By Michelle Cho
The conversation regarding women in the workplace is happening all around us. Hollywood’s biggest actresses are advocating for more representation of females on screen just like other industries are advocating for more female hires, and increased advancement opportunities for women in the workplace. Industries such as technology are known for their efforts to bring women into the field.
While this may be the case, it is no secret; the lack of representation of women in certain industries hasn’t changed. Gladeo, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, is on a mission to tackle this problem. By providing free innovative multimedia career content through the web and social media, Gladeo is attacking this problem early on by providing quality career content to students, guidance counselors and teachers in middle school and high school. Gladeo also shares stories of diverse individuals in varied careers through videos so all people, including women and minorities, will be accustomed to seeing a wide array of people working in all types of careers.
Founder of Gladeo, Stanford graduate and film professional Michelle Cho, is dedicated to helping young people from all backgrounds learn about the many career options available to them, and get them excited about the future. Gladeo is addressing the problem of diverse individuals not pursuing certain jobs due to lack of diversity in particular fields.
Many young girls aren’t pursuing careers in finance and technology, or STEM degrees because they don’t see or know anyone who looks like them doing it or because they’ve been told they’re not as capable. Society creates a stigma around careers, perpetuating myths such as ‘that’s a man’s job” or “you can’t do that, you’re a girl.” How many young girls would pursue these careers if they were shown or told otherwise? In our celebrity-focused society, regular women and their success stories, which do exist, aren’t shown to the public. These stories are less flashy and don’t get blasted across platforms that could spark interest in women to pursue careers they didn’t even know were possible.
Here in the U.S., there are specific images about what each gender should look