ALEXIS FRY
UNITED STATES, 18
Project: weSTEM
Basic Human Needs: Education
Alexis attended her first hackathon in high school. Her feelings of excitement soon turned to anger and isolation, as the male-dominated room snickered at her product pitch. One month later in April 2019, Alexis founded weSTEM to create a diverse generation in technology by democratizing access to opportunities and building an inclusive global community. weSTEM is reshaping the face of innovation and creating a world where women and non-binary individuals have equal space to contribute algorithms that shape the future of humanity. weSTEM’s online community connects members to support and learn from each other, offers access to curated competitions, internships and fellowships, and has grown to 1000+ people from 28 U.S. states and 20 countries. In the summer of 2019, Alexis conducted research with Girls Who Code to examine the lack of diversity in technology. They found that current algorithms are locked in racial and gender discrimination within society, and an equitable future was dependent on building a diverse generation to create AI products. Alexis focused the mission of weSTEM to increase diversity within AI by launching virtual AI ethics workshops and adding AI-oriented opportunities to their programming. In November 2020 weSTEM partnered with Major League Hacking to host their first Creatica Hackathon, attended by 500+ youth from 20 countries. In 2021 Alexis will grow the Creatica team and scope of topics, and expand the weSTEM Fellowship Program and their online community. She believes an equitable society is dependent on diversity among those who develop the algorithms of our future.