Million Women Mentors held the second annual MWM Summit and Gala where over 350 leaders from industry, education, and government came together for a day of learning and celebration.
During the Summit, attendees heard best practices for mentoring and supporting girls and women in STEM from Fortune 500 Companies like BP, PepsiCo, and TATA Consultancy Services as well as top MWM partners like AAUW, Air Force, Mind Research, and NASA. Lt. Governors from Alabama, Arkansas, New Jersey and Maryland shared their perspectives on the state of women and girls in STEM.
The day ended with an awards ceremony during the MWM Gala where standout individuals, companies, organizations and state leaders were recognized for their efforts within the Million Women Mentors movement. The MWM-TN State team was recognized receiving the Outstanding State Achievement Award. The TN State team was given this honor after being awarded the most votes by other state teams across the country for their accomplishments over the last year.
The MWM–TN Steering Committee, co-led by Lawrence Blank-Cook, Deloitte; Dr. Judith Iriarte-Gross, MTSU; Lulu Copeland, Chattanooga State Community College and Ronna-Renee Jackson, ChaTech Council; expanded their efforts over the last year, growing regionally with the launch of their Middle TN team in May of 2016.
MWM-TN has engaged several major companies and organizations across the state such as Deloitte, Eastman Chemical, TVA, Cisco, Chattanooga State Community College, MTSU, Vanderbilt, ETSU, TN STEM Innovation Network, and many others. This year, through the Be Counted! Campaign, MWM-TN surpassed their original pledge goal of 10,000 STEM mentoring relationships with over 17,000 STEM mentoring relationships completed across the state! MWM-TN held several events and was the first state to host a co-fundraising event, working with the Girl Scout Council of Southern Appalachians, resulting in funds for both groups.
Co-chairing the MWM state effort with the Lt. Governor of Iowa Kim Reynolds, Sheila Boyington, president-CEO of Tennessee-based Learning Blade recognized the state; “Tennessee is an exceptional model for the Million Women Mentors effort by engaging a wide variety of stakeholders to work collaboratively to move the needle on girls and women pursing STEM careers. We are proud to recognize that.”