STEM needs women and women NEED STEM! But getting girls into STEM isn’t the real problem.

Prasha Dutra is a TEDx speaker, award-winning podcaster, a career coach for women in STEM and she also works full time as a product development manager. She’s on a mission to help women in STEM believe in their brilliance—and to stay in the profession. Although almost 50% of undergraduates in STEM programs in the US are women, they only make up 28% of the workforce. “We’re not addressing the leaky bucket that is waiting for these women,” she says. “What if keeping women in STEM is more important than getting more girls in STEM?” It’s personal for Prasha. She says she enjoyed the first three to four years of her career but then became lost and couldn’t visualize the next step.  She was on the edge of becoming one of the 40% of women who leave the STEM profession within five years. In our TARATALK conversation, she shares what she did to change the course of her career. Today she loves her work and is continually inspired by the women in STEM she interviews for her popular podcast called Her STEM story. “STEM needs a diverse workforce to solve the complex problems that just can’t wait,” she said in her TEDx talk. “Women also need STEM to get a much-deserved seat at the table and to enjoy the economic and social benefits to working in STEM professions.”