Today’s Monday Motivator is Kelley O. Williams, the CEO & Co-Founder of Paige and Paxton Elementary STEM curriculum. 

While working for signature companies such as American Express and JPMorgan Chase, Kelley led nationally recognized STEM pipeline programs for girls and youth of color as one of the founding team members of the New York Chapter of Black Girls Code. She was also a lead member of the planning team for #YesWeCode youth hackathons, designed to expose middle and high school students to opportunities in computer science.

She realized the need to start STEM awareness and proficiency earlier in the funnel. In 2014, she resigned her Assistant Vice President position at JPMorgan Chase to focus on Paige & Paxton. Kelley has been named “Crain’s Chicago Business 20 in their 20s,” received the “Power 30 Under 30″™ award presented by Porsche in the business category and received the “Chicago Scholars 35 under 35 Young Leaders Making an Impact” award.

This past weekend Kelley held a make-a-thon at Blue Lacuna. The sold out event was amazing! Kids participated in 3 STEM modules while their parents learned the importance of STEM for their children. Where else can you have parents and kids learning STEM at the same time? I’ll tell you the answer is… NOWHERE!

If you’re a parent and want to make sure your at the next Paige and Paxton make-a-thon. Go to the Paige and Paxton event page and sign up for notifications on their next STEM event. 

In the meantime, learn more about Kelley and her journey in STEM as well as what she does at Paige and Paxton by checking out the latest episode of Black Tech Unplugged!