Author and Advocate Tiffani Teachey on Increasing the Number of Women in STEM

Tiffani Teachey, author and advocate, has made it her mission in life to inspire girls and women, particularly Black girls and women, to prepare for and pursue successful STEM careers. To encourage girls to imagine a STEM career in adulthood, she wrote the children’s book, What Can I Be? STEM Careers from A to Z. She addresses career and more in her two books aimed at uplifting and empowering women.

Tiffani Teachey is additionally a speaker, an engineer, and a publishing consultant working with Inspired Authors Publishing. We asked her about careers in STEM and why it matters that more Black women find STEM jobs.

You write books educating young children and their parents about the importance of representation in STEM Careers, and you’ve written two books aimed at uplifting and empowering women. What is the common ground connecting those genres and audiences?

Tiffani: Between the children’s book and women’s empowerment books that I have written there is a common theme of encouragement and perseverance when it comes to representation, especially within girls and underrepresented minorities in the STEM fields. My favorite quote is by Shirley Chisholm, “If they don’t give you a seat at the table, then bring your folding chair.” My books speaks on what a child can be in STEM and how girls and women can overcome all obstacles in order to unleash the resiliency within.

The cover of your children’s book, What Can I Be? STEM Careers from A to Z features two people wearing hardhats, one wearing a lab coat with a stethoscope who appears to be a veterinarian, and three working in a lab. What connects all those representations as STEM jobs that you want children and their parents to understand?

Tiffani: It was an interesting concept to relay to the illustrator the importance of making sure the outfits for these STEM careers are feasible for the children and parents to understand in a kid-friendly way because it depends on the setting and location of the career. In many of the STEM careers, we have to wear anything from hard hats to lab coats to steel toe boots for protection and depending on the work environment for the job at hand. Proper protective equipment is important in the various STEM careers and industries.

We’ve been hearing about diversity initiatives in tech for many years but the demographics hardly budge. Why is that?

Tiffani: There is still work to be done in getting more diversity in the tech industry. There have been diversity initiatives to help educate business and community leaders across levels and across industries, such as a certification program that I completed which includes the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in the Workplace Certificate, offered by the University of South Florida Muma College of Business. We were able to learn the essential practices and tools designed to increase employee diversity and to create a business model that embraces equity and inclusion.

This certification program focused on ways for organizations to create diverse workplaces, address equity issues, and foster inclusivity. If we could get more companies to implement programs such as this one we could have better improvement on the essential practices and tools designed to increase employee diversity and to create a business model that embraces equity and inclusion, especially in the tech industry.

Why is it so important to get more Black women into STEM careers?

Tiffani: We need more Black women in STEM careers because they offer a unique perspective and can help us understand the world through their discoveries.

Black women have been an integral part of the discovery and success within STEM fields. These women were experts, not only because they contributed greatly to their organizations but also with knowledge about science that is currently shaping our future.

There are so many people who are excited about the potential for science, technology, engineering, and math careers in society. The lack of diversity among black women is something that needs to change because we have so much going on!

We need more Black women in STEM role models who can show the children what it means when you do work that benefits and makes a difference in this world.

What are the particular challenges to increasing the number of Black women in STEM?

Tiffani: The challenges to increasing the number of Black women in STEM could include lack of representation, dealing with stereotypes and bias, imposters syndrome, to discrimination. I am actually planning to do my research specifically in this arena in regards to the barriers for Black women in STEM leadership as I am currently a PhD student in the Leadership Studies program at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University. There is still work to be done to encourage more Black girls and women into STEM.

It is through organizations such as the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) in which I am a lifetime member that can help through the NSBE mission to encourage and increase the number of Black women in STEM from pre-college to collegiate to professional levels. Getting our black girls exposed early to STEM through STEM activities, seeing women in STEM as role models, mentorship, sponsorship, surrounding themselves around a positive circle of influence, and reading books with STEM representation such as through my STEM children’s book will help as well.

Anything more you want to add that I haven’t asked about?

Tiffani: I want my legacy to be that I was able to make a difference in this world and one of them is that I was known for sharing the importance of representation matters in STEM. It is my hope that through sharing my STEM journey that more women and girls are encouraged to go into STEM fields because there is a need for more diversity and a seat at the table in STEM. The world will succeed when new discoveries and possibilities are unlocked with more diversity and inclusion in STEM fields. Against all odds we are overcomers and it is through access, opportunity, exposure, and knowledge that girls and women can become powerful and impactful women in STEM.