Stem Gems 10 year anniversary event welcomes astronaut Dr. Mae Jemison

For 10 years, STEM GEMS has been inspiring young girls to discover their potential in science, technology, engineering, and math. And now the Atlanta-based nonprofit is celebrating a decade of impact with a very special guest, trailblazing astronaut, Dr. Mae Jemison, the first woman of color to travel into space. How about that? So joining us now is STEM GEMS founder, MIT-trained engineer, Stephanie Espy, to share more with us. And there is a lot to talk about. Stephanie, Stephanie, welcome. Thank you so much for having me, I appreciate it. You're so impressive. I've been catching up with her behind the scenes. Y'all are going to love Stephanie and what she's doing and everything ahead for STEM girls as well. So let's dive into this, the beginning of this. What inspired you to start STEM Gems? Well, as a chemical engineer, there just weren't enough women and women of color in engineering. And that was in my classrooms and graduate school and the workplace. So I remember thinking like. Why? Why don't we have more women in these careers that are underrepresented, that are doing amazing things in the world, that are changing the world? And so I thought, how can I change that? What can I do to introduce girls to careers that are lesser known? You don't see them on mainstream TV. You don't hear about them a lot. So how do we bring them to the forefront to expose the different options that are available? Well, that's exactly what you did. And you started with the book that you brought in. Maybe we can zoom in and show folks that I had a chance to to flip through it. It's incredible. So you feature 44 women in STEM. Yes. You've got the picture of them with their story and the impact that they've made. I mean, this is pretty amazing. Thank you. Yeah, it was my solution. My contribution to exposure to careers that you can go your entire lives without learning about these careers and meeting women in these spaces. So how do I bring this to the girls and to the schools and to the teachers so they can help shape the next generation of women in STEM? Yeah, well, it's just so easy to be flipping through that and seeing the people. I mean, those are names we should know about. We should be talking about women that are making amazing differences in our world. We don't talk about them enough. They should be highlighted and featured more, just like Dr. Jemison. We should know them as well. So I wanted to share their stories and make sure that they become mainstream names as well. So speaking of Dr. Jemison, you've got her being a part of this celebration. So let's talk about that. Obviously the celebration, but the fact that y'all have, I mean, that's incredible that she is going to be a part of this. Well, I grew up just. amazed and inspired by her. And we all are, right? We all were, right? Seeing her be the first woman of color, the first black woman to go into space is such a significant accomplishment that we still celebrate to this day. And young girls dream about her, dress like her from like history month, et cetera. So having her here in Atlanta to celebrate this milestone with us is just a dream come true. Yeah. So what's happening? So we have a Huge celebration on Saturday, November 7th, where we are celebrating 10 years. We have a fireside conversation with Dr. Jemison and myself, just talking about women in STEM, why we need more women, our accomplishments, things that we can do to encourage our daughters, our nieces, our students to think about STEM careers for themselves. So she's going to be here to share her story and to help guide the next generation. I mean, it's a big deal to have her, and then we've got you and your experience. So we've got you two together as part of this chat. That's going to be an amazing conversation. Yes, I'm looking forward to it. Yeah, one worthy of being in the room if you can. So how can we get tickets to do that? So we are actually already sold out. Woo, yes! However, we encourage everyone listening in to support our mission. We have some amazing programs that we do throughout the entire year. And to go into our next decade of impact, we need support. We need those watching in to help us reach even more girls around the city of Atlanta, but also beyond. So please visit our website, visit us on social media. Just stay connected with us so we can help you understand how you can connect with our program. Stephanie, being sold out is a good problem to have. So happy for you on that and easy to see why folks would want to be a part of this. But for those watching right now and they are interested in participating, having their daughter be a part of STEM GEMS events or maybe donating to the cause, that kind of thing. Give us some other ways that you guys are helping girls in the community. I mean, you mentioned there's been 5,000 girls who've benefited at least from STEM GEMS. So one of our next events coming up is our STEM GEMS Summit, which is going to be in March at Spelman College. We partnered with Spelman College and the Atlanta Science Festival to bring over 150 girls, parents, and educators to the campus. They're going to meet industry experts across STEM fields. They're going to be inspired by the women they meet there. Stay tuned for more information about that and sign up early so that we can be a part of that conversation. STEM GEMS, doing amazing work for 10 years. Looking forward to the next 10 years. Stephanie Espy with STEM GEMS. Stephanie, thank you so much. Thank you for having me. I know it's going to go well this weekend. Thank you so much. Looking forward to getting to hear about that. And the STEM GEMS, her future is now 10-year anniversary event taking place this Saturday. It's including that fireside chat with Stephanie and with history-making astronaut Dr. Mae C. Jemison. And all proceeds of the event will directly support STEM GEMS pipeline program. So we've got a link to their website. If this is something you'd like to learn more about, you can head to fox5atlanta.com and look under the good day section. Stephanie, thank you again for stopping in today. Congratulations. Thank you so much.