In the News

Edie Fraser was once described as “a magical bumblebee” by the founder of Success in the City, an organization of women executives. It’s no coincidence that Fraser is a major creator of buzz, exemplified by a fast-growing initiative that will be celebrated Wednesday on Capitol Hill: a nationwide push to mentor girls and women for careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.

The so-called STEM fields account for more than 70 percent of jobs in America today, but only 13 percent of 12th-grade girls have a strong interest in STEM classes, Fraser said Tuesday in advance of a luncheon with about 20 women lawmakers scheduled for Wednesday in the Hart Senate Office Building.

“We need to excite girls about STEM careers,” Fraser said.

The January launch of Million Women Mentors should go a long way toward starting the process. Less than two months after it began, 53 partners have signed on to offer mentors, and 22 million girls have been identified as prospects for the effort, Fraser said.

Among the corporate sponsors are Cisco, Wal-Mart, General Motors, and Fleishman Hillard, while strategic partners range from groups like the National 4-H Council and Girl Scouts of the USA to professional organizations like the American Institute of Architects and the National Women’s Political Caucus.

“We are relying on our children today to be the innovators of tomorrow,” said Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y. “It’s our job to make sure they are prepared.”

Million Women Mentors is the brainchild of STEMconnector, an online organization started by Fraser in 2011 to bring together business, academia, government, nonprofits, and media in the mission of building STEM careers.

The goal is to have mentors provide opportunities for girls and young women to experience work in the STEM fields. “Exposing girls to successful female role models can help counter negative stereotypes because girls see that people like them can be successful and the stereotype threat can be managed and overcome,” according to MWM’s website.

The idea has been spreading in all sectors. The state of Texas recently pledged to provide 20,000 mentors for girls, and the lieutenant governor of Iowa, Kim Reynolds, plans to ask all her peers in the other 49 states to take on a mentoring role, Fraser said.

Fraser had two prominent mentors growing up in Atlanta—her parents were entrepreneurs who started the Casual Corner clothing stores for women. But she said she was also inspired, while studying at Duke University, by President Kennedy’s appeal to “ask what you can do for your country,” she said.

Right after graduation, Fraser joined the Peace Corps, starting out in Malawi and serving for five years in all. She then built a career in public relations, founding her own firm, Diversity Best Practices, and later becoming a senior consultant to the executive search firm Diversified Search.

She also has served as publisher of CEO Magazine, The Diversity Primer, and The Diversity Officer, sits on the advisory board of Enterprising Women magazine, and has written two books: Risk to Riches and Do Your Giving While You Are Living.

Lawmakers who will be honored Wednesday for their mentoring efforts include Sens. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., and Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, and Reps. Grace Napolitano, D-Calif., and Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla.

After the Hill event, a reception is planned for nearly 20 women currently serving as ambassadors to the United States.