The Female Founder Show
Are you ready to be inspired! Join Bridget Fitzpatrick, the co-founder of ASBN, CBT News and ASBN Coworks, as she brings you the inspiring stories of America's trailblazing female entrepreneurs. Each week, dive into dynamic interviews packed with game-changing business strategies and expert advice. For more great content be sure to check out ASBN.com – your ultimate destination for everything small business. Get ready to be motivated and empowered!
The Female Founder Show
Ep. 10: Breaking Barriers in STEM Education: Stephanie Espy's Journey to Empower Girls
How do you leave a cushy corporate job to blaze your own trail in the world of STEM education? Meet Stephanie Espy, a visionary who turned her passion for math and science into a mission to empower young girls through her coaching business, Math SP. Stephanie's remarkable story begins in a family of female engineers and has led her to tackle the gender gap head-on. Listen as she recounts the challenges and triumphs of moving from a high-paying role at BP to creating a platform that inspires young minds, especially girls, to pursue careers in STEM.
Stephanie opens up about the fears and sacrifices that come with entrepreneurship, from working around the clock to making significant financial adjustments. She also introduces "STEM Gems," her groundbreaking book that showcases 44 women in various STEM fields, reinforcing the idea that visibility is crucial for inspiration. This episode sheds light on the importance of early exposure to STEM careers and how to keep girls interested in these fields through middle school.
Join us as we explore the joy Stephanie feels when her former students succeed, particularly in roles where women of color are underrepresented. Discover how she balances her many roles and emphasizes self-care to stay motivated and positive. With plans to expand her impact through collaborations with schools, families, and corporate partners, Stephanie's journey is a testament to the transformative power of passion and dedication in education. Don't miss this inspiring conversation on closing the gender gap in STEM.
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This is the Female Founder Show with host and entrepreneur Bridget Fitzpatrick, exclusively on ASBN.
Bridget Fitzpatrick:Welcome everyone to the Female Founder Show. Today's guest is a trailblazer who is making a difference in the field that has historically been dominated by men. As we all know, women have been underrepresented in STEM careers, which stands for science, technology, engineering and mathematics, but our guest, stephanie Espy, is changing that narrative. She has founded a coaching business that empowers young people to excel in academics and gain entrance into college and graduate school programs. Stephanie is also the author of STEM Gems how 44 Women Shine in Science, technology, engineering and Mathematics and how you Can Too. Her work is truly inspiring and we are so happy to have her on the show today. Stephanie, thank you so much for joining us.
Stephanie Epsy:I'm so excited.
Bridget Fitzpatrick:Thanks for having me today. I would love to start with your journey and how you what the inspiration was behind starting Math SP.
Stephanie Epsy:Really it was because I was not seeing enough girls and women in my STEM classes growing up, both in high school and college. But really it was when I got into the workplace and I was the only engineer female engineer in a lot of my different work environments, I started asking myself like, why are there so few in the different rooms I was in the labs I was in, and you know that was something that was creeping inside of me, you know, starting in college, in my different classes, and so. But it blew my mind when I actually got my first internship and you know was the only female engineer and I was just an intern, yeah, so I was like you know where's everyone else? And that stayed with me for years. I had never thought about starting a business at that time. It was definitely not something I was thinking about, um, but as time went on and as I got more and more experience and more just thoughts around, like just questions around, why, then I would ask myself, well, what can I do about it? Like how can I bring more women into the career that I chose and that I love so much? And so that is essentially, you know, a very brief response as to how I ended up starting Math SP.
Stephanie Epsy:It was really, you know, I remember having conversations with my family and both my parents are engineers. So my dad in particular. He always has emphasized math and how important math is. Math is the backbone of really all STEM careers. And so he said you know, if you can get more girls interested in math, then perhaps they'll be interested in engineering and other STEM areas.
