Beatris Mendez Gandica, CEO and Founder of Nuevo Foundation discusses STEM education as a tool for under-repesented students to dream big and create a path to achieving their goals.
Beatris Mendez Gandica had the courage to take her “crazy idea” for STEM and turn it into a successful program.
Interview Transcript. Edited for clarity.
Dave Underhill: Bea, thank you for taking time. I'm really excited about learning more about what you've been doing and your story to date.
Bea Mendez Gandica: Thank you, Dave, for having me.
DU: So tell us a little bit about your journey to Microsoft. When did you first discover your passion for technology? And how did it lead you there?
Bea: Sure. When I was small, I was super interested in video games and how can a bunch of information could be stored on a CD? And so that's why I had a lot of curiosity. How come if I touch a button, the player does something or if I jump and double click, something else happened. It was a lot of curiosity in trying to understand how that worked.
But my real passion was chemistry, I just didn't have the right teachers at the time. And so I'm like, okay, chemistry didn't work out, then computers are the thing. I like video games, I'm curious, I want to know more about how things are connected. How you can have something here and be used all over the world. So that's how I got interested. I also get to live in Germany, where I discovered how much information is embedded in everyday life. I'm from Venezuela, we didn't have that much there in terms of tech embedded into society itself. And so that really inspired me to go and pursue what computers were like, or how can I build a career through computers.
I was super lucky to land a job at Microsoft. My first job was moving customers from Office on-premise to Office 365. And then I moved to engineering, working on fundamentals, engineering fundamentals in terms of security, compliance, statistical analysis. Now what I do is I work on a team called Azure usage billing. What that's trying to do is figure out how can we build a robust pipeline that handles all the usage transactions for all the Azure services.
DU: That's amazing. So you and I met when you were part of an executive’s keynote at Microsoft, and you were recognized as a rising star, which I think was true. And not too long after that you started the Nuevo Foundation, which was really about getting kids engaged in technology and STEM careers. What was the spark for that idea? How did you get started?
Bea: I grew up in my family where it was always like, “You have to give back”. That could be time or resources, but you have to give back. And so I started giving back in university - how can we bring in kids that might not have exposure to what university students look like and show the benefits of going to college? At Microsoft I was able to help with Digigirlz, which is a Microsoft program that we had, then I was able to be part of TechnoloChicas, which was how can we raise awareness of Latinas in tech.
I wanted to do something more and I reached out to my friends, five of them. I said, “Hey, I have this crazy idea that I want to help anyone that is underrepresented in any way, shape, or form. To show them that STEM can be a tool for them and their families to dream big.” So that was the idea. I don't care about your gender, your color, or your race. If you're underrepresented - you have no role models that are in your immediate surroundings - how can we show you that code can be, or stem in general can be, one of those ways for you to be better or to dream big. Or at least you have an idea and make a known decision? It's more of hey, let me give you the tools. This is what coding looks like. This is what a tech job looks like. Do you like it? Awesome, here are the modules? If you don't like it? That's fine, but at least you're making a decision based on facts and not based on the unknown, because you cannot be what you cannot see. So how can we show you that?
DU: It sounds like you are giving people, especially young women, the exposure to the STEM career opportunities. Then they can make a decision about what appeals to them or doesn't. And so they have the knowledge of it, and what it's about. How are you working with kids in the foundation?
Bea: We have three programs. The first one is Coding Workshops. So we teach kids how to code, call it Python, or JavaScript or C sharp or any language that we have support. And we also have Hardware Workshops. So for example, before pandemic, when we used to bring kids out to an actual place, we would do software first and then hardware.
The other program that we have is Virtual Sessions that are 30 minutes on Zoom Teams, Google Hangouts or anything that the school uses. And it is for a role model, or a person that currently works in STEM, to share their story or their STEM journey for 15 minutes. Then the students get to ask questions for the other 15 minutes.
The last program that we have is called Speaker Series. For example, let's say Dave, you know someone that's having an event for kids. And you need somebody else to go and speak. So we go there and plug into something that somebody else has organized. We try to do a mix of like a virtual session and some coding, it really depends on the audience and the environment that we're at.
But those are the two programs that we have. And with that, we've been able to help in three years, over 9500 students in 31 countries.
DU: That is amazing. You told me last time, we talked that there's a statue of you, in the city of Dallas, that somehow came out of the visibility you got from the foundation. That's a great, that's a great story. So fill me in on the details of how that happened.
