March 5th 2018
MENTOR
Million Women Mentors and "MENTOR" (The National Mentoring Partnership) recently announced a new partnership to improve the ability for MWM members to activate their mentoring programs. The partnership has expanded MWM's mentoring opportunities, adding 1,032 organizations to the number of NGOs and non-profits currently providing mentoring services to youth and young career professionals through MWM.
 
MENTOR listings are automatically included in the "Suggested Mentoring Opportunities" that every mentor user see when they log in to the MWM portal. Additional MENTOR opportunities are available if you search the listings using your specific Zip code. Look for the MENTOR logo in your mentoring opportunities listings! When clicking on a opportunity to volunteer, you will be directed to the MENTOR website to make contact with the mentoring organization. This will allow MENTOR to track your request an help to see that you receive a timely response.

To learn more, visit http://www.mentoring.org/
International Women's Day Webinar
March 8, 2018
11:00 AM ET
During this webinar, we will hear from some of our members about the important work underway to mentor more young women and girls to pursue STEM career and leadership opportunities. 

Copy and paste this link to register for the webinar
March 17, DigiGirlz Will be Held at Nissan North America in Franklin, TN. 
The DigiGirlz event is for high school girls and it is sponsored by Microsoft, Nissan and MTSU Women In STEM (WISTEM) Center. This one-day event is designed to provide high school girls with a better understanding of what a career in technology is all about. As part of this event, we will expose the girls to various role models and mentors working in the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) fields. Girls can ask questions and learn how they might someday have a career in technology.  Wealso have some great new hands on activities planned for the girls this year. 
 
We are looking for colleges and universities, engineering and tech companies, and especially women in tech fields who would like to speak with the girls at DigiGirlz. You can set up a booth, place information pamphlets on a table, and/or just be available to talk informally with the girls. This is not an all-day commitment, you would need to be available from 10:30-12:00 for the career/college fair and then any needed setup / teardown time.

      Companies, colleges, college students,   and Individuals in tech fields will be scheduled to talk to the girls from 10:30-12:00 during the lunch session in the Nissan cafeteria. The goal is to discuss with the girls what they should study in college and the path to get to various careers. 
 
If you would like to volunteer yourself, your company, or college organization to attend the college/career fair, please complete the attached DigiGirlz College Career Fair Registration form and send to me - Sarah Cardinali - at  sarah.cardinali@nissan-usa.com  byWednesday March 7.
 
If you or your company cannot attend and/or would like to donate items to go into the girls’ goodie bags (coupons, info, trinkets, pens, etc. include quantity to cover 125 girls) or to be raffled off (any quantity is appropriate), please ship your items by March 7 to:
 
Sarah Cardinali - DigiGirlz Gift Bags
Nissan North America
One Nissan Way – A4A
Franklin, TN 37067
615-725-5518

If you have contacts at other organizations and colleges who would be interested in participating please forward this invitation on to them.   
 
If you have any questions, please contact me at  sarah.cardinali@nissan-usa.com   (615-725-3112 ).
Jenny Kopach, Chair of MWM IL, Talks About Bridging the STEM Talent Gap
Last month, Jenny Kopach, MWM-IL Chair wrote a blog post for ArcelorMittal entitled " Bridging the STEM Talent Gap ", and mentioned several solutions for closing the gap, including supporting Urban Schools Initiatives, promoting public-private partnerships and modeling diversity in our own organizations -- with a BIG shout-out to Million Women Mentors.
See it on  Twitter

A Celebration of STEM Education
Hundreds of students, education supporters and business leaders rallied at the Missouri Capitol Rotunda on March 1 to celebrate the state's growing math and science efforts. The annual STEM Day at the Capitol, hosted by the Missouri Chamber Foundation's  Mathematics and Science Coalition , showcased the opportunities STEM education provides. Attending the event was Priscilla Christopher of Boeing who spoke about the importance of STEM education for all students.  Sheila Boyington, MWM National States Chair also attended to support the MWM-MO effort that is chaired by Brian Crouse, VP of the Chamber. 

To watch videos from the event, click here and here
SAUDI ARABIA: First Female Hotel GM Lives a Life Less Ordinary
They say that the seeds of success are sown during childhood. That would definitely apply to Maram Kokandi, who credits a warm and open-minded home environment during her growing-up years for making her the ambitious go-getter she is today.
“I was exposed to many cultures, both in Saudi Arabia and during our summer vacations, when I traveled with my family, of which I have very positive memories,” she says. “I remember both my parents always encouraged me to explore my potential and discover the world around me.”

