Youth Development Organization Helps Camden Student Pursue Dreams In STEM
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Using education, technology, and entrepreneurship, Hopeworks in Camden, New Jersey helps young men and women find new pathways to earn productive futures. One woman is not letting her race, sex, or disabilities stop her from a career in tech.
Gabrielle Lee grew up with a strong love for video games, but had trouble fitting in.
"When I went for my first game design class I had trouble fitting in," Lee said. "There is still a lot of push back for people of color who are trying to get into the business. Even networking is a struggle for me."
She credits Hopeworks in Camden with giving her the courage to pursue a career in technology, despite being a black woman with disabilities.
"Getting back into it made me nervous because of things I went through in the past," Lee said. "After a while I was like 'oh yeah, I can do this, this is pretty cool.' This is stuff that I like, there are people around me, really awesome peers who like what I like, video games and technology, and the staff was also always very encouraging."
Her future plans involve giving back.
"I want to make workshops so girls can come with other girls and they don't have to worry about boys pushing them out and boys rolling their eyes at them," Lee said. "They can just sit there amongst girls still talk about nails and then get right back to technology."
While engineering and computer-related fields are some of the fastest growing careers, women only hold about one-quarter or less of those positions. And according to their companies' diversity reports, technical workers at Google, Microsoft, Facebook and Twitter are on average 56% white, 37 % Asian, 3% Hispanic and 1% percent black.
