‘Trailblazer means carving your own path. It doesn't necessarily have to be something that's not done before but done in your own way. Love Tech embodies that.’

Those are the words of Lisa Karran. She’s a committee member at Love Tech, who are the Trailblazer Category Partner in Gef’s 30 Under 30 this year.

Haven’t heard of Gef’s 30 Under 30? Have you been living under a rock? I don’t blame you. The weather’s been awful.

Gef’s 30 Under 30 is an annual campaign celebrating the brilliant work being done by young people on the island and it’s Love Tech’s first time being involved.

‘It was fantastic’ Lisa tells me when I ask how she’s found the experience.

‘We were really happy to get involved because it's so aligned with our mission, our values, and it's wonderful to be supporting and uplifting young people and celebrating what they've achieved so far. Not only that but encouraging them and other young people to do amazing things or do small things that make a difference.’

Lisa, a trailblazer herself coming from Love Tech, got to meet the category champs at Gef’s 30 Under 30 Winners’ Party and has ended up recruiting a number of people who want to get more involved with their organisation, as volunteers and mentors. The perfect success story to come from Gef’s 30 Under 30 if ever there was one.

‘We know girls are heavily influenced by role models’ Lisa tells me. ‘So, if they only see men doing STEM, they’ll think it's only for men. That's why we have all the STEM mentors at Love Tech, because they play a key part in that role modelling.’

It makes sense that Love Tech is partnering the Trailblazer Category as the organisation is a trailblazer itself. It was set up in 2018 with an aim to create more learning experiences and opportunities for girls and women of any age in STEM (Science, Tech, Engineering and Math) fields, which have always been largely male dominated.

‘Love Tech was started because it was a bunch of women who thought, we've been working in male dominated industries and we want to make a difference to other women and put our hand out and help those up behind us.’

Access to education is a massive factor in the breaking down of gender stereotypes in jobs, and it’s something Love Tech is homing in on.

Their Education Initiative (sponsored by PwC) sees the organisation visit primary schools offering a role model or speaker to discuss a specific topic or STEM in general, whilst also highlighting the careers and jobs women are doing in those areas in the island.

And the work they’re doing seems to be paying off. Since starting, Lisa told me she’s seen an increase in the number of girls getting interested in STEM.

‘We were just reflecting on our summer open day.

‘That was a few weeks ago at the Manx Museum. We had 200 kids and parents there. We do it every year and have definitely seen an increase in girls coming.

‘At first, it was, a really high percentage of boys, and now it's different. There are definitely more girls there.

‘There are more mums coming as well, which is also something we really encourage. We purposely get parents to stay, because it's important for them to see what their kids are doing, what they're engaging with, and what's possible for them.’

I asked Lisa what the benefits are of having more women in STEM fields.

‘There's nothing that isn't a benefit’ she told me, exuding admirable passion.

‘There is a recruitment problem in STEM fields across the board. Those jobs are generally high quality, high paid roles that will be needed in the future, we'll always need people in STEM fields.

‘All the research tells us that equality is a good thing for everybody. It's not just good for women, it's good for men as well, equally, racial diversity and sexual orientation and everything else that comes into diversity is positive.

‘Everybody's better off with diversity. Boards perform better. Companies perform better. So, I think for us, it's not about equality of outcome, it's about equality of opportunity. And that's the important thing, that's the key message for us.’

Love Tech has a whole host of events coming up that they’d love you to be involved with. To find out more, head on over to their funky website at lovetech.im.