INDIA: Leveling the workplace playing field
Asha Ramanathan - Just a couple of days back, I was at a conference talking about women empowerment and gender diversity and during a break, a young lady walked up to me in an agitated mood. She asked me, “Ma’am, is it wrong that I aspire to have a successful career and also want a fulfilling family life? Yes, I have a year-old son, an aged father-in-law to look after, demanding clients, a large team to manage and the tedious commute to work every day. But I am willing to make it work; I have sought external support on the family front, have moved home closer to work, put in those extra hours to manage clashing deadlines — so why is it that they look at me differently?

Technology Association of Georgia Education Collaborative (TAG-Ed) is Joining with the Technology Association of Georgia (TAG)
Georgia Pathways STEM Magazine, a monthly education resource for Georgia students and supports of education!
Each month, this publication will bring to you the stories, thought leadership narratives and valuable tools that can bridge K12 audiences with higher learning experts. We hope that by forging this deep connection, we can help educators, parents and students develop the most powerful pathway to a more vibrant STEM ecosystem across Georgia. As TAG represents Georgia’s technology community, TAG-Ed represents the future of that community in the development of STEM education and career opportunities that strengthen the workforce and create the technology business leaders of tomorrow.
Georgia is one of the first states in the country to adopt this communication model – a STEM magazine created to promote opportunity, mitigate disparities, provide expanded access to critical information, and to make dreams a reality for our students.
We are so excited to introduce this Georgia education resource, endorsed by Lieutenant Governor Cagle.
Unlimited electronic distribution is granted statewide to all recipients and article content is always welcome.

Girls Spend a Day Learning There is Promise for Them in the STEM Fields
Angela Dorsey, an 18-year veteran of the Jet Propulsion Lab, home of America’s rocket scientists, stood on the stage of the UMass Dartmouth Campus Center auditorium and showed the audience of young girls a brief film, a montage of rocket disasters that would make one wonder why scientists kept trying until at long last they succeeded with something called the SpaceX Falcon Heavy. Unlike the others, the Falcon Heavy didn’t explode in a fireball, but rather succeeded in launching its payload and returning two of the three engines to ground undamaged — a feat never before attained.
Dorsey was driving home a point. Should some of the 180 school-age girls become engineers, “you need to have perseverance.”
The Mars lander, same story. Complex and new, it had to work perfectly to make it to Mars and explore it, which she also displayed on the screen.

Virtual reality and a dancing dress recruits a new generation of scientists at the Expo
Among the dazzling sights at Saturday’s Expo Day, the opening event of the nine-day San Diego Festival of Science & Engineering: Qualcomm engineer Saura Naderi’s dress.
Under-the-skirts robotic tentacles allowed the floor-length garment to hug bystanders and rhythmically swish and sway.
Or was it waving goodbye?
Qualcomm came to the 10th annual Expo with virtual reality headsets, a driverless drone and an uncertain future. On Tuesday, shareholders will consider a takeover bid from Singapore-based  Broadcom . If that deal goes through, will the San Diego-bred corporation return for next year’s Expo?

New Digital Magazine Helps Minority Women and Girls Get Excited About STEM Education and Careers
Erica Wagner is a young African-American woman rising in science and technology. Even though she is only a teenager and is home schooled, she has been a science and technology enthusiast for most of her life. Her love of science extends to her own YouTube channel called Science Her Way. Miss. Wagner is one of the rising STEM stars highlighted in STEM Darlings, and new digital magazine for minority women and girls.
According to the US Department of Education, African-Americans received just 7.6 percent of all STEM bachelor's degrees and 4.5 percent of doctorates in STEM. In 2011, 11 percent of the workforce was black, while 6 percent of STEM workers were black (up from 2 percent in 1970).

Wanted in STEM careers: More girls
With more encouragement from their parents and the academe, more young women in the Asia-Pacific region will be empowered to study STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) subjects—and to further help them pursue careers in such fields, gender bias in workplaces must be eliminated.
These are just a couple of highlights from a study by global payments technology company Mastercard published in the report “Girls in Tech: The Path to a Career in Stem.” Now on its third edition, the research was conducted via an online survey of 2,426 girls and young women ages 12-19, classified as teens, and 20-25, classified as first jobbers, in six Asia Pacific countries (Australia, China, Indonesia, India, Malaysia and Singapore).

NAWRB Announces New Chapter: Women in the Housing & Real Estate Ecosystem
The National Association of Women in Real Estate Businesses (NAWRB) is proud to announce its new name, Women in the Housing and Real Estate Ecosystem (NAWRB), which accurately captures NAWRB’s expansive bandwidth as a leading voice for women in the housing and real estate ecosystem, and champion for gender diversity and women’s economic growth.

Under its new name, NAWRB will continue its mission of providing women the tools and opportunities for economic expansion and growth, while advocating and promoting women-owned businesses. NAWRB’s initiatives include the Diversity & Inclusion Leadership Council (NDILC); Women’s Global Resource Center (NWGRC); Women’s Homeownership; Know Before You Lose! Small Business Sustainability Care Package; and Strategic Partnership and Mentoring Programs for Women.

