Debbie Sterling

Post date: Aug 20, 2015 5:05:18 PM

When Debbie Sterling was at Stanford earning her degree in mechanical engineering, she was disturbed by how few women there were in the program, so she set out to do something about that.Debbie knows she’s a rarity with estimates claiming less than 15% of the world’s engineers are women. But considering that engineers make the biggest advances in our society and that women make up about half the world’s population, she believes the world deserves to have the female perspective when it comes to these advances.She sank her savings into starting GoldieBlox, a toy company aiming to “help girls build the future” by “disrupting the pink aisle” and introducing girls to the joy of engineering at a young age.

Sterling’s startup has been a noteable success. Stocked by companies like Toys R Us and Amazon.com, GoldieBlox is growing in popularity. So secure is the company that it became the first startup ever to run a Super Bowl ad in 2014. You can watch the ad below.

Before you watch the ad, though, check out her 2013 TED talk where she asked the audience to close their eyes and picture what an engineer looks like. Spoiler alert: They did not picture her.