Stephanie Epsy:And so I started with like okay, I'm going to make everyone love math. I love it or I'm going to help them understand math better, make it more simple and help them have a connection to the real world, something they care about. If I can do that, maybe I can convince them that you know, see the math, see the world in which way I see the world, and inspire some girls to go into STEM. Yes, and so that's really how Math SP started. But I also grew up watching my mother, who's an engineer, tutor math, like on the weekends to like a lot of kids in the neighborhood. So you know she just has a passion for math. She actually has a degree in math and engineering, and so watching her do that growing up it was just something that was a part of me. Even when I was in college, I always tutored, always helped kids in math and science, and so then I was like, if I can do more of this more intentionally, then I can, you know, be more focused about helping to bring more girls into engineering and STEM.
Bridget Fitzpatrick:That's great. Now, it was probably really all you knew and you probably, when you, like you said, when you got into your internship, you were probably shocked because you were from a household that was women engineers, exactly, and my aunt.
Stephanie Epsy:I have aunts who are in engineering. I have cousins my sister, you know. So a lot of us are. And in my high school, you know the girls we were, we ran the world you know, we ran we were the ones in the classroom that thrived and shined in math.
Stephanie Epsy:So, you know, it was definitely college and more specifically, internships while I was in college that really, you know, opened up my mind to the big gender gap in STEM and, you know, just feeling like I feel like the only one, I've never felt that only experience until, like you know, until that first internship and it was just every opportunity I've ever had from that point was almost the same in that sense of where's everyone?
Stephanie Epsy:Why aren't there more? There were women around me, but they were in administration, they were in HR, they were in other parts of the business, but they were not in my role, they were not in my immediate workspace. So I just, you know, wanted, just always wondered why. And then fast forward, years later I was like okay.
Stephanie Epsy:I think part of the problem is just, it starts early, early exposure, and it starts with having a solid foundation in math and science subjects. And so I can you know, do something at the early phase, then maybe I can you know can help close this gender gap.
Bridget Fitzpatrick:Yeah, and you are. It's great work, thank you. Now you worked for some very large companies, bp being one of them. What was the transition like, going from working in such a huge corporate world to starting your own business?
Stephanie Epsy:It was. You know it was big. You know, like you said, I've worked for a couple of large companies and, you know, I always saw myself in a smaller company, even if it was like a startup type of company, just because I always felt like I had, you know so much, I was just so ambitious, I was ready to, like you know, make big changes, to, like you know, make big changes. Um, so, but I'm, and I've always been, that person that stepped up and um ran for class president and, you know, just wanted to um, impact others in the biggest way I could. And so when I first started my business, it was scary, Sure, but it was also exciting because I felt like I had a lot more room to make a bigger impact than I did in a larger company, where you're so big that you're just one of many people that are trying to get to a certain level, one of many people that are trying to get to a certain level. So here I'm, like I'm starting out, you know, at the top in terms of starting something brand new, and I have the ability to make a lot of impact if I, you know, if I set it up correctly and, you know, make the correct make, the make, the introductions and the relationships that I need. So, um, it was scary, but it was also very exciting because I knew that it was. It was sort of a training.
Stephanie Epsy:Having gone through all the leadership roles I had up until that point, All of that training allowed me to feel very confident in starting a business and giving it a try and I always felt like, if it doesn't work out, then you know you have something to fall back on. Yeah, All right, I can get a job, I can go back to corporate America, I just go back. But if I don't try, then I want to wonder and I don't want that you know what if, or you know if I would have just tried something new or different, you know what would have happened? So it was, it was something that wouldn't leave me, yeah. So I knew I had to just give it a shot. And even if I tried, it didn't work out or I was like this is not for me. Then I knew, you know, there were other options out there.
Bridget Fitzpatrick:Now you have degrees from MIT, university of California, berkeley and Emory, and you fully prepared to start your own business, as you thought. But then you still said that you were scared. You might've asked what you do. You remember what you were scared about?
Stephanie Epsy:Yeah, because I left a very high paying job to start a business.
Bridget Fitzpatrick:You know people always. What am I doing you?
