In celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month, Horizon Blue Cross/Blue Shield of New Jersey and Sanitas Medical Center partnered with us to host Family Day at Sanitas Medical Center in Union City. Family Day is a newly created initiative that seeks to encourage local families to explore careers in medicine, science, technology, engineering and math.  

The event featured DNA Forensics activity led by STEM professionals, personal stories by professionals in STEM fields, Sanitas Medical Center tours, free biometrics checks and nutrition demonstrations.

Continuing Hispanic Heritage Month celebrations, Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey have extended an exclusive invitation to our followers for this weekend. You must register ASAP as there are only 100 tickets available!  

On Thursday, September 20th, Latinas in STEM members, STEM professionals and Latinas in STEM supporters gathered for a fun-filled night in Union City, NJ.  ​The event was sponsored by Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of NJ and held at the newly opened Sanitas Medical Center.  An inspirational talk about the Importance of Self-Care was given by Amazon best-selling author, speaker, certified health coach and yoga teacher, Kenia Nunez. We capped the night with a salsa and bachata lessons by Manny Vaquez.  

Thank you to all that attended. Thank you Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of NJ for supporting our mission to inspire and empower Latinas in STEM fields. 

Don't miss out our next event on Saturday, September 29, 2018, at Sanitas Medical Center.  Families are invited to tour the medical facility, meet professionals in medical fields, learn about various careers in STEM, take part in forensic DNA activity and learn about nutrition.  Click the button below to RSVP.

Written by Nidia Trejo

It was an amazing experience to give a TED-style talk with Women in Clean Tech & Sustainability Talks (WCS Talks) at Google. These talks are held once a year, and among a super supportive community of women (and men). I met the founder of Women in Cleantech & Sustainability, Lisa Ann Pinkerton, when she was invited to give a talk at a start-up incubator in Ithaca New York early 2017. She spoke about how important it is for women to share their unique perspectives in public spaces. Because in doing so, it can inspire other women to speak up, and help lead a path toward a greater number of women leaders.
(http://www.womencleantechsustainability.org/) 

I submitted my speaker application on the concept of Social & Environmental Responsibility in Fashion. For 7 months, I was trying to figure out how to make it unique. Being an active member of the Latinas In STEM Foundation, the Climate Reality Project, and learning about the United Nations - Sustainable Development Goals for 2030 really helped me shape my story. I shared the story of my grandmother coming to the US from El Salvador to sew clothing, and how she inspired me to make fashion collections. I showed pictures of clothes I made and dyed with natural and synthetic colorants to express sustainable opportunities. I proposed solutions to making safer chemicals, preserving water as a natural resource, and empowerment of makers in the supply chain for innovation framed around the UN Sustainable Development Goals. 

​The audience was 200+ mainly from private companies, non profits, and students. I was one of the youngest speakers! I was surprised that many of the audience members were very interested in learning more about what I'm doing in sustainable fashion, and seem really eager to help. From the audience members, I learned that NASA Ames is working on water recycling projects for their space travel, and Levi Strauss & Co gave me invaluable advice on several of my ideas. 

Women in Cleantech & Sustainability has already posted the 2018 Speaker Submission application. I hope the Latinas in STEM community submits applications to speak, and I’ll share mine once it is available on YouTube.  

Written by: ​Annie Deusch - Future Latina in STEM

The panel’s keynote speaker, Dr. Sarah Milkovich, gave a powerful presentation on her experiences leading up to the present. She is now a planetary geologist for NASA at JPL in Pasadena. I was inspired by her story on how impactful the Earth’s various structures influenced her decision to pursue a career in geology. Dr. Milkovich expressed a key tip to stay focused on your goals is to “surround yourself with like minded people.” I also appreciated her candidness about her struggle with anxiety. She stated that there were times when she wanted to give up on her career but a deeper voice than her anxiety did not let her. My next new hero of the day was, Dr. Michelle Flowers Taylor, Director of IEC3 at USC. I admired her honesty about the hard work that lies ahead for us. She said that we should not be afraid to fail because failure helps us rethink our plans and makes us resilient. 

As a junior at an all-girls school in Alhambra, I see the mission of empowering teen girls in STEAMS on a daily basis. On any given day,  I might see the robotics team shuffling nuts and volts across the room in a mad flurry to design a robot and then walk past the choir, singing tenors harmoniously. As for myself, Information Technology has taken a bite out of me! After attending the panel, I researched tech opportunities for teens and I hope to be accepted to a global learning classroom. As a Latina, my hope is to help bring STEAMS panels to more communities in the East LA area. We can do it!

Special thanks to UN Women – Greater LA Chapter for access to Girls Can STEAMS: Celebrating International Day of the Girl.

Latinas in STEM and Statewide Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of New Jersey present the Latina Symposium - The Art of Being A Modern Latina Luncheon on May 4, 2017 from 11:30 AM - 3:00 PM in Lyndhurst, NJ.

The Luncheon will coincide with a panel discussion featuring industry leading Latinas in business today. The topic, how today's modern Latina balances family and work to be successful.

Discount for Latinas in STEM Members. (Email kim@latinasinstem.com for discount code).

Latinas in STEM is partnering with the 2017 IEEE Women in Engineering International Leadership Conference(WIE ILC).  The conference will be held in San Jose, CA on May 22-23, 2017.  

WIE ILC brings together over 1,500 STEM leaders from around the world. With a focus on mid-to-senior, technology professionals, WIE ILC brings together female and male STEM leaders from around the world interested in advancing women leaders. ​

Use the code ILC2017LATINAS get a 10% discount code.

Latinas in STEM is a completely volunteer run organization.  We rely on donations and sponsorship to keep our programming going.  Please consider donating to our organization this Giving Tuesday. 

The Hispanic Heritage Foundation and AT&T are excited to host a LOFT Coder Summit in Los Angeles on Saturday, November 19th from 8:00 am - 5:00 pm, as hundreds of Latina/o coders gather to share ideas, energy and cultural pride!

This summit is part of HHF's broader Code as a Second Language (CSL) national initiative which has included LOFT Coder Summits in Austin at SXSW, New York, Minneapolis and Stanford University.

If you are a Latina/o coder, programmer, hacker, developer, and/ or a computer scientist, we invite you to be a part of this one of a kind experience.

Join HHF as we debunk the technology industry’s greatest myths, and help mobilize coders from across the nation, both students and professionals alike, to celebrate Latino culture, innovation and passion for computer programming.

The summit is a free one-day event filled with back to back workshops, discussions, and opportunities to expand your network— please join us in redefining the landscape of computer technology through a heightened collaboration and representation of like-minded Latina/o students and professionals, all united and ignited by their endless passion for technology.

Register now and stay tuned for updates as we approach the date. If you have any questions please contact: jessica@hispanicheritage.org and alberto@hispanicheritage.org

Learn the chemistry behind natural cosmetic products with Richard Blackburn, associate professor at University of Leeds and founder of Keracol Limited, and Nidia Trejo of the Ithaca Waste Water Treatment Facility  on Thursday, October 20 at 2pm ET.   Nidia is also Director of College of Programming for the Latinas in STEM Foundation.