Melinda Gates Wants More Girls and Women in STEM. Here ’s How She’s Working Toward That.

For proof of just how dedicated Melinda Gates is to creating opportunities for future generations, look no further than her mission to help girls and women get into STEM careers. With her position as the co-founder Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and a passionate philanthropist, Gates highlighted the importance of investing in organizations who “empower young girls and women.” One such organization is Girls Garage, a non-profit that seeks to encourage more young women to enter STEM careers. Girls Garage, which works with youth from the ages 9-17, says that their mission is for students involved in their after-school summer programs to “learn to use their unique, creative voice to transform their communities and go forth confidently into higher education and careers.” When she met the program’s founder and executive director Emily Pilloton and learned more about her work, Gates knew this was a leader “who was thinking about everybody else around her, and how can you create and summon moments of lift for other people.” The 2017 TIME 100 honoree caught up with TIME during the San Francisco leg of her book tour for The Moment of Lift, which hit shelves earlier this year. Gates invests in groups like Girls Garage through her organization Pivotal Ventures. The Berkeley, Calif.-based program is an extension of the 501(c)3 organization Project H Design, which Pilloton founded in 2008, and it enlists an all-female staff. Pilloton created...
Source: TIME: Science - Category: Science Authors: Tags: Uncategorized 2019 TIME 100 onetime time100-influencers2 Source Type: news