Stephanie Epsy:know like, yes, I walked away from something that was very lucrative, where you know it, yeah, stable, steady income, regular income to start a business. So, yeah, that's scary right now. The good part was that I was. I felt like what's the worst that can happen? I only, at this point, I'll have to take care of myself, right, you know, it wasn't no kids at the time, so it was like worst case scenario of I'll go back and live with my parents.
Stephanie Epsy:I'll make it work right or I'll get a job, you know but at this point it's just me I'm taking care of, so I can take care of myself and I can, you know, work within the limits, right, boundaries that I have. So it was scary. At the same time, I knew I was able to cut out, yeah, things. If I need to cut them out and and manage my lifestyle until it got to the point where, you know it's I'm doing okay, yeah, um, so for a while, I was working full time and I was working on my business.
Stephanie Epsy:So it wasn't just like a clean, like a business, without having that, you know, that comfort, right, so I was balancing like the two, yeah, and I had a lot, of, a lot of flexibility on my full-time job and so it allowed me space to, you know, just build and I was maximizing every minute of the day. You know, I was just fitting in. I was young and, just, you know, I was motivated and inspired and excited. So I was just, you know, double time, right, right, and so that's what I did for three years. And then, at the point where I felt, um, you know, ready and my income from business was in a place where I felt like, okay, yes, I can pay my bills, yeah.
Stephanie Epsy:Right, you know it's on it's on it's up from this point, Um, and also my job was moving me to a different city, and so I knew that I wasn't going to make that move. I was going to stay and again work on the business. So, um, that was a time that said, okay, the time is now you know and um.
Stephanie Epsy:But yeah, it was initially really scary because I the comfort, you know, of having you know, knowing that you're going to make those payments every month or what have you, is what makes it a little bit scary in the beginning.
Voiceover:But I think that's why you have people that go in business with other people co-founders or you have grants.
Stephanie Epsy:you know you apply for grants or funding just so that you know that you have a little while, a little time, you know, before you have to really fully make it work.
Bridget Fitzpatrick:Yeah, so I knew if I fell I would be fine at that point in time and you knew that if you had to make sacrifices, that you were ready to do that. I think that's huge when you're starting a business, that there are, no matter what, there are going to be some circumstances where you're going to have to sacrifice a little bit, whether it be your time or your money.
Stephanie Epsy:Absolutely, I was sacrificing a lot. You know, like I said, I was working around the clock and I was fine with that. I wasn't traveling as much for fun.
Stephanie Epsy:I was fine with that. Yeah, I wasn't shopping, I wasn't doing a lot of things that you know you do when you're kind of like just in a steady state. I was trying something, I was building something, so all of my energy and effort and resources went into the building, yeah, and that meant not hanging out as much or just splurging on different things. So, you know, and that was fine, because I was so focused and so passionate about starting this business that everything, nothing else, was seemed important at the time.
Bridget Fitzpatrick:Absolutely Now. You're the author of this inspiring book STEM Gems how 44 Women Shine in Science, technology, engineering and Mathematics, and how you Can Too. Can you share some highlights from the book and what you want your readers to take away?
Stephanie Epsy:Yeah, so I wrote that book because I felt that women in STEM are not visible enough, especially in mainstream. When you turn on the television, when you watch a movie, it's not prominent enough. And these are careers and women in careers that are just lesser known careers. They're behind the scenes, you know, and so behind the camera, so they go hidden a lot, and so I want to shine the light, I want to bring to the forefront some amazing careers, some amazing women in these careers that are just doing phenomenal work but, again, are just not as recognized as they should be, right? So, um? So I think when, when you read this book, you're going to be open to a world of opportunities that you may not have ever known existed, you know, because you can't be what you can't see, right?
Stephanie Epsy:I think I really firmly believe that you know until something is introduced or exposed to you, then you don't know what you don't know.
Bridget Fitzpatrick:Right, you don't know what you don't know.
Stephanie Epsy:Exactly, and so for a lot of people, when they read this book, this is their first time learning about a lot of these careers, and so not only they learn about different careers in STEM, they're also meeting different women in these different careers, so they have an opportunity to walk away with a new set of role models that they didn't know existed prior to reading this book. So it was important to highlight a wide range of careers 44 of them. I wish I could have highlighted more, but I want the book to be too big.
