Heidi Kirby

I’ve spent the last decade working across learning, communication, business strategy, and systems design — from NASA to billion-dollar SaaS companies to government, retail, and non-profits. No matter the industry, my work has centered on the same thing: helping real people navigate complex systems so they can do their best work without burning out.

My PhD in Instructional Design and Technology gave me the research foundation.

My corporate roles gave me the operational instincts.

My consulting and partnerships with founders gave me the strategic lens.

Together, these experiences shaped me into the person teams call when something isn’t working and no one can quite articulate why.

I’m a human-systems strategist at heart. I diagnose where communication collapses, where processes get overwhelming, where tech stops helping, and where people get stuck. Then I rebuild the system so humans, workflows, and tools finally work together.

Along the way, I’ve:

– designed learning programs that scaled across all 10 NASA centers

– rescued a $500K enterprise contract through trust-building and workflow repair

– advised founders on product strategy, user enablement, and go-to-market clarity

– translated complex tech and AI topics into language anyone can understand

– built and led creative teams

– launched a global L&D community and a widely known podcast

– redesigned systems that saved organizations hundreds of hours

– helped EdTech teams better align product, messaging, and customer experience

My approach blends human stories, intelligent tools, clear communication, and practical systems thinking. It works across roles — learning, comms, CX, strategy, operations — because it’s built around how people function and how systems should support them.

Right now I’m open to senior roles in learning, communications, customer experience, or strategy/ops — anywhere humans, processes, and tools need untangling. I also take on selective consulting through Useful Stuff.

If your people feel overwhelmed and you can’t pinpoint the breakdown, that’s usually where my work begins.