{"id":17782,"date":"2015-11-24T16:30:08","date_gmt":"2015-11-24T21:30:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/creator\/?p=17782"},"modified":"2020-03-30T19:27:20","modified_gmt":"2020-03-30T23:27:20","slug":"meet-the-lawyer-whos-both-a-lover-and-a-fighter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/community-stories\/member-spotlight\/meet-the-lawyer-whos-both-a-lover-and-a-fighter","title":{"rendered":"Meet the lawyer who\u2019s both a lover and a fighter"},"content":{"rendered":"

Attorney, activist, dating app developer\u2014Kyle Westaway\u2019s unconventional career trajectory even takes him<\/em> by surprise.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s easier to see your path when you\u2019re looking backwards than when you\u2019re looking forward,\u201d Westaway says.<\/p>\n

First and foremost, he wants to help change the world for the better. He discovered this calling back in college.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn law school, something really strange happened to me,\u201d he says. \u201cYou\u2019re supposed to go and become kind of a callous prick. But, what happened to me was, I went to law school, and I grew a heart.\u201d<\/p>\n

While writing his master\u2019s thesis on economic development in Sub-Saharan Africa, Westaway was fascinated by social justice issues. He knew he wanted to help eradicate extreme poverty and the commercial sex trade in the region.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought both issues should be in the history books and not in the newspapers,\u201d says Westaway, a WeWork Dumbo Heights<\/a> member.<\/p>\n

Shortly after graduating from law school in 2006, Westaway started his own law firm.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t know what the hell I was doing,\u201d he remembers. \u201cI should have failed for so many reasons. New York is a competitive legal market. I wasn\u2019t coming from a top school. Looking back, that was part boldness, part na\u00efvet\u00e9.\u201d<\/p>\n

Around the same time, Westaway and several friends also founded Biographe Blanks<\/a>, a screen printing company that hires former victims of the sex trade to craft custom T-shirts.<\/p>\n

\"Meet<\/a><\/p>\n

As he was forming the company, Westaway noticed that the lawyers\u00a0he was working with had no experience with \u201csocial enterprises,\u201d organizations that fall between the for-profit and non-profit designations.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome of the best and brightest minds at some of the biggest law firms didn\u2019t know what to do with it,\u201d Westaway remembers.<\/p>\n

Westaway spotted an opening in the market, and built a successful law practice by filling that gap while doing what he loves.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was my passion,\u201d he says, \u201cto think about how business can drive social impact.\u201d<\/p>\n

He now advises big-name clients like Warby Parker on social enterprises. In addition, he teaches a course on the topic at Harvard Law School.<\/p>\n

Now that he\u2019s blazed a trail in a formerly non-existent area of the law, what\u2019s next? Westaway is taking another hard left into a competitive field. His new app, Hearts and Spades<\/a>, aims to disrupt the dating industry.<\/p>\n

Again, he\u2019s making a risky leap into a market already dominated by giants. \u201cWe want to help others date better,\u201d he says. If his past is any indication, he\u2019s sure to find a way.<\/p>\n

Photo credit: Lauren Kallen<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Attorney, activist, dating app developer\u2014Kyle Westaway\u2019s unconventional career trajectory even takes him by surprise. \u201cIt\u2019s easier to see your path when you\u2019re looking backwards than when you\u2019re looking forward,\u201d Westaway says. First and foremost, he wants to help change the world for the better. He discovered this calling back in college. \u201cIn law school, something […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1566,"featured_media":19152,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[43903,43911],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17782","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community-stories","category-member-spotlight"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nMeet the lawyer who\u2019s both a lover and a fighter<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Lawyer, activist, dating app developer\u2014Kyle Westaway\u2019s unconventional career trajectory even takes him by surprise.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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