Our Founder, Andrea recently was a judge at the Girls Innovate! Pitch event with Venture Capitalist Ann Winblad in Palo Alto, CA. We had the opportunity to hear Ann's inspiring story of how she started a software company at age 21 (during the same time Bill Gates was starting Microsoft), along with the pitches of girl innovators ranging from middle school to high school.
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| Girls Innovate Pitch Teams with Andrea Lo and Ann Winblad |
Each team had their turn to pitch their big ideas - from building i-phone apps, launching a sporty clothing line, to creating a better way for students with slight learning disabilities to learn- it was a blast. Not only were the pitches incredibly well prepared, but the girls even answered difficult questions posed by the judging panel. The event was sponsored by Piggybackr and The Bay Area College of Nursing.
We here at Piggybackr have been so impressed by Girls Innovate! that we interviewed Uyen Le Kry, founder of Girls Innovate! to learn more about the movement and organization.
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| Founder of Girls Innovate, Uyen Le Kry |
What
is Girls Innovate?
Girls Innovate! is a California nonprofit seeking to impact the innovative capacity
in women and girls. We believe that innovation
can occur in any area (not just science and technology).
We call
on individual girls, organizations and families to join us and and learn skills relevant to being successful and making a positive impact in a fast-changing,
technology-driven, globalized world. We harness in-person opportunities (workshops, projects, events) that engage girls, parents and families in hands-on, collaborative ways and connect girls with real-life role models.
Why
did you start it?
I
started it because over the years I realized the importance of (a) being around
people who inspire you to do great things and (b) developing character-building
knowledge and practical life skills from an early age.
When I was seven, my
parents put me on a fishing boat to escape from Viet Nam. They told me they were
taking a chance on the opportunity of a lifetime – an education in the U.S. for
one of their five kids. Growing
up in Massachusetts in housing projects and on food stamps, I witnessed the
struggles of immigrant families and vowed to do something for all those people and those left behind.
I
went to college and law school with big dreams of serving the community and the
world. The bubble burst, though,
when I emerged from school and experienced real-life work. I felt unfulfilled and experienced a lot of challenges having to do with not having the proper interpersonal skills. Skills like how to develop relationships with others, work with people whose approaches differed from mine, and seek out mentors to build a support network.
When
my daughter came into the picture, I thought things would be easier for her. What
I realized when she started first grade, though, was that all of the above are
not only still missing in public school education but now more needed than
ever. But rather than outsourcing this learning to third-party providers, what
if we were to try something different?
What if, instead of outsourcing, parents
got together – moms, especially, many of whom opted out of their careers to
dedicate time to their children – and start bringing learning opportunities for
each other? What if, instead of driving our kids to see success and happiness
as deriving from successfully competing to get to the top of the food chain, we
create opportunities for them to develop life skills that make the most of
their unique personal qualities and allow them to take risks and try new things
in a supportive community?
Who
can participate? (geographic, age, etc)
We
are presently focused on creating learning opportunities for girls (ages 8-18).
Parents are invited to attend almost all events (an exception, for example,
would be the teen brunches). Some events are geared specifically towards moms and
girls.
Content
can come from speakers who are both male and female, whether or not they are
parents themselves. The only requirement is that speakers serve as role models
and understand the value of (a) teaching girls important, fundamental 21st
century skills; (b) welcoming and supporting parents to participate in the
program; and (c) providing instruction in a fun, engaging and collaborative
manner.
What
are some example events & programs girls can participate in?
Spring
2013 events included innovation conferences of 100-330 attendees, organized and
led by women and girls, where participants heard from speakers and engaged in
workshops on topics relevant to 21st century skills.
Programming for
fall 2013 includes out-of-the-box workshops on learning to code, pitching ideas
to a VC, developing your personal brand, financial literacy and the science of
water. We will be holding mother-daughter hack-a-thons and picnics where moms can
share innovative ideas in parenting and education while kids learn about art at
the Cantor. We engage girls with speakers through a visionary talk with Ann
Winblad, a rapid-fire Q&A with Sal Khan, and brunch with female
entrepreneurs in varied fields such as healthcare, law and food artisanry.
How
does a girl go about getting involved?
The
best way is to join our mailing list and get a sense of our activities as they
develop. If you are a girl who is passionate about organizing and leading
projects, you should have your mom or dad reach out to Uyen directly. As soon
as they are okay with it, Uyen will work with you to bring you on as a member
of our Teen Committee.
This committee is new, but already the teens active on
it have been instrumental in recruiting speakers, speaking at events, organizing
events, drafting emails and documents, writing in our newsletters and reporting
on events through media.
Tell
us more about the pitch competition.
The
pitch competition started out as a talk with a very highly-regarded venture
capitalist, Ann Winblad. When we realized it would be a great opportunity for
girls to practice pitching ideas to an investor, we asked Ann and she happily
obliged. We sought out sponsors who could donate a small prize to motivate the
girls and provide a real-life learning experience. Thanks to Piggybackr, this
is made possible!
What's
next for Girls Innovate?
We
are like a start-up in many ways. We are coming up with a new framework to
engage girls and moms, with the support of all other community members, so most
likely it will look very different from any community groups or educational
programs you see out there.
Our
model is also volunteer-based and crowdsourced, meaning opportunities are
driven by community ideas and community efforts. Every time we do something, it
looks different based on who is involved. We try to be as flexible as possible
with our volunteers because we know families are very time-constrained; you can
expect each event to be filled only by those who really want to be there.
Many
parents love the opportunity to be present with their girls, and many girls
would not be there if it wasn’t for their parents, so this model of parent
engagement works. We very consciously try to create independent learning spaces
for the girls, though, so you won’t see parents in the same room with their
girls for very long.
We
are also building an infrastructure to support girls and moms to become project
leaders so that more and more can engage with the community and take their
ideas to the next level. All
of this requires time, effort and resources. We are always looking for
involvement and support.
You can learn more about Girls Innovate by visiting their website.
