Tauranga Girls' College students Tania Simpson (left) and Parvi Goundar with GirlBoss founder Alexia Hilbertidou (centre). Photo / George Novak
Tauranga Girls' College students Tania Simpson (left) and Parvi Goundar with GirlBoss founder Alexia Hilbertidou (centre). Photo / George Novak
"There are more CEOs named John in New Zealand than there are female CEOs."
This is a message that 20-year-old Alexia Hilbertidou wants to get across to every New Zealand teenage girl.
Hilbertidou is the founder of GirlBoss New Zealand, an organisation that strives to plant a seed of confidencein every girl to close the gender gap in areas such as science, technology and leadership positions.
She visited Tauranga Girls' College today to run a workshop on smashing the gender gap in these positions by using confidence as their top tool.
The girls worked together to practice selling their achievements, nailing their elevator pitch and learning to not let their gender hold them back.
She encouraged the Tauranga students to create profiles on sites such as LinkedIn to begin networking with industry professionals.
At such a young age, Hilbertidou has a track record that would leave many dumbfounded. Photo / George Novak
At such a young age, Hilbertidou has a track record that would leave many dumbfounded.
She has met the Queen, flown with NASA, spoken at more than 50 events across the globe including at the United Nations, and founded her own organisation for young women.
Hilbertidou said she got the idea for the company at just 16 years old, when she began feeling like the "odd one out" for being a girl in her science and technology-based classes.
She said she was surrounded by incredibly intelligent female friends, but it appeared many did not have the confidence to jump into male-dominated classes and pathways.
Her research had also found that there were only four female chief executives in the top 100 NZX companies and this needed to change, she said.
Her workshops were designed to encourage more girls to pursue leadership positions and pathways in these sectors while at school. Her next one was set to take place at Otumoetai College tomorrow.
The workshops were sponsored by the Ministry of Education. Acting deputy secretary parent information and community intelligence Rose Jamieson said they were crucial for teenage girls.
She said as women were underrepresented in sectors such as science, maths and engineering, workshops like Girlboss were vital in widening their view on options available to them.
Feedback from the workshops indicated that more than 90 per cent of young women who attended considered a career in these sectors as a possibility for their future pathway, she said.
GirlBoss has a network of more than 10,000 high school students nationwide. Photo / George Novak
GirlBoss has a network of more than 10,000 high school students nationwide, with programmes in New Zealand, Australia and the Cook Islands.
