Her Lab Co. exists because we don't want the next generation of girls to spend thirty years discovering something they could have believed about themselves from the very beginning.
As a venture-backed founder, I know firsthand what it feels like to build something from nothing. But I also know how long it took me to believe I was even capable of doing it.
Like many women, I grew up believing success meant getting good grades, earning a degree, finding a stable job, and climbing the corporate ladder. I wasn't discouraged from entrepreneurship—I simply was never introduced to it as a viable path.
No one ever explicitly told me I couldn't start a company.
But no one ever told me I could, either.
That distinction matters.
For nearly three decades, my understanding of work was limited to W-2 employment and corporate America. It wasn't until I stepped into entrepreneurship that I realized people would actually pay for something I created. That I could identify a problem, build a solution, create value, employ others, and generate wealth—not just for myself, but for my community.
Once that mental shift happened, I couldn't stop asking one question:
What if girls never had to wait until they were thirty to think this way?
As I've built companies, raised venture capital, and led engineering and product teams, I've repeatedly found myself in rooms where women were vastly outnumbered. My own technical teams have largely consisted of men. During my experience in Y Combinator—one of the world's most respected startup accelerators—I was surrounded by brilliant founders, but the overwhelming majority were men.
That isn't because women lack intelligence, creativity, or ambition.
It's because many girls are never shown that innovation belongs to them.
The Why Behind Her Lab Co
We often introduce STEM through robotics competitions, coding camps, or building computers. Those experiences are valuable, but they don't resonate with every child. For many girls, STEM feels like someone else's world before they've even had the opportunity to explore it.
Her Lab Co. asks a different question. We start with, “What if”
What if STEM started with the products girls are consumed by and use every day?
What if chemistry begins with creating lip balm instead of memorizing formulas?
What if engineering is learned through designing packaging?
What if biology is explored through skincare?
What if mathematics becomes pricing, manufacturing, and profit margins?
What if entrepreneurship isn't an afterthought but an integral part of the learning process?
When a girl formulates body butter, creates a fragrance, develops a nail polish line, or manufactures a cosmetic product, she isn't "just making beauty products."
She's learning chemistry.
She's testing hypotheses.
She understands ingredients and formulations.
She's solving manufacturing challenges.
She's learning branding, consumer behavior, financial modeling, supply chains, and product-market fit.
She's becoming an innovator.
And when she takes that product one step further—building a business plan, understanding her customer, calculating costs, pitching investors, and learning what it means to own rather than simply consume—she begins to see herself not only as someone who can work for a company, but as someone who can build one.
This mindset has the power to change lives.
Her Lab Co. isn't just about increasing the number of girls in STEM fields. This is about expanding what girls believe is possible for themselves. It's about normalizing the idea that women can invent products, file patents, raise capital, lead engineering teams, build technology companies, and create jobs.
Ultimately, my goal isn't simply to teach science or entrepreneurship.
My goal is to shorten the distance between curiosity and confidence.
I want girls in my community to grow up hearing something I never heard enough:
You can build this.
You can own this.
You can lead this.
Because when more girls believe they can become founders, engineers, scientists, inventors, and business owners, we don't just change individual futures—we strengthen our workforce, diversify innovation, and build a more prosperous economy for generations to come.
Her Lab Co. is how I intend to make that future a reality.
Innovation belongs to everyone.