Bea: There is this organization called IF/THEN, that's also part of the AAAS, which stands for the American Association for the Advancement of Science. They did a call out for women in STEM that are investing in the next generation to pursue STEM careers. We get to meet a bunch of amazing ladies, so I'm very humbled to be in a group with all those ladies that are part of that initial group of 225.
So one of the cool surprises was that we all get flown out to Dallas. And the big surprise was that we were each going to have a statue made, which will be put on display until October. So it's kind of cool, because you go into a little cylinder and there are a bunch of cameras taking something like 600 pictures of you. They can get every single angle, and then they can print it out. And they are real size. The reason for the statues is…think about when was the last time that you saw a statue of a woman in a public place in the US. Because there's not that many, this lady, her name is Lida Hill, who’s a philanthropist, wanted to change that. That's one of the reasons why the statues got built. The other is for families, little kids, adults, whomever, to actually see that women are scientists. They come in go, wait in all shapes and forms.
DU: And correct me if I'm wrong here, but was each statue was digitally printed?
Bea: Correct? Yes.
DU: That's a nice way to showcase and demonstrate women and technology.
Bea: And it's not just women in tech, right? Actually, the true STEM is really science, technology, engineering and math.
DU: Yes, correct. Thank you. When you and I met in that keynote, I think it was probably one of the first big-stage opportunities that you might have had at Microsoft. And I was very impressed by your commitment to really do a great job with that.
Bea: You were a good coach Dave, remember that.
DU: Well thank you. When you think about being in a leadership position, and the term leadership voice…You've obviously gotten to a place where you're more confident, more effective, and sharing that voice. What did you do to build up that skill and that confidence? So you could go out and share that vision with others.
Bea: I think to me it was practice and having people like yourself, Dave. And if you're listening to this, and you ever had the opportunity to have a coach that could help you, I think that helps tremendously.
Also, to me, it started at a Microsoft training where I really freaked out because I had to speak. I believe that was before we met, and I had to speak in front of 10 managers or something like that. I was super nervous, I broke down, and somebody came to me and said, “Look, you're here for a reason. If you were chosen to do this presentation it is because you have all the tools that you need.” She gave me a hug. And she said, “I'm going to be there for you. So go for it.” And so I guess that's what I needed at the right time and at that place.
Because from that moment on, I've been able to go and speak to whomever. That doesn't mean I'm not nervous. That doesn't mean I don’t fear that I could fail. I have a lot of responsibility because in a lot of places I'm the only Latina that goes there. But at least those words at that precise time in my life was what I needed for me to go and be confident.
DU: I was just looking at your website earlier, and the term or the word that stuck out to me was courage. You really talked a lot about courage and that seems to be a part of how you've gotten to where you're at. But also, what I just heard was that advice to other people who might be in that position where they know they have good ideas, and they have an opportunity to speak up about what those ideas are. And so really, it's just about having the courage to move forward to do that.
Bea: Correct? Yeah.
DU: That's great. So what are you excited about? You've obviously done great things so far. What are you excited about now? And what other ideas do you have for continuing what you have been doing?
Bea: I'm excited to see the statue, that's something that's going to happen in October, and for my family to see it. You know, to me, my family is very important. And I would love to see kids going back to school, and for us to reach out to schools that we have not worked in. I’d like to continue the work that we've been doing in the online world to reach out to more countries and more kids, and then spread in different languages.
There's a big education gap, especially when it comes to tech. So how do we, with the current content that we have, spread to let's say Brazil or Africa or Asia? How do we get there? So that's something that we really want to invest on in the in the next couple of months or years. If I can inspire one kid, once a year, to follow their dreams, that to me means success. So that's what we're trying to do with Nuevo - how can we bring more people to the STEM journey? How can we help those kids that we teach find their dreams? If it's not STEM, that's fine. In the end, it’s how can we make sure that they have the resources that are needed to dream big?
DU: Great, and then they can find out more through the Nuevo Foundation?
Bea: Correct. Yes. It's all in Nuevofoundation.org. Nuevo means “new” in Spanish. So the reason we call it like that is it was a new approach. We're going to teach anyone, in a fun way, or we try to make it in a fun way, to learn coding. And if you are an adult, and you have never tried it, you want to go for it. You know, it's free. It's available, and all you need is an email address and internet connection.
DU: Awesome. That's great. Well, listen, thank you again. It's good. It's always good to connect. Let's keep in touch and continued best wishes.
Bea: Definitely. Thank you.
