1/24/2016
What It's Really Like: They Didn't Want Girls Like Me
1/24/2016A couple weeks ago, About.Me asked me to write an article for their "What It's Really Like" series. I was super excited to ge...
A couple weeks ago, About.Me asked me to write an article for their "What It's Really Like" series. I was super excited to get this notification because it was my chance to get my word out there. This issue is so important to me. I really want to be able to help all the young women who went through or are going through the same struggles I did.
Women have infinite skills and abilities to offer. I think it's about time for companies to notice that and start investing in our young women. It's time to foster the leaders within them.
Here is the link to the article: https://campus.about.me/2016/01/11/female-student-entrepreneur
This is the original version of the article without About.Me's edits and word limit.
"WHAT IT’S REALLY LIKE: When the world doesn’t want to see you
to succeed.
They didn’t encourage girls like me. They wanted
programmers, coders, and designers. They didn’t make us feel important or
needed. We don’t get chances to be mentored, inspired, and guided to a
successful career. We needed to do things on our own or share it with the boys.
They didn’t want young women entrepreneurs and leaders.
I’ve always known I wanted to be an entrepreneur. I wanted
to be the boss. I wanted to create
and innovate. I wanted to explore every industry possible. I was never made to
be a follower. As I entered my freshman year of college, I jump-started my
career. I got an executive board position in my club and an internship spring
semester. Leaving freshman year with one internship under my belt and two more
lined up for me, I was feeling pretty accomplished. But I still felt like
something was missing. I felt like there was more that could’ve been done.
I searched endlessly for programs and opportunities that helped
young women, exclusively, become entrepreneurs. Everything I found were for
girls interested in STEM. The leadership and business summits and programs that
I did find were offered both to boys and girls, unlike certain STEM programs
that were developed specifically to advance girls in that field. I searched
every day and I couldn’t find any mentorship program that catered to girls like
me.
I was starting to feel hopeless and a little bit jealous.
It’s hard to see all these awesome opportunities open up for girls my age
because they got to participate in a program that fostered their interests and
abilities. I started to question if entrepreneurs were actually that important. Do people really not
want to see women leading businesses and making a change in the world? I had to
assume it as true. All these programs and none of them helped young women
become entrepreneurs.
There are so many young women trying to become executive
leaders and entrepreneurs, but society doesn’t support it. Women with strong
leadership qualities are ridiculed and overlooked. Women get less pay and, even
worse, less recognition. All of our positive leadership traits get turned into
negative ones.
It was so hard for me to accept the fact that I had the
short end of the stick. Because of my career choice, I got less opportunities
and experiences that would facilitate my growth and improvement. It also didn’t
make any sense to me because I knew entrepreneurs are important. They make the
future. I also know women are brilliant. We are better leaders than men. So why
aren’t young women entrepreneurs given the chance to foster the leaders within
them?
I decided to take initiative – exactly what a good
entrepreneur would do. I contacted the CEO of my internship and told her about
this very big problem I observed. I pitched her my solution to fix this
problem. Since my story resonated with her, she decided that my idea for a
mentorship program designed for young women interested in entrepreneurship and
executive leadership was excellent. With her help, I am creating a program for
girls just like me.
Soon, there will be no more girls searching endlessly only
to find that there are no programs that wants them to succeed in what they like
to do. Girls don’t have to feel hopeless, jealous, or insignificant because
they don’t get amazing opportunities even though they are equally as important.
Young women entrepreneurs deserve those opportunities and experiences. Young
women entrepreneurs should be supports, encouraged, and guided to success.
Young women entrepreneurs are important and they should have a program that
lets them know that.
Take your frustrations and short-comings and make them into
something innovate and visionary. Create something that can help others who go
through what you go through. Make a change. Don’t let the world stop you. Become
an entrepreneur. Because entrepreneurs will stop at nothing."
Note To Self: Keep killing it!