The Opportunity In Being A Woman
More than 200 women and 40 mentors have signed up to be part of what promises to be a unique experience of sharing and mentoring in Austin. They include remarkable leaders like journalist Katie Couric, NASA astrophysicist Andrea Razzaghi, Billionaire entrepreneur Cindy Whitehead, New York Public Advocate Letitia James.
I invite you to join them. Step into the  VIP experience  at BE and get:
Reserved front-row seating during invite-only Power Women Breakfast Austin on Sunday, March 11, 2018 and throughout all BE sessionsInvitation to the VIP Dinner and Executive Networking on Sunday evening (Seating is limited.)be Glammed Makeover and Portrait Photo PackageThe connections you make at BE will become your community to lean in and to lean on when you don’t feel like you are enough. At  BE Conference  you will hone the tools you need to be strong.

Women's Day 2018: Here are the top 5 Co-Working Spaces for Female Employees
The idea of  co-working spaces  is rapidly growing in the country. While the hubs were dominated by male entrepreneurs, the  co-working spaces  are attracting a lot of women.
After the culture of 'work from home', women entrepreneurs prefer working in an office set up today.
Co-working spaces  in India are offering special facilities to women in the form of mentor sessions, creche facilities and networking to help them in their businesses.

Sheryl Sandberg's Advice to Male Managers after #MeToo: Workplace Equality is Much More than Stamping Out Sexual Harassment
Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook COO, spoke at LesbiansWho Tech in San Francisco on Friday.
Sheryl Sandberg spoke with Recode cofounder Kara Swisher at Lesbians Who Tech on Friday.
They discussed gender in the workplace and how powerful corporations like Facebook can create more equal and diverse workforces. She says that much has changed since she wrote “Lean In” in 2013.
Sandberg even gave a word of advice to male managers struggling with how to act in a post-#MeToo workplace: Don’t treat female employees differently than male employees, no matter what.
Sandberg says that she worries that after #MeToo, there could be ‘unintended consequences’ where men are afraid to mentor their female employees.

What Companies are Doing to Empower Women at Work
Adobe India has achieved 100% pay parity in the information technology sector, which has the second widest gender pay gap (25.8%, according to the Monster Salary Index on gender for 2016). But managing director, and vice-president, products, at Adobe India, Shanmugh Natarajan calls it a “very minimal and most important first step” in the diversity agenda that companies need to take.

‘Women in STEM’ Career Conference Set
More than 350 middle school girls and some parents and teachers will travel March 17 to Simpson University in Redding from schools in 11 North State counties to learn about rapidly growing careers in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics — STEM — at the 14th AAUW Women in STEM Conference for middle school girls in the North State.
The event, which features interactive career workshops by more than 25 local professional women in STEM careers, is designed to motivate North State girls to be innovative thinkers, and to educate and empower them to become the next generation in these career fields.

More information on the conference can be found on AAUW Redding’s website at www.aauwredding.org.

Mentors Needed!
Our valued MWM partner, Mentored Pathways, is looking for additional mentors to help serve a number of students across the United States. Utilizing a vast network of middle and high school educators, Mentored Pathways provides the opportunity for mentors to match with students focused on specific projects to help boost their understanding and desire for the STEM path. You may find more information by going to their website - MentoredPathways.org
In a recent Gallup study, only 11 percent of corporate executives perceived that college graduates had the skills they were looking for. How can we better prepare the next generation for the jobs of tomorrow? 
In her new book, Teach to Work: How a Mentor, a Mentee and a Project Can Close the Skills Gap in America (Taylor and Francis: March 28, 2017) mentoring expert Patty empowers professionals – whether they are bankers, lawyers, architects, accountants, engineers, IT specialists or artists – to bring their real-world experience and her project based mentoring model into the classroom. 
Compelling and insightful, the book reveals how professionals can embark on a journey to transform lives, mentoring one student at a time. 
“You have made a difference in the lives of these kids, and most likely you have made a difference in the lives of their kids as well. They have grabbed hold of your light, because they feel your encouragement and kindness, and maybe because they had no other. Thank you for your important leadership in this role.” 
— Chris Gardener, Author of The Pursuit of Happyness, 2010 NFTE Dare to Dream speech 
For more information visit  www.teachtowork.com
 
Women’s Quick Facts brings to life insightful data on the impact of women that everyone should know. From purchasing power, to how efficient women owned companies are with respect to capital compared to men, this book takes the pulse on women in today’s modern economy. Not only does each page compile a broad spectrum of the most current data, it also brings the numbers to life in bite size, easy to read content.

Million Women Mentors | STEMconnector | 202-304-1964 | MWM@STEMconnector.com | www.MillionWomenMentors.com