A new discipline for identity, story, and belonging.
Pinnup is the nonprofit home of Narrative Systems Engineering, a systems approach to identity and belonging.
We treat identity as a living system, not a slogan, so people and organizations can rebuild from the inside out.
Rooted in immigrant and first-generation experience. Built for anyone who has ever felt out of place in the story they were handed.
Most people begin with CrackFinder™ — a short identity diagnostic that maps the protective pattern your system has been running.
Built at the intersection of identity architecture, narrative engineering, and systems thinking.
Why the world is searching for this
Identity is collapsing. Belonging is fractured. Story is overloaded.
We live in a time where identities are stretched across countries, platforms, and systems that were not
built to hold them. Many people feel this as burnout, numbness, or the quiet sense that their story
no longer fits. Organizations feel it as misalignment and churn.
Most tools treat identity as a brand or a label.
Personality tests, brand workshops, and motivational talks try to fix symptoms at the surface.
Narrative Systems Engineering starts deeper. It treats identity as a dynamic system that constantly
updates itself through meaning-making loops.
We map how you read events, not just how you describe yourself.
We look at the “glitch” that keeps replaying the same story in different contexts.
We rebuild identity structures that can actually hold your life and work.
A discipline for people who never quite fit the script.
Narrative Systems Engineering grew out of migration, cultural dislocation, and the feeling of living
between worlds. It is especially resonant for:
Immigrants and third-culture identities.
Leaders who carry stories of being the “only one” in the room.
Teams trying to build belonging across real difference, not just shared slogans.
What is Narrative Systems Engineering?
We combine three fields that rarely meet.
Narrative Systems Engineering is not a single tool. It is a discipline that combines identity architecture,
narrative analysis, and systems engineering into one coherent way of seeing people and groups.
The three foundations
Identity architecture – seeing identity as a multi-layered structure, not just a label.
Narrative engineering – looking at story patterns structurally instead of only emotionally.
Systems engineering – mapping feedback loops, constraints, and conditions for change.
Mapping how your story processes pressure, success, and conflict.
Tracing the glitch: where your interpretation turns against you.
Rebuilding the system so new outcomes become possible without self-betrayal.
For organizations: aligning policies and culture with how people actually make meaning.
Start here
CrackFinder™: a 15-minute identity diagnostic.
CrackFinder™ is a short, guided clarity session built with Narrative Systems Engineering.
It maps the crack between who you are and who you learned to be using three patterns:
threat, mask, and cost.
What you’ll do
Threat – Name what feels at risk when you are really seen.
Mask – Identify the version of you that steps in to keep the peace, perform, or disappear.
Cost – Surface the emotional, physical, and relational cost your system keeps paying in the background.
In about 15 minutes, you answer a small set of structured questions. You then receive a personalized
CrackFinder™ Discovery Report in your inbox.
Language for the pattern your identity has been running under pressure.
A Discovery Report you can bring into therapy, coaching, circles, or your own reflection.
A starting point for future work in Pinnup circles or organizational engagements.
Not sure if it’s for you? You can always email a short note about what you are carrying:
ask Eric →
How it fits together
NSE → CrackFinder™ → Circles & organizations.
Narrative Systems Engineering is the discipline. CrackFinder™ is often the first diagnostic.
Circles and organizational work are where new identity structures are practiced and sustained.
Discipline
Narrative Systems Engineering
A structural way of seeing identity, story, and belonging. Maps loops, glitches, and conditions for change.
Diagnostic
CrackFinder™
A focused identity diagnostic that names your threat–mask–cost pattern and surfaces the crack in your story.
Practice
Circles & Organizations
Small groups, wellness and neighbor circles, and organizational work where the new system is practiced with others.
NSE informs CrackFinder™CrackFinder™ seeds circle & org work
This began with an immigrant trying to understand his own collapse.
Pinnup’s work was born from an identity crash. Migration. Displacement. The quiet shame of feeling
like you did everything “right” and still did not belong. Narrative Systems Engineering came from
trying to understand that collapse without pathologizing it.
From survival story to system
The work behind Pinnup and Narrative Systems Engineering comes from lived experience:
moving countries, watching identities stretch and tear, and realizing that most tools were not
built for people who live between worlds.
Instead of asking people to “fix themselves”, NSE asks a different question:
What system was this identity asked to survive inside?
Why Pinnup is a nonprofit home
Narrative Systems Engineering could have been launched as a product. Instead it lives inside a nonprofit,
because identity and belonging are public concerns, not just private services.
Pinnup is led by Eric Maina and Christina Nzina, whose experience includes Fortune 100 work in global tech
environments such as Apple, alongside deep identity and belonging practice.
Pinnup exists so this discipline can grow as a shared language, a movement, and a public good.
Consulting and enterprise work sit in a separate legal structure (Pinnup LLC), but the heart
of the work lives here.
Experience the work
Circles are where this becomes real.
Circles are small, guided spaces where people practice structural belonging, name the glitch in their story,
and build identities that can hold more of who they are. They are one of the ways Narrative Systems Engineering
moves from framework into daily life.
Join a Pinnup Circle
If you want to experience this work with others, start here.
Small, facilitated groups.
Grounded in identity and belonging, not performance.
Designed for people who do not feel fully at home in traditional spaces.
Neighbor Circles
– for local connection and shared story in place.
Wellness Circles
– for people carrying stress, identity fatigue, and invisible weight.
