave something for her son to remember her by helped inspire a fledgling business.
Burn Bright founders Trista Burn and Lydia Kirker, both from Palmerston North, want to help other people collect treasured memories to be shared by loved ones long after they’re gone.
‘‘Lydia and I both live with unique personal experiences that gifted us with the recognition that our lives and the memories we create are incredibly precious,’’ Burn said. She was diagnosed with breast cancer, which had already spread into her bones, shortly after her now-18-month-old son, Micah Burn, was born.
She was suddenly faced with the reality she might die before Micah was old enough to form lasting memories of his mother. She wanted to leave him something tangible that would show him who she was and what he meant to her.
But she wasn’t sure how to do it until her friend, Kirker, shared with her a cherished letter her mother left for her when she died.
That inspired Burn to write a series of journals filled with everything she wanted to share with Micah.
‘‘But it’s emotionally exhausting writing down a lifetime worth of messages and memories. And being a busy 30-year-old mum, I struggled to find the time.’’
She tried alternatives, but nothing seemed to fit. So, the pair worked on their own ideas, which became the basis of Burn Bright’s online service.
Their service will help people create storybooks, journals and video messages to collect and share. Burn said they were brimming with ideas to add once the website was firmly established.
The pair had been set to present Burn Bright at the top-20 pitch night of the Innovate 2017 entrepreneurs competition in Palmerston North in September, but Burn needed surgery to treat her cancer.
Instead they went into Innovate U, a five-week businessdevelopment course for the entrants that didn’t make it into the final, and blew the judges’ socks off, giving them a secondchance spot in Wednesday’s finals.
The pair didn’t win, but Innovate manager Dave Craig said he had no doubt Burn Bright could become a successful business.