Bridget Fitzpatrick:Right, you got a lot in 44. I could have kept going Right, but I was like you know what.
Stephanie Epsy:This is enough for now, book one. But yeah, I wanted to highlight a range in every STEM area. So, within science, you know, people think about scientists but they don't think about the different types of scientists and different things you can do under that science umbrella. Same thing with technology and engineering, math. There's so many different careers that fall into those buckets and that overlap several of those areas that you know. Again, it's not, they're not, as heard of, as you know, widely known, right, um, so I want to shine the light.
Stephanie Epsy:I wanted to just expose these careers early to parents, to educators to students, so they can think about them and they can decide is this for me? You know you. You know you don't want to. You know the worst thing is that you go into your adult life and you're like man, I never heard about that.
Bridget Fitzpatrick:I didn't know it existed. I would have been totally interested in that career had I known. I didn't know about several of the jobs in here. You know things that are really cool, like the woman that worked for Disney and did the shading technology on the um.
Stephanie Epsy:Yeah, so that's the thing we watch all of these movies, but we don't always think about how they're created, how they're made, the technology that's used to make this, these animations come to life, and so there's people you know behind the scenes that are making your favorite movies, and that's technology. Um so yeah, and for me, having loved math all of my life, I'd never heard of an actuary ever until, probably, I was an adult, and that's a career that I would have considered had I known it existed, right, you know. So I think that shining the light on these careers, at least now they're mainstream, people know they exist, and then you can make an informed decision about you know where you want your life to go, your career to go with you know, with more information, yeah, so do you think they're not highlighting these careers enough in high school or even earlier?
Bridget Fitzpatrick:Where should it start?
Stephanie Epsy:It really starts early. You know, I I promote this book to elementary, middle high. You know, I think as long as you can read, yeah, um, then this never too early to be exposed to different opportunities. Um, so, you know, even fourth, fifth grade reading level can pick up this book and read it and voila, you know now you're thinking about different careers in STEM. In elementary school they're certainly doing hands-on STEM activities. You know, they're learning about science and they're doing different things in the classroom. So connecting those things to a career.
Bridget Fitzpatrick:You know, yeah, why are we doing? This Is what a lot of kids are probably thinking. Why do I need to dissect a frog? Why do I? Yeah?
Stephanie Epsy:exactly. So it's making it very linear. It's like, okay, here's an activity and we can do a fun experiment, we can build something, but how do you apply this to real life? So you know something you care about what career can I go into? I really love this activity.
Stephanie Epsy:So I think that's the part that you know it's easily, um, can easily be done, because there's people in the room are doing these things, you know, and so it's just connecting, you know, activity to career, a career to a real person, a woman who is, you know, in the, in working in that area and making a difference in the world.
Stephanie Epsy:And so I think that's started as early as you know. Definitely elementary school, but specifically, you know, I think middle school is my sweet spot, because girls tend to shy away from math as it gets more challenging in middle school, and so, you know, we have to keep them, we have to keep them engaged, we have to help them understand how, again, what they're doing in the classroom applies to real life. And so that's the age group where you start taking more tests. You go through puberty, there's all these other challenges that are coming into play, and so you really have to be more intentional about keeping their interests in STEM and making sure they have the right role models, mentors. All of that is critically important in middle school and beyond, so yeah, definitely.
Bridget Fitzpatrick:So now for those women watching that might be thinking about starting a business, what advice would you have for them?
Stephanie Epsy:At least for me. I felt more like I can go for this because I was at an age where if I fall, there's other things. I think when you are in your thirties and forties and fifties and you know starting a business, it's a little bit more scary because you probably have a family or you have, you know bills and all these things.
Stephanie Epsy:So I think finding community there's community out there of women who are just like you, you know just like them, who are just now thinking about switching careers or starting a business, and um having that community around you just makes it way more um reasonable, doable, manageable, cause you have people alone who you're doing it alongside, I think, when you're doing it in a silo. People are like you're crazy.
