Dream Big helps female students prepare for their STEAM careers

Dream Big is a not-for-profit leader that engages and empowers young women from high school to industry to help them land their dream job in science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics (STEAM).

Its founder and managing director, Jessica Kahl spoke to Digital Nation about how it helps young women prepare for a job in STEAM.

The Dream Big program tackles challenges associated with the engagement, progression, and retention of female talent in the industry through career development resources, mentoring, coaching, and networking events.

Kahl said through Dream Big they’ve had a number of women receive employment with many of the participants saying that without the program, they wouldn’t have gotten the job.

“A great example is Tiana. She was not even considering working in the energy sector, particularly Energy Queensland, which is one of our partners. Through the experience, she spoke about how she had no real plan or target and from [the experience] she learned how to have self-awareness and promote herself on what she wanted to do,” she said.

“The journey that she went through with the coaches and the mentors helped her ground some goals.”

From there, Tiana was able to have an interview with Energy Queensland where she co-designed a role and she now works there as a graduate, Kahl explained.

“It's just something that she wouldn't have done unless she had had this insight from the program itself,” she added.

Kahl said diversity and inclusion have been a big push in the STEAM industry.

“There is a lot of value around this time of year are talking about what we say and sometimes it needs to be what we do as well,” she said.

“Our program is a win-win solution, we've got an impact for women, regardless of jobs, these women increase their capability and confidence they get opportunities that they otherwise wouldn't.”

In return, Kahl said the partners they work with are facilitating the pipeline into the industry, which increases female representation and the talent pool.

“There's a lot of great benefits coming from what we're doing,” she ended.

Learn more about Dream Big here.