Many people take CrackFinder™ first, then bring their Discovery Report into a circle so they do not
have to translate their experience alone.
For organizations
When identity and belonging are structural, not cosmetic.
Organizations bring Pinnup’s discipline into leadership, culture, and system design when they are ready to
move beyond slogans. The nonprofit holds the philosophy; delivery for organizations runs through Pinnup LLC.
What organizations work on
Identity and belonging architecture for teams and leaders.
Mapping the glitch inside the organization’s story of itself.
Designing policies and practices that match how people actually make meaning.
Support for immigrant, diaspora, and first-generation leaders.
How to explore this work
Pinnup LLC handles consulting, enterprise programs, and deeper organizational engagements built on
Narrative Systems Engineering.
Help this discipline reach the people who need it most.
Pinnup is a nonprofit. Support helps us build better language and structures for people who have never
seen themselves fully reflected in traditional narratives of success, leadership, or belonging.
Bring the work into your organization through Pinnup LLC.
Share the language of Narrative Systems Engineering and CrackFinder™ with those who are searching for a different way to understand their story.
Pinnup Business & Belonging Network
A structured space where job-seekers and professionals build identity stability,
career clarity, and real connections—not just résumé exchanges.
Designed using Narrative Systems Engineering principles.
Because CrackFinder™ is different from a personality test or quiz, it is normal to have questions.
These are the ones people ask most often before they start.
What exactly is CrackFinder™?
CrackFinder™ is a guided, 15-minute identity diagnostic built on Narrative Systems Engineering.
It helps you name the crack between who you are and who you learned to be by mapping your
threat–mask–cost pattern.
How long does it take?
Most people complete it in about 15 minutes. You can pause as needed. There are no “right” answers,
just honest ones.
Who is CrackFinder™ for?
It was designed with immigrants, first-generation professionals, and “between worlds” identities in mind,
but it is helpful for anyone who feels out of place in the story they were handed—especially people who
carry a lot for others.
What happens after I finish?
You receive a CrackFinder™ Discovery Report by email. Many people bring this into therapy, coaching,
or a Pinnup circle so they do not have to translate their experience from scratch.
What happens with my data?
Your responses are used to generate your report and to improve the CrackFinder system.
We do not sell or publish your individual answers. You can request deletion of your data at any time
by emailing eric@pinnup.org.
Do I have to be immigrant or first-gen to use it?
No. The discipline grew out of immigrant and diaspora experience, but many people relate to the patterns.
If you have ever felt like you were living inside a story that no longer fits—or was never built for you—
CrackFinder™ can help you name what is happening.
Still unsure if you’re ready?
You do not have to be certain to begin. If you are on the edge, you can:
Email a short paragraph about what you are carrying to
eric@pinnup.org
NSE FAQ
Questions about Narrative Systems Engineering.
Because Narrative Systems Engineering is new, it can sound abstract at first. These questions name the things
most people quietly wonder about identity, belonging, and whether this is “for them”.
Is Narrative Systems Engineering a kind of therapy?
No. NSE is not therapy and does not replace mental health care. It is a way of seeing identity as a system:
how your story processes events, pressure, and belonging. Many people who work with NSE also have therapists,
coaches, or spiritual support alongside it.
How is NSE different from coaching or mindset work?
Most coaching focuses on goals and behavior. NSE looks at the structure underneath: the loop from
self → story → meaning → behavior → outcome → feedback. Instead of forcing new habits on top of an
overloaded identity, we rebuild the system so new choices feel possible without self-betrayal.
Why talk about identity as a “system” at all?
Because identity is not just who you say you are. It is how you interpret what happens to you.
When we map identity as a system, we can see the patterns that keep repeating across relationships,
jobs, and seasons of life. That is where meaningful change becomes possible.
What do you mean by “the glitch”?
The glitch is the shadow filter that distorts how you read events and your place in them.
It often forms around shame, exclusion, or survival moments. NSE does not treat the glitch as a flaw
in you, but as a protective adaptation that now needs a different structure to live in.
Is this work only for immigrants or people between cultures?
No. The discipline grew out of immigrant and diaspora experience, but many people relate to it:
first-generation professionals, people who have outgrown old roles, leaders who never quite felt
at home in traditional scripts. Anyone who feels “out of place” in the story they were handed
can find language here.
Can Narrative Systems Engineering help with burnout?
It can help name the structures that keep producing burnout: how you read pressure, obligation,
and worth. NSE is not medical treatment, but it is very useful for people who are tired of
solving burnout with more productivity tips and want to understand the identity-level story underneath.
How does NSE apply to organizations?
Organizations also have identity loops and glitches: stories about who “belongs” here, who leadership
is for, and what success looks like. NSE helps leaders see those patterns structurally so that
policies, culture, and belonging are designed as systems—rather than slogans.
How do I start engaging with this work?
There are three main entry points: learning the language (through content and teaching),
experiencing it in a circle, or bringing the discipline into your organization. For individuals,
CrackFinder™ and circles are a good first step. For organizations, a conversation with
Pinnup LLC is usually the starting point.
If your question is not here, you are not alone. You can always reach out and ask directly.
Contact
Have a question, or want to explore NSE more deeply?
Whether you are carrying a personal story, leading a team, or exploring this discipline for your organization,
you do not have to translate it alone. A short, honest conversation often clarifies more than a long form.
Best first step: send a short email with what you are wrestling with.