Square Pizza Podcast

The Square Pizza podcast focuses on the intersection of education, innovation, and diversity. We host and interview leaders doing incredible work around the country to ensure all students have access to an equitable education. The Square Pizza podcast is hosted by SchermCo, a social-impact implementation firm that offers strategic implementation and project management services to schools and education-focused organizations across the country.

Welcome back to another episode of the #squarepizzapod. This week, Greg is in conversation with Abi Olukeye, Founder + CEO of Smart Girls HQ.  One fun fact you will learn about Abi is her love for tv shows, especially Ozark.

In this episode:

• Big picture vision for the Smart Girls HQ
• Why outreach and community service is so important despite all the growth
• Things learned as a IOT strategy development at Fortune 500
• How to write a proposal (received $256,000 from the National Science Foundation (NSF) & VELA Education)
• Leadership Charlotte experience
• Bridging the gap of racial equity and equality in education

Abi Olukeye is the founder and CEO of Smart Girls HQ, A learning platform to facilitate STEM career education with a focus on female learners and non-traditional learning spaces. Core offerings include parent education for STEM informal learning at RaisingSmartGirls.com and Dear Smart Girl kits, a project-based career-focused STEM curriculum for girls. Her vision is to create an ecosystem of products that when used together are a powerful catalyst for sustaining long-term engagement in STEM for young girls. Her work has been supported by the National Science Foundation and the Department of Education through Small Business Innovation Research(SBIR) Awards, the NC Idea Foundation, and the Vela Education Fund.

Previously, she led Internet of Things (IOT) strategy development and digital transformation projects at a diversified Fortune 500 manufacturing company. She has over fifteen years of professional and leadership
experience spanning new product development, technology commercialization, process improvement and
strategy.

Abi is a member of the Computer Science K12 Standards Committee for North Carolina and serves on the board ofCSEdResearch.org. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from Virginia Tech and MBA from Indiana University. She and her husband live in Charlotte, NC, and have two young daughters who
greatly inspire her work.