Voiceover:What are?
Stephanie Epsy:you thinking You're too this, you're too that, you're too old, you're too whatever you know. But there's examples of women who have, you know, single, single moms, you know, with many kids just starting businesses. I mean there's so many examples. I think, following people like that on social media, having that community around you of other women that are also now starting a business, that makes all the difference, I think, for me, when I was at, when I started again, I was young but I also had a community. I was just finishing my MBA at Emory and so I had that community of like-minded entrepreneurial people around me that you know no no boundaries.
Stephanie Epsy:You're just like I'm going for this, and I had people around me like, yeah, of course you're going for this. Yes, no questions, you know, yeah, you're doing this, and so that that made a huge difference. So you have to have support.
Stephanie Epsy:You really do If it's not in your family or your close friends find it. Find it and that will. I think that will empower you to take that leap, um, and go for it. And then, if you have to do what I did and keep that full-time job, that income going while you're starting a business, there's nothing wrong with that either. You know, if you're able to manage both, um, then you know, maybe that's the way to go, so you're not just completely, you know, leaving a full time job behind and a steady paycheck to just, you know, try your luck. I mean, you may decide, let's just keep, let me try this while I'm still in my full time job, yeah. Or give yourself a couple of years before you go full time, you know. So there's ways to do it before you go full time. So there's ways to do it. So I just encourage women to go for it Because, again, for me, the worst thing I could have done is say I wish I would have done this when I had the chance.
Stephanie Epsy:Living life with that regret. If that's something that you cannot live with, then you kind of have to do it Like it's just going to eat at you. You know you have to give it a shot.
Bridget Fitzpatrick:And it's easy to listen to those, the people that might say what are you crazy? What are you thinking about? Why are you going to leave this great job and go do? Or? You've never done anything like that, you can't do that, or you don't have the right skills, or whatever. It's so easy to listen to that and believe it. So what you said about the support group is so important, I think, great advice, because you do need the encouragement and the inspiration to be around like-minded people and the people that want to cheer you on every day For sure.
Stephanie Epsy:And just find that one role model, that someone who's done it, who's in your same boat, whether it be multiple kids, single mom, you know, older in career, whatever it is, Find someone who's done it and then let that person like be your motivation. Um, there's a podcast I love called how I built this.
Bridget Fitzpatrick:Oh, I listen to it all the time.
Stephanie Epsy:It's amazing, and that podcast you just hear so many stories and you find different nuggets that just like sit with you Right. Right, and it gives you that extra thing you need to like.
Bridget Fitzpatrick:okay, I'm going for it. It also gives you ideas. We listen, I listen with my husband all the time and we'll we'll finish listening and we'll say, oh my gosh, what a great idea. We could do that in this on our business, and do it this way, or maybe a little bit different, but so.
Stephanie Epsy:so in such inspiring stories and encouraging so I think that is how you get inspiration to actually take that leap. You know, by finding people who've done it and having them to motivate you to take the leap and do it as well, and some of the stories that you hear, you can't believe some of the things that they've overcome Absolutely.
Bridget Fitzpatrick:You know, you think, oh wow, I thought I had it bad. These people, you know Exactly, didn't know it Exactly, yeah, exactly.
Stephanie Epsy:And I think, after you hear those stories, you see that they've been able to be successful. Then you know again, then you tell yourself, if they can do it, why can't I? You know, at least try Right, Right.
Bridget Fitzpatrick:Exactly so. Let's go back to MathSP for a second. Can you share a success story, maybe from one of the young women that you've coached?
Stephanie Epsy:Yeah, so MathSP is building foundation in math and science subjects, and so I mean I started MathSP in 2009. So it's been over a decade of just success stories which is awesome, right it's helping students.
