Debbie Sterling: An Engineer That Inspires Me
Imagine a childhood story where there is a girl with blond hair, a bear family, and a broken chair.
What childhood story comes to mind?
The story that should come to mind is Goldilocks and the Three Bears came to mind.
It’s an absolute childhood classic!
Remember the part of the story of where Goldie breaks the baby bear’s chair and she then just leaves it there broken.
Extremely rude of her, am I right?
Well, there’s a new story for Goldie, a story where she doesn’t break things and leave them behind. One where Goldie is an engineer.
Engineer Goldie comes to life in the stories and kits from the company Goldieblox.
Goldieblox targets young girls that have an interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, also known as STEM.
The founder of Goldieblox is Debbie Sterling.
In Debbie’s TEDxTalk, she speaks about when she was a little girl and how she loved to draw, ballet, and ride bikes.
However, she began to lose interest in math and science around the age of 6 years old along with many other girls.
She states that she remembers her family members grabbing her by the face and telling her how smart she was and how lucky she is to be smart. But she didn’t want to be smart, she wanted to be pretty like the dolls that she had.
Debbie never gave engineering a second thought till one of her high school teachers said that she should give engineering a try in college.
At first, Debbie was disgusted by the thought of being an engineer. She thought the only people, who were engineers were train drivers or guys like Mark Zuckerburg.
There was no one that she could look to. She had never seen a woman in engineering, only man.
Engineering was a boys’ world, no women could be found.
Debbie was later accepted into Stanford University in Stanford, California. She was stuck on what to major in. The voice of her high school teacher popped up telling her to try engineering. So, she did.
So, Debbie chose to take ME101 just for fun and give it a try. ME101 is an introduction course to mechanical engineering.
ME101 changed Debbie’s whole perspective on engineering. She no longer thought of fixing a train engine as being something an engineer does. Her new definition of engineering is, “the skill set to build anything you dream up in your head”
Debbie found that only 20% of graduate degrees in technology and science are awarded to women.
ONLY 20%
That’s such a low percentage, it’s awful how low it is since women make up 51% of the population internationally.
Despite, being one of the few girls, Debbie stuck with engineering. She loved the subject so why would she want to stop?
Debbie went on to gain her degree in product design in 2005.
After, her time in college, she began to look back on her childhood.
She began to question why had she struggled so much with her spatial skills throughout college.
Debbie found that she struggled compared to her male counterparts because she didn’t grow up playing construction toys like legos and Lincoln logs as the boys did.
Instead, she grew up with dolls and makeup kits. She also found for the past hundred years, construction toys were only marketed to boys, not girls.
This got her thinking.
What could she do now that she was an engineer to get girls interested in engineering?
This is when the idea of making an engineering toy for girls came to her.
She began using thread spools and wooden dowels to make her prototype. She used things that she could easily find at any hardware store. It took her months.
After doing many studies and trails with young girls, Debbie found that the girls would quickly lose interest in the toy. So, she began to ask the girls what their favorite toy was. Most of the girls could say a book.
This is when everything clicked, she figured out how to get girls to keep their love of math and science.
The solution was to make an engineering set that has a story to go along with it. Which, is the beginning of Goldieblox.
The trails begin all over again and this time it worked!
Debbie was ready to take Goldieblox to the next level, so she took Goldieblox to places such as the New York Toy Fair and entrepreneur programs. Everywhere she went, she got turned down. There were ‘nos’ waiting for her around every corner.
But she was determined to make a difference with Goldieblox.
She decided to take things into her own hands. Debbie took her prototype to a factory and had it turned into a toy. That one prototype had the potential to turn into a minimum of 5,000 toys.
Her goal was to raise $150,000 in 30 days on Kickstarter, but it did not take that long at all. Debbie hit her goal in 4 days.
4 days
The minimum of 5,000 toys turned into being over 20,000 toys.
Throughout Debbie’s career of being an engineer, she states that she had never felt like she belonged till now.
I can relate to the feeling of not belonging in this boys’ world and sometimes I still have that feeling. There have been many times where if I go to say something that I think will work, I have got turned down because I just don’t know as much as I think I do.
I also have been one of the very few women in a class. Since I’m in a dual enrollment school, I have found that as I begin to take harder classes within STEM, the number of women in my classes drop. A group of girls that began as 25 will drop down to 10 in the matter of a year.
The idea of young girls having women in the STEM field to look up to amazes me. I never had women to look up to till Debbie Sterling.
She is an engineer that I look up to.
Not just because she is a woman or that she is an engineer, she has taught me some amazing lessons and skills.
I have learned to never let a “no” stop.
Throughout Debbie’s path, she was told no. Whether it was a no in school or a no on her prototype, Debbie never let them stop her.
She kept on going with her head held high and big marching steps. She was not ready to back down from something she believed in.
Therefore, I can’t let a “no” take me down. I have to continue on the going after what I want. I have to continue looking forward and marching to the space that I will be able to inspire and encourage young girls to keep their love for math and science and never let them go.
I can’t allow myself to be discouraged because once I begin to give up, I will never be the person that reaches their full potential like I want to be.
I have learned despite not feeling like I fit in the norm of engineering, I having to keep my love for engineering strong and allow it to be my driving force.
In college, at the program in the Bay Area, and the New York Toy fair, Debbie did not fit in because she was not and is not what people think of when they hear the word engineer.
She was looked down upon and was not taken seriously because she is a woman. She kept going. There were moments where everything hurt her and she felt like giving up. But she didn’t!
And I can’t let myself either. I know there will be people, who will laugh in my face and who turn their noses in the airway from me, but I can’t let that stop me.
I have to keep going and keep pushing to make the difference that I want to make. The difference that I dream to make. I will get there as long as I hold on tight to my passion. I have to be strong in my hold on the passion that I have for engineering.
Last but not least, I have learned that engineering can be fun!
Engineering is so much more than just math and science.
Engineering is creativity and as long as you have creativity, you’ll be able to build anything that you can dream of.
Debbie is a role model for creativity!
She took simple supplies from a hardware store and turned it into an engineering toy that if fueling the love for math, science, and engineering in young girls all across the world.
This inspires me to become more creative in my work and my daily life. You can’t build whatever you want if you aren’t creative.
Therefore…
Debbie Sterling = 100% an inspiring, boss woman!
Thank you so much for reading this article about a woman in engineering that inspires me. Hopefully, she inspired you too.
To watch Debbie’s TEDxTalk where I got most of my information, please click the link on TEDxTalk.
To find the link to the Goldieblox website, click on Goldieblox.
