From Volunteer to CEO: Mary’s MakerGirl Journey
5 years ago our CEO, Mary Hadley, joined the second #MakerGirlGoesMobile road trip only 3 days before launch in the summer of 2017. Without any 3D printing experience she quickly learned on her feet how to run a session, repair 3D printers & become a true ChangeMaker.
“I decided to drop the 3 summer courses and take an opportunity of a lifetime. I signed my role as a Truck Team member and 3 days later hit the road.””
“I saw a Facebook post my friend Claire Follis shared about recruiting Truck Team members to join the second road trip. With a personal mission to have opportunities like MakerGirl for my younger self and for more female and non-binary youth to be involved with STEM, I decided to drop the 3 summer courses and take an opportunity of a lifetime. I signed my role as a Truck Team member and 3 days later hit the road.”
That summer Hadley drove over 3,000 miles to 6 states around the midwest to host 37 sessions in 4 weeks. She educated over 520 students how to use CAD design and how to 3D print. After the road trip her relationship with the organization continued to grow. She joined the inaugural Academy at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign where she held many leadership roles including Fundraising Director, Curriculum Director and Managing Director. After graduating, she joined the team full-time and later became the CEO of the organization.
During her time as CEO she has led the organization to expand to new universities and rapidly transitioned the organization to include a full virtual curriculum and expanded the pipeline to go beyond the initial age range of 7-10, to create specialized levels of programming for girls from ages 11-14 and 15-22 She has been recognized on Chicago Inno's 25 under 25 and was shortlisted for two Women in IT Awards for her role.
To commemorate her 5 year MakerVersary we interviewed Mary. Read on to hear some of her favorite memories, lessons she’s learned, and what she sees for MakerGirl in the future:
How would you describe yourself as a girl… and how would you describe yourself now?
“As a young person I was very curious about how the world worked, it is a major reason I was so drawn to the sciences in high school. I never stopped talking to my friends about my interests and what I loved, not much has changed on that side.
Now I am curious about how to change the world and create experiences for the next generation that unlocks their true potential. I am much more confident now to share my interests and work with others in my communities beyond my friends.
I also like to think of myself as a leader for others, someone who encourages their friends, family, community or even staff at MakerGirl to continue to do amazing things and build big ideas to improve the world around us. ”
You’ve been with MakerGirl for 5 years! Did you ever see yourself leading a non-profit?
“I did not think as a student studying Chemistry that I could lead any type of business. Before joining MakerGirl I had never taken a business class and after joining I only have taken one. However, I have always gravitated to leadership roles as I love big ideas and working with passionate people. Once I went on the road trip I saw the possibility of what MakerGirl could give to the younger generation and I was determined to bring these experiences to girls everywhere. When I put my mind to something, there’s really no stopping me, my mom has said this since I was young. MakerGirl was no different for me, I knew there was something unique with what Julia & Lizzy created and I knew it could continue to grow.”
As a young CEO, what brings you the most joy?
“What brings me the most joy is seeing our ChangeMakers find their passion and build incredible experiences. In 2020, 3 of our high school ChangeMakers, Ella Richardson Liz & Sandra, asked to create our second level of curriculum. I said yes and worked with them on what the future beyond our original sessions could look like.
It was the first step in creating the MakerGirl Journey, which is now 5 levels of programming. They all were able to gain incredible experiences from that project, including Sandra winning a scholarship for her tuition to be taken care of.
The ChangeMaker experience gave me the opportunity to become the CEO and it brings me so much joy to give other high school and college students the experience and see what opportunities we can open for students doing incredible work.”
Where do you find inspiration?
“I find inspiration in other young CEOs and activists. Sometimes this work can be overwhelming, but watching others bring to life their vision for what our future can look like gives me confidence and motivation to keep building a better future for students everywhere.
Some of my current inspirations include: Vanessa Castañeda Gill (Social Cypher), Maggie Grout (Thinking Huts) and Rebekah Bruesehoff (Gender Cool), and Ananya Tiwari (SwaTaleem).”
You always ask others how you can support them, who supports you?
“My incredible board, advisors, staff, family & friends. Without them I would not be anywhere. Leaning in and asking for help and support from these groups of individuals has allowed me to continue to push forward. This job can be challenging at times, so learning to use my support system from venting sessions to support on projects has improved my experience for the better.”
What are your 3 biggest accomplishments in your 5 years with MakerGirl?
“Launching the MakerGirl Journey - after transitioning our Level 1 Future Makers to virtual, we had the time to create additional levels of curriculum. With the help of my amazing team we were able to launch the new vision of MakerGirl, a multi-level curriculum where a girl can enter MakerGirl’s programs at age 7 and grow with MakerGirl all the way to becoming a university volunteer.
Hiring 2 additional full-time people - this was something I was so incredibly proud of. I was a full-time team of 1 for 3 years and being able to raise enough money to add additional team members was so special and rewarding, I was able to add people to the vision I was creating and continue to push forward into the new era of MakerGirl.
Switching back in-person programs - our fourth MakerGirl Goes Mobile trip marks the return of our programs hosted in-person. Over the last 2.5 years we have hosted our virtual sessions and it was amazing to see that we could bring back our session live. This trip was planned by our incredible full-time staff and carried out by our amazing Truck Team. I am so excited to see the team educate 600 students in 6 weeks!”
What was your most unexpected lesson in leading for growth?
“Learning when and how to ask for help. When I first started with MakerGirl I knew very little about 3D printing. I had worked with basic CAD and seen videos, but never worked directly with applications in real life, let alone teach a curriculum to students.
During the second road trip, asking for help was the only way I was successful. From asking 3D printing experts how to fix our printers to asking a friend to join the trip for a week to make it work, I quickly learned that to keep moving forward was to ask for help.
This is a lesson I have continued to learn along the way, I only took 1 business class in college, as I studied Chemistry, so always asking other students in the startup space or asking our Co-Founders for advice.”
What’s next for MakerGirl?
“Great question! Over the next few months you will begin to see the return of our MakerGirl Academies at universities across the country as we continue bringing back our in-person experiences. We will also launch our third level of programming, Project Engineers and our Associate Board/Alumni Network.
We are so excited to continue to grow our MakerGirl community and create experiences for our students who join us from age 7, to becoming university students to joining our Alumni Network. We are on track to reaching our goal to educate 10,000 students by the end of 2023! Stay tuned for what’s to come!”
To learn more about MakerGirl, and some of the initiative Mary mentioned here visit www.makergirl.us