Stephanie Epsy:It's helping the light bulbs to go off. It's helping them to make connections. I've had students who were with me in middle school and high school and now coming back, you know, thinking about going to business school, and so now they need support with, like, their GMAT, you know math and other things, or just sharing you know things that they've done. So I had one young lady who I probably worked with early on in Math SP so maybe two or three years in um who recently sent me a message on LinkedIn and told me that she's now a computer scientist and man.
Stephanie Epsy:I tell you, I screenshotted that message and I just like look at it from time to time. I mean it's just, sometimes you don't even know how you impact people, you don't know it right away. It doesn't come the next day, the next week, like that came years later and I was like you have just made my day.
Stephanie Epsy:You just made my day Like wow, that's why you're doing it. Yeah, I mean, I appreciate her reaching out, letting me know you know, cause, again, it's not instant ratification all the time, right, um, and so you just take it when it comes. But that, in particular, just resonated with me because it was out the blue, unexpected, you know, and it just really warmed my heart. So when I can not only help them with you know their schoolwork and just have better grades, better understanding, starting a foundation, but then they also go on to study a STEM subject and then they go on to a STEM career, I know that's. That's just again that made my day. I was like I'm done for the day.
Voiceover:I felt so good, you know so that was that was just.
Stephanie Epsy:That's just one person, you know, so I don't always know the long-term impact. You know I know more shorter. But the longer term impact is that she's thriving in a career right now in computer science, an area where women are definitely underrepresented, especially women of color, and so to have been a part of her trajectory, it's just beautiful. Yeah, that's great.
Bridget Fitzpatrick:There's probably so many more like her. They just don't always think to send a message, so it's really great that she did that.
Stephanie Epsy:Yeah, I mean, there's some, definitely, that I have kept in touch with throughout the years and I definitely know their story. There are some people I've just come in contact with in just sporadically, in different ways, or have sat on a panel somewhere or, you know, spoke at an event somewhere and then, you know, have become in contact with people and have helped them in different ways. So there's different, you know, there's different stories, different things, but and then people who've read the book have gone through the program, because I do have programs in different schools that are, you know, around the country, as well as summer camps and summits that I do. So there's a lot of different ways that I'm able to touch girls and, and you know, and I've gotten so many emails and and feedback and messages just from parents, girls just letting me know that how, how much they appreciate it and have been inspired by, you know, by it so.
Stephanie Epsy:I just yeah, it just makes me feel really good yeah.
Bridget Fitzpatrick:That's great. Now how do you maintain your very positive person? I love that, it's contagious. How do you maintain the positivity even on the challenging days? Do you have any kind of routines or anything that you do to kind of stay in the right head space?
Stephanie Epsy:Oh, meditation, good, yes, I try to start it in my day with meditation. So, um, especially on a challenging day I have, if I have to walk away from my computer and just do a 15 minute meditation and I'm not very good at meditating either, by the way. Like it, you know, I'm one of those people that my mind is still going a million miles an hour, while I'm meditating.
Stephanie Epsy:I want to say that very loosely, but I meditate but, I try to meditate, yeah right, but somehow just listening to the voice and just trying to meditate does help to refocus and to calm down. And to you know, okay, let me go back at it.
Stephanie Epsy:So I'm good for stopping in the middle of an email or whatever, after a call and say, okay, I need 10 minutes to do a peace meditation or kindness meditation or courage meditation you know there's so many different types and so that really helps. Um, I'm also, I exercise, you know, at least four days a week and I think that also helps. You know, it's, it's one of those things that I feel, if I feel good, um, that I'm able to come across and do better with work, right, even those again, those things I have to do that I don't necessarily want to do or like to do, or have those difficult conversations. I can do that better after an exercise. Or, you know, cycling, I like to cycle or meditating, so that helps Um and then just you know celebrating little things, you know try to.
Stephanie Epsy:You know, oh, I got a grant, I'm going to celebrate. Or oh, you know, I got like that day when I got that message from her.
Bridget Fitzpatrick:This is great.
