By founding 3WaysDigital, I placed myself in the category of women entrepreneurs. Through my work with Women in Technology, I’ve joined the ranks of professionals who recognize the importance of STEM education for women. Through my work, I have met amazing women with interesting perspectives that should be shared. This summer, I’ll be spending some time featuring the successful women and companies I have encountered along the way.
My intention is to highlight my colleagues’ experiences and to decode some of what it takes to become a successful woman entrepreneur. We’ll also look at how STEM factors into this equation. This new series will launch next week and we call it STEM and Entrepreneurship. It will feature interviews that capture nuggets of wisdom and will also highlight the educational backgrounds of our subjects to see if we notice any trends. I’m also very interested in learning from women working with middle and high school students currently because this is the critical point where young women are deterred from pursuing STEM careers.
Here are some realities that are driving our interest in this topic:
- Women In Technology’s Leadership Foundry Study sited the 2020 Gender Diversity Index and summarized that women hold 17.9% of Fortune 1000 board seats. Maryland, Virginia and Washington, DC companies have allocated only 14% of board seats to women
- According to the National Girls Collaborative Project, women make up half of the college educated workforce, but only 29% of the science and engineering workforce in 2016.
- According to Business Insider, only one in four companies in the USA in 2010 were run by women, even though gender is not a factor in new venture performance.
- Also according to Business Insider, there are only 20 jobs dominated by women. Some examples of those jobs are nurses, teachers, social workers, and counselors.
I plan to release a weekly blog post highlighting a different woman, so stay tuned to hear some great advice, and the captivating stories of some of my colleagues.
