Chicago, IL (June 7, 2021), Over the past 6 years, MakerGirl has educated close to 5,000 students, created partnerships with Bank of America, Autodesk, DuPont, EOS North America, Ultimaker and more, and provided leadership opportunities to a large number of high school and university students (ChangeMakers) around the country. When MakerGirl passed its full-time leadership role to Mary Hadley as Chief Executive Officer two years ago, she established herself as a strong leader and has since led the organization to expand to new universities and increased the opportunities for ChangeMakers (girls 15-22). She has also rapidly transitioned the organization to include a full virtual curriculum.

“Throughout this unprecedented time, Mary has proven her ability to lead our nationwide team of Directors, Advisors, and University students to have all girls be MakerGirls. Mary has the ability to quickly pivot and thus allowed MakerGirl to thrive during even the toughest of times last year when she created the virtual curriculum and programs” said Julia Haried and Elizabeth Engele, Co-Founders of MakerGirl.

Hadley herself was once a university ChangeMaker. In the summer of 2017, she led the second #MakerGirlGoesMobile, which educated over 520 students in four weeks. The road trip was her first introduction to the organization, which was followed by an internship in the summer of 2018 overseeing sponsorship opportunities and the expansion to Northwestern University, which was the first Academy (university partnership) outside of the flagship at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC). Hadley later volunteered at the UIUC MakerGirl Academy as the Managing and Curriculum Director, supervising and educating dozens of ChangeMakers, later joining the team full-time after graduation.

“MakerGirl is redefining what it means to be a “maker.” We are not only a touchpoint for girls to get introduced to STEM but to support them along their entire journey from elementary to high school to college and then into the workforce. I see this as the next stage of MakerGirl and how we can do our part to create the next generation of future female leaders.” says Hadley.   

During this transition to the new normal, MakerGirl will continue to grow, reach rural areas, and educate girls of all backgrounds.

Hadley will continue to expand the pipeline MakerGirl has established to go beyond the initial age range of 7-10, to create specialized levels of programming for girls from ages 11-14 and 15-22. This means that a girl can enter MakerGirl’s programs at age 7 and grow with MakerGirl all the way to becoming a university volunteer. With the introduction of the newest level of curriculum, the Inventive Minds, Hadley will lead MakerGirl towards its 3 goals: educating 10,000 girls, establishing 10 MakerGirl Academies, and maintaining girls’ commitment to STEM involvement throughout their entire lives by 2023. 

About MakerGirl 

MakerGirl is working to bridge the gender gap in STEM through providing educational sessions to girls across the country led by high school and university ChangeMakers. Since its founding in 2014, MakerGirl has educated almost 5,000 girls in 28 states with half from underrepresented and rural communities. They have created a movement of makers with three different models: University Academies, #MakerGirlGoesMobile, and online curriculum. MakerGirl is on a mission to educate 10,000 students and establish 10 MakerGirl Academies by 2023. Follow the organization on social media @_MakerGirl.