The theme for this year’s International Women’s Day is Press for Progress. We’re been inspiring girls into STEM for more than 5 years, here are 5 of our young women, and parts of their Stemette journeys.
Jastina – Decibel Insight
If it wasn’t for the Stemettes and meeting my Sherpa I wouldn’t be here now!
Jastina started the Student to Stemette Programme back in 2014 and was matched with Shannon Walker. Shannon was working as an Enterprise Architect at DB during the programme. Jastina now works for Decibel Insight in London.
I first came across the programme through meeting Anne-Marie at a networking event. My professor had said I needed to reach out and meet other women in STEM so that I would stop feeling like I didn’t belong there. I searched for women in tech events and found Stemettes. Honestly, if it weren’t for meeting Anne-Marie at that STEMettes event, I probably wouldn’t be in Tech doing this right now.
The next generations that are coming up are going to be even bigger and better and I just want to break down as many barriers as I can for when it’s their turn.
If it wasn’t for Stemettes and meeting my Sherpa I wouldn’t be here now! It has been a struggle but at the same time, that’s what makes it worth it!
Javairya – Sherpee 2014 Cohort (Pilot)
A mentor to guide you and work with you has an immeasurable impact.
The biggest obstacle that I have faced is imposter syndrome. The Stemettes mentoring programme has helped me through this. The female role models they regularly highlight have had an extremely positive effect on me.
I was part of the pilot Student to Stemette cohort. Mentoring is something that I think is crucial and I would recommend it ten times over. No matter what kind of person you are or what field you are in, a mentor to guide you and work with you has an immeasurable impact.
Javairya recently took up a position at York Mediale, where she will be combining her love of arts and technology.
Avril – Business Integration Architecture Analyst, Accenture
Over the years I’ve witnessed girls inspired by Stemettes take a STEM career path.
I recently graduated with a degree in Electronic and Computer Engineering from Dublin City University and started working with Accenture here in Ireland. I’m a part of their technology sector working as a Business and Integration Architecture Analyst. I work with Accenture clients to devise and implement solutions for business problems. One of the things that attracted me to Accenture is their commitment to getting more women into the company. Their goal is to have a gender balanced workforce i.e. 50/50 by 2025 globally.
In March 2015 I came across the Stemettes for the first time at the Girls Hack Ireland event held at Dublin City University. It was a lot of fun and made me think about what I could do to help the young women coming behind me as the next generation of women in STEM. In September 2016 I attended the MonsterConfidence event in Belfast. I got together some of my fellow female engineering students and drove them so we could take part. Flash forward to October 2017 where I volunteered as a mentor at the Monster Confidence event in Dublin. In my eyes, it was time for me to give back and hopefully inspire young women to take on a STEM field or boost the confidence of those already in it. I was delighted to see so many young women attending. There were even girls there who had been at that event in 2015, now at the third level, who had been inspired to take a STEM career path.
Becky – Stemillions Club Leader
Our Stemillions Club has encouraged sixth-form students to pursue careers in STEM.
Becky has set up a Stemillions Club with her friend Adesua at their sixth form. Becky is part of the Student to Stemette programme. Becky is interested in pursuing a career in computer science as a software engineer or in biotechnology.
The contact I have had with the Stemettes has been extremely valuable, especially when it comes to running our Stemilions Club. We have used the club to encourage other students at our school to explore and pursue careers in STEM – and now have more than 30 attending regularly.
Vanessa – Outbox Incubator Executive
Presenting to Princess Anne at the Outbox launch was cool. My confidence has skyrocketed since then.
My favourite and most memorable Stemettes event would have to be the OutBox Incubator launch, where I got to present a project that I had been working on to members of the industry and HRH Princess Anne, which I have to admit was very cool!
One thing that has been common across all of the Stemettes events that I have been to has been the philosophy of fun, free and food which has made the experiences all the more enjoyable! From attending these events, I have seen that women are definitely both needed and underrepresented in STEM and I found it inspiring, to meet women who are amazing in their STEM careers and I now aspire to be one of them.
At Outbox Incubator I got to meet some of the most amazing young women that STEM has to offer, people who inspired me to learn and to be innovative and creative in ways that I would have never thought I could.
Studying for her A-levels at Ursuline Academy in Ilford, Vanessa’s latest news is that she has been offered a place to study mathematics at Trinity College, Cambridge.
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