Innovation Women and Science Club for Girls Announce Partnership
– Organizations Jointly Target Mentorship as a Way to Support Women in Tech and Inspire the Next Generation –
October 25, 2016 (Boston) – Today at the 2016 Catalyst Awards and celebration, the Science Club for Girls (SCFG) and Innovation Women (IW) announced a new partnership and mentor program. The new program will add new members to the Innovation Women platform and allow all members to self-identify as mentors. The program will expand the potential opportunities available to the site’s membership and provide Science Club for Girls, and other non-profit organizations with access to additional female volunteers who can provide them with great examples of senior women in key roles at many of the area’s top technical and scientific companies.
In addition to the partnership announcement, Innovation Women was recognized alongside Diane Hessan, chairman of C Space, and Allison Mnookin, CEO of Quickbase, at the annual award event. The annual Catalyst Awards recognize outstanding leadership, both individual and institutional, in advancing the mission of Science Club for Girls.
“Mentors are important for the promotion of women in technology and business. By adding an option for mentors to our offering, we are increasing the number of women in our database and providing good causes like Science Club for Girls with more access to great, senior-level women in tech,” said Bobbie Carlton, one of the founders of Innovation Women.
“This partnership provides great opportunities for our current mentors and access to an extensive database of incredible potential role models,” said Lonsdale Koester, executive director of Science Club for Girls. “Women and girls benefit both from having mentors and from being mentors.”
Mentoring is considered a key component in career and business success. Mentoring allows the protégé to gain a broad perspective, new skills, knowledge and access to new networks. A mentor also benefits, gaining exposure to a fresh perspective and recognition as a subject matter expert as well as the opportunity to develop their personal leadership style.
Current and new Innovation Women members have the option of adding “mentor” to their profile as a way to indicate their interest in participating in this program.
A Shared Mission
Both organizations share a mission to increase the visibility of women in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM). SCFG provides afterschool STEM programs for girls in under-served and under-represented communities. Innovation Women’s mission is to increase diversity onstage at events and conferences, and drive more visibility for its members. Visibility leads to jobs, invitations to join boards, more funding, and connections with customers and partners. Often community involvement is seen as an important indicator of competency and good character.
Science Club for Girls:
Science Club for Girls (SCFG) has been providing free, fun after school programs for girls in STEM for over 20 years; what began as one kindergarten club in 1994 is now serving 1,200 girls in grades K-12 annually in Boston, Cambridge, Newton, Brookline and Lawrence, led by over 200 volunteer mentor scientists. 80% of SCFG participants come from racial or socio-economic backgrounds that are underrepresented in STEM fields. SCFG’s mission is to “foster excitement, confidence, and literacy in STEM for girls, particularly from underrepresented communities, by providing free, experiential programs and by maximizing meaningful interactions with women mentors in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.” For more information, please visit http://www.scienceclubforgirls.org
About Innovation Women
Innovation Women is a “visibility bureau” – focused on providing great female speakers for everything from local meetups to the largest global conferences. Event managers get their own free accounts to access the Innovation Women speaker bureau database. Once approved, they have access to the speaker profiles and can invite speakers to their event. Paying a small fraction of what a PR agency or speakers bureau would cost, speakers gain high-ROI visibility. The goal is to gender-balance panels by placing an equal number of talented female speakers at events. For more information, visit InnovationWomen.com or follow @WomenInno on Twitter.
