Mary Kay Inc declares NFTE World Series Of Innovation Challenge winners

In celebration of Creativity and Innovation Day, Mary Kay is proud to announce STEMinists as the winner of the NFTE World Series of Innovation Challenge addressing SDG 5: Gender Equality. (Photo: Mary Kay Inc.)

KUALA LUMPUR, April 22 (Bernama) -- Mary Kay Inc, a leading corporate advocate of women’s empowerment and entrepreneurship, has announced its second World Series of Innovation (WSI) Challenge in partnership with Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE).

The global educational experience invites young people ages 13-24 to channel their critical thinking and problem-solving skills to find solutions for the biggest challenges facing the world today and help advance the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) while fostering an entrepreneurial mindset.

Mary Kay’s World Series of Innovation Challenge encourages young people from around the world to submit innovative solutions to address Sustainable Development Goal 5: Gender Equality. Specifically, this challenge asked students to think about ways to promote workplace equality and ensure equal access to economic opportunity for women and girls. Pre-COVID, decades of data demonstrated the rise of women in the workforce.

Even though the wage gap persisted, more women were joining the labour market every year. But pandemic job losses disproportionately impacted women, and since 2020, the uphill climb to workforce equality has grown even steeper.

“Congratulations to the winners of this year’s World Series of Innovation Challenge! Mary Kay knows the importance of entrepreneurship and the role it plays in the world today and in the future, which is why we invest annually in programmes and initiatives to help empower women and girls around the world,” said Deborah Gibbins, Chief Operating Officer for Mary Kay Inc in a statement.

More than 400 students participated in the Mary Kay-sponsored challenge. The three winners of Mary Kay’s 2021 Challenge are:

· First Place: STEMinists created an online portal that connects female professionals to young female STEM students as mentors to bolster female success in STEM fields. Developed by 15-year-old Misaki Nguyen of Silver Creek High School in San Jose, California;

· Second Place: Pads for Peace, a feminine product subscription box service, donates a box to homeless shelters for every box purchased. Developed by 14-year-olds Ashley Cohen, Olivia Mooney and Ashley Simonian of Brentwood School in Los Angeles;

· Third Place: Black Girls Mean Business, a virtual summer business programme for Black high school girls, matches young professionals with mentors from industry leading businesses. Developed by 17-year-olds Brianna Holmes, Alyssa Torres, Rachel Holmes, and 18-year-old Cherry Zhang of Silver Creek High School in San Jose, California.

-- BERNAMA