Growing up, I knew I liked my math and science classes, but I didn’t really know how that would apply to real life. I didn’t see any women working in math fields, and all the female scientists I saw were on TV in dingy lab coats without any femininity or fun. I didn’t know what kind of careers were out there for me. I didn’t realize I could be a toy inventor thanks to my math skills until after college. Had I known this earlier, it would have totally changed my career path. This is part of the reason I started GoldieBlox: to show girls STEM is empowering at an early age, and how that power can change the world. But first, girls need to see a world where women are making waves with STEM. 

Enter Fast Forward Girls.

Fast Forward Girls is our new YouTube series in partnership with the Lyda Hill Philanthropies and their If/Then Initiative. In each episode, an aspiring young maker will meet two women who are showing just how transformative STEM can be. She’ll then choose which one will be her mentor for life. Some of the amazing mentors we have are an ice cream architect, a slime scientist, a conservationist using drones to stop poachers, an instrument designer, and plenty of other women using STEM in ways I definitely never thought possible as a kid. And, the girls we’re featuring are girls your daughters will recognize from YouTube like Hayley and Annie LeBlanc, Karina Garcia, Shameless Maya, Little Froggy, and more! 

Fast Forward Girls satisfies the glaring need for more programming that shows women in STEM in a positive light. The Geena Davis Institute reported that, of all the portrayals in media of people in STEM, 62.9% of them were men and 71.2% of the people portrayed were white. Emotionally, many of these characters were shown as unhappy with nearly 43% of STEM shown as sacrificing their personal life in order to work in STEM. Fast Forward Girls shows that STEM can lead to incredibly fun and fulfilling careers, and is welcoming to any girl who chooses to pursue it. It’s the type of programming we are proud to be pioneering and we hope the success of the show will prove that while yes, many girls do love shows about princesses and ponies, they also love and deserve smart programming that both entertains and inspires.

We want girls to meet the women who followed their passion for STEM, and as a result are making the world better, while still totally loving what they do. Hopefully, no more girls will be sitting in math class wondering what all that geometry has to do with the real world; they’ll be dreaming up they can use math to change the world.

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Fast Forward Girls is a YouTube series in partnership with the If/Then Initiative from Lyda Hill Philanthropies. The first episode debuts Wednesday, July 24th Watch for new episodes on our YouTube channel every Wednesday. In the meantime, here’s a sneak peek: