We need to understand that representation matters, and girls of any shape, size, and personality can be successful in STEM fields.

Today's business landscape is constantly evolving. Despite this rapid evolution, however, it can still sometimes feel as though the changes we desire are not happening fast enough. These feelings are especially true when considering topics like career progression and, most recently, women's leadership.

Did you know that the mathematician who calculated the trajectories for NASA's Apollo 11 flight to the Moon was an African-American woman? Her name is Katherine Johnson. Thanks to the movie Hidden Figures, her story, and that of two other brilliant African-American women, Dorothy Vaughan and Mary Jackson, is finally being told.

In Canada, women remain underrepresented in the STEM fields, making up 22 per cent of the STEM workforce. Women earn nearly half of the bachelor's degrees in science but only a third of the PhDs. They are also underpaid, with a 7.5 per cent wage gap.

Sometimes having a mentor can make all the difference in choosing a career path or field of study. Mentoring youth has positive impact on their development and academic achievement. Mentoring is also critical in helping youth explore and develop their interest in the fields of STEM -- science, technology, engineering and math.

When I first began researching this topic, I was shocked to discover that we still don't have equal pay for men and women. It wasn't ignorance behind my incorrect understanding, it was the fact that I thought that in this decade, we had come past that challenge at the very least.