YONKERS, N.Y. — Girls start out with a love of science and technology, but they lose it somewhere along the way. Let's help encourage that passion in teen girls. In the United States, 74% of girls and teen girls express interest in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) in middle school. By high school, only 0.4% of teen girls plan to major in Computer Science. Jobs in Computer Science will be the highest-paying sectors over the next decade, paying almost $15,000 more than average. Encouragement from adults and peers is the #1 contributor to a teen girl's decision to pursue Computer Science.
YWCA Yonkers (https://www.ywcayonkers.org) (an affiliate of YWCA USA), Google's Made with Code (https://www.madewithcode.com), and the teen girl publication Rookie magazine (http://www.rookiemag.com) are teaming with media personality and technology maven Shefik (https://shefik.info) to instruct and inspire young girls about technology. On Saturday, October 13, 2018, starting at 12 p.m. ET, Shefik will share his extensive industry knowledge with girls aged 13 to 18. The event will be held on-location at YWCA Yonkers, 87 South Broadway, Yonkers, New York 10701.
Made with Code is an initiative launched by Google on July 19, 2014. Google aimed to empower young women in middle and high schools with computer programming skills. Made with Code was created after Google's own research found out that encouragement and exposure are the critical factors that would influence young females to pursue Computer Science. It was reported that Google is funding $50 million to Made with Code, on top of the initial $40 million invested since 2010 in organizations like Code.org, Black Girls Code, and Girls Who Code. The Made with Code initiative involves both online activities as well as real life events, collaborating with notable organizations like YWCA Yonkers. Other partners and supporters include 20th Century Fox, Cartoon Network, Girls Scouts of the USA, Global Citizen, Grammy Museum, iHeart Radio, Mozilla, National Parks Service, Pixar Animation Studios, Seventeen, The White House, U.S. Fund for Unicef, UN Women, and United Nations.
"Introducing STEM training and programs are completely in-line with YWCA's mission of empowering women," says Charlie Knight, Chief Executive Officer at YWCA Yonkers. "There is still a great disparity of women entering the technology field. We are excited to host this coding party for our girls, as we hope to create a spark of enthusiasm for entering this non traditional field. This is how we begin to bridge the gap."
YWCA is the country's oldest and largest women's membership movement. The Yonkers affiliate is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, serving women, girls, and their families in Yonkers and lower Westchester County, New York. Located in a community of rapidly increasing diversity, YWCA Yonkers welcomes all women, children, and their families to join as members or participants, as the organization fulfills their mission through programs and services.
YWCA Yonkers first opened its doors in 1892, offering supportive housing to single women. For over a century, the organization has served and taken action on behalf of women and girls. The organization is a mission driven, multicultural, and ethnically diverse organization, that currently offers an empowerment program designed to help low-income individuals achieve self-sufficiency, a one-stop childcare center for children of all ages, as well as housing and support services for women, youth, and seniors. With programs that accommodate every age group, the organization's "cradle to grave" services strengthen each individual served, while also impacting the community at large.
"At the P.E.A.R.L. Program, we pride ourselves in exposing our future leaders to new and exciting experiences," says Kimberly James, P.E.A.R.L. Program Coordinator at YWCA Yonkers. "I truly believe that with guidance and encouragement these experiences will help them think outside of the box with how they pursue their personal and professional lives as adults. We are joining Made with Code and Rookie magazine in their initiative to bring a coding experience to those that have been labeled 'disconnected youth', and teach them how to use their new-found knowledge of coding to consider career options, such as a software engineer, programmer, or developer."
In 2017, Shefik was appointed Official Member to the Forbes Technology Council, an invitation-only community for world-class CIOs, CTOs, and technology executives. Membership is based upon professional accomplishments, and the council is comprised of a diverse, innovative, and extremely well-connected network of top-flight technologists.
Shefik joins other Forbes Technology Council members, who are hand-selected, to become part of a curated network of successful peers and get access to a variety of exclusive benefits and resources, including the opportunity to submit thought leadership articles and short tips on industry-related topics for publishing on forbes.com.
"I am eager at the prospect of instructing about technology," says Shefik. "It is particularly vital that we encourage young girls to consider such industry as a viable option and possible career choice."
Shefik is currently celebrating over 20 years in the professional workforce. He began his career as an entertainment publicist, working with companies such as Motown Music Publishing, Island Black Music (Island Records), and Double XXposure, as well as high-profile recording artists, such as Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee The Isley Brothers, 5-time Grammy Award winner Dionne Warwick, and Tony Award winner and 4-time Grammy Award nominee Melba Moore.
Shefik later expanded his skillset to technology, where he worked as Technical Producer at TIME magazine. Afterwards, he worked as Web Developer and Engineer at Condé Nast Digital (Vanity Fair, GQ, Wired), Vimeo, Columbia Law School, Publicis Modem (LG, Sanofi Pasteur), HUGE, and Penton Media, among others. Additionally, he has held senior-level positions at many celebrated brands, including IBM, MTV World, Merck, Merriam-Webster, and Wolters Kluwer.
Shefik currently serves as a Lead Developer at NBC Sports (a programming division of the broadcast network NBC, owned by the NBCUniversal Television Group), where he is architecting and developing critical systems for the company. It is apparent that Shefik is on the cutting edge of multimedia, as he also serves as Executive Producer and Host of the nationally-syndicated radio show and internationally syndicated video series, "Shefik presents Invocation" (https://invocation.co), a mesmerizing and thought-provoking journey through musical discovery and appreciation that spans the decades. With an audience of over half a million listeners monthly, the radio show is currently broadcast on 21 terrestrial radio stations and frequencies throughout the United States.
As a videographer and producer, Shefik's work has been featured in television broadcasts and video productions for TIME, The Washington Center, "Unsung" (TV One), Broadway World, and a major television station in New York City. Additionally, his photography has been featured in print and online publications, such as Daily Mail (United Kingdom), Harvard Kennedy School Magazine, Playbill, and China Press, as well as over 100 other websites in China. As of this writing, "Shefik presents Invocation" has won a total of 34 industry awards (for audio, video, and website), many of which were awarded at the highest level.
Media Contacts
Shefik
All Knight Access
+1 (914) 548-5033
shefik@allknightaccess.com
Toni Knight
All Knight Access
+1 (914) 645-4830
toni.knight@allknightaccess.com
Last Updated: May 30, 2021
