This week the Women Empowerment Council (WEC) hosted a final online session for the Girls in STEMM students in Beijing and Shanghai. While students are looking forward to completing the in-person company visits later in the fall, they had a chance to interact with speakers in aerospace, tech, and healthcare before their summer holiday.
To kick off the sharing session, Christianna Bambini shared about her journey to Johns Hopkins University and her career as a mechanical engineer at a leading aerospace company in the US. Bambini originally majored in International Relations and only discovered her passion for engineering after joining a hackathon on campus. Her main advice to students is to not be afraid to change course, and if they are interested in engineering, they should try to get as much hands on project experience as possible. While many of the speakers the girls have heard from are in senior roles, it was inspiring to see Bambini, only 24, talk about her passion for engineering and answer questions about college, the next step for many of the Girls in STEMM students.
Students also heard from WEC member, Shirley Wu, Senior Vice President at Dell Technologies. Wu gave a comprehensive overview of Dell Technologies and its programs, including its sustainable development initiatives and even jewelry production using recycled circuit boards. Wu also shared about the different programs to empower women at Dell and its gender equity goal to reach 40% female employees by 2030. From a more personal side, Wu noted the importance of work-life balance and shared her passion for ballet and golf. Wu encouraged girls to be confident in pursuing STEMM subjects and said that maintaining self-confidence and self-discipline, embracing change, emotion management and continuous learning will benefit women for life.
Last but not least, Dr. Liu Wei and Jenny Yang from United Family Healthcare (UFH) shared insights from the medical field. Dr. Liu Wei is the General Manager of Beijing United Women and Children Hospital and Associate Chief Medical Officer of Beijing United Family Hospital. She gave students an idea of her daily life as an anesthesiologist and emphasized the importance of communication, compassion, and physical strength. From another perspective of the healthcare industry, Jenny Yang, Executive Director of United Foundation for China’s Heath and Executive Director of CSR at UFH, shared her career journey with a background in finance. Jenny’s main advice to students is to get internship experience and figure out what you’re passionate about. Both Dr. Liu Wei and Jenny Yang broadened the girl’s understanding of the different career paths in the healthcare industry and the meaningful initiatives at UFH.
After the sharing sessions, students also broke out into groups and reflected on which speakers inspired them the most, how this program influenced what they want to study, the lessons they’ve learned, and how they can share this with their community. In lieu of an in-person graduation ceremony, students were spotlighted one by one and presented a digital certificate of completion.
In closing, Su Cheng Harris-Simpson shared the Girls in STEMM program was created to close the gender gap in Science, Tech, Engineering, Math, and Medicine (STEMM) early on. This year the program grew from two to four schools in Beijing and launched for the first time in Shanghai. The WEC is honored to see this program grow, and we are inspired by the leaders and students who are paving the way for the next generation. Su Cheng’s parting advice was to be curious, be brave, and be the best uniquely you, you can be.
Special thanks to all the teachers from the Canadian International School of Beijing, Concordia International School of Shanghai, Dulwich College Beijing, the International School of Beijing, Keystone Academy, and Yew Chung International School Shanghai. WEC also thanks ExxonMobil, ConocoPhillips, Dell, Henkel, and UFH for their dedication to advancing gender equity and the students look forward to visiting Coca-Cola, Dell, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, and Merck next fall!
If you’re interested in participating, learn more about the program at womenempowermentcouncil.com/girls-in-stemm and reach out to us at info@womenempowermentcouncil.com.