Stephanie Epsy:I'm celebrating the little things. Um, that helps too, because that you know those things are what's there to remind you that you're on the right path. Yeah, and so, when you have those detours and when you have those moments where it's like, oh, it's too much, you know, I wish I had this, I wish I had that, I wish, wish. Yes, you know I'm tired, I'm. You know, all those those little things are there to remind you you're on the right path. Keep going.
Bridget Fitzpatrick:Yeah, I'm so glad that you brought up the self wellness, because so many of us females mothers, your mother, you've got a book, a business, all of these things going on that so often we forget about taking care of ourselves, and that's so important.
Stephanie Epsy:It's so important and I think, honestly, at a certain point it was it's more critical. You know, I think back in the back in my twenties, thirties, I could not. I could, I wouldn't even think about it, I would just keep going. Yeah, you know, now I'm definitely more intentional about, like, taking a break, you know, working out, going out for dinner, meeting a friend for a drink those things are crucial. So it's almost important getting the work done in my mind. So having the balance is really, really important, right, right.
Bridget Fitzpatrick:Now, where do you see yourself and Math SP in the next five to 10 years?
Stephanie Epsy:It's a really good question and I've thought about this and it. You know it changes a lot. I am in a point now so I had a MathSP, which is a for-profit, and I also have STEM Gems, which is a nonprofit, so I've sort of two businesses two things I'm kind of spending my time between the two.
Stephanie Epsy:Mathsp has kind of been on the cruise control for a while and so I'm ready. I'm ready to re-energize and take it to another level. So that's really. That means expansion. With COVID has come a few opportunities, because before COVID we were doing mostly in-person workshops and sessions with students and meetings with parents. Everything was in person. And so with COVID of course everything went virtual. So now I'm in a whole new virtual space which now is a hybrid. It's both in-person and virtual. So that's actually been really nice at expanding and reaching students and families exactly outside of the Atlanta area.
Stephanie Epsy:So I'm looking to take that even further and expand to other regions and reach more students, and so I've always had this growth model and I've put it on pause because I was starting to put a lot more time, energy, into the nonprofit STEM gyms and build a programs around STEM gyms.
Bridget Fitzpatrick:finish the books. It takes a lot to start a new yeah.
Stephanie Epsy:So just kind of cruise control with Math SP and then really building with STEM gyms, and so now it's still finding the right balance between the two. But Math SP has a lot of opportunity to reach students. You know really everywhere because of you know, we can be virtual, we can work with a student in the middle of you know, um, georgia, you know not anywhere close we can you know we can have.
Stephanie Epsy:We can hire coaches all over and match them with students who don't live within 20 miles of them. Like before, we're only working with students within a certain mile radius, you know so that that was very limiting.
Stephanie Epsy:Yeah for sure. Now we don't have those limits per se. So there's a lot of things, a lot of growth opportunities that I really want to focus on. And really, just again, the mission is still the same. The mission is to help students have a better foundation in math and science and connected to the real world. All of our coaches are STEM degrees or STEM professionals or students or professionals, so we're all very passionate about STEM. So you're working with someone who is not just going to help you you know, ace your next test but it's going to help you see how important what you're doing is in the real world and how you can have a career doing just like we do, and so I think that's really the beauty of working with one of our coaches. So you're going to get someone who's super passionate about STEM and then also helping you to make those connections, and so, again, there's so much opportunity to do that with. I mean, there's only so many people we've actually touched yeah.
Bridget Fitzpatrick:The sky's the limit. You've reached the limit, yeah.
Stephanie Epsy:There's. There's a lot more people that we haven't reached, and so we're working with more schools now, reaching more families, more partnerships, more corporate partnerships as well, yeah.
Bridget Fitzpatrick:Well, I would love to have you back before five years, hopefully, and we can recap and see where you are and see how things are going and we can talk more about this. But thank you so much for coming on the show with me today. It's been. It's been great.
Stephanie Epsy:It's been my pleasure. Thanks for having me.
Voiceover:This is the female founder show with host and entrepreneur Bridget Fitzpatrick, exclusively on ASBN. If you're a female founder and would like to help other female founders with your inspiring story, we would love to hear from you.