Problem

From school to workplace, Asian women in STEM face many barriers including lack of support, confidence, and sense of belonging.

For more of our background research, click here

Theory of Action

If high school students in East Asia who identify as women see shared identities with mentors in STEM industries, then they will have a higher sense of belonging, so that they will meaningfully engage with advanced STEM courses and career related opportunities.

Iteration History

Convince Me Video

MVP

Evidence of Impact

Reflection

This project really pushed me to grow new skills in terms of user testing and user research. Because this project was so heavily focused on impact, it really pushed me to think about the impact that I can create, instead of just jumping to the solution directly. I learnt a lot from this process because as someone who was a computer science major and was in a few software engineer roles, I was trained to be very solution focused and to constantly think about the most efficient way to get to the solution. Thinking more in the “impact” way was a very different way of thinking for me. It was kind of uncomfortable, if I must be honest, because I really wanted to jump to the solution immediately. However, I now see the value in placing a heavy emphasis on user and background research before even starting to ideate. Through this experience, I grew a lot as a learning experience designer as it made me realize that designing starts from the users and the root problem. I really appreciated this class and project for opening my ideas to this new way of learning. I also learnt a lot of technical skills such a Figma and video creation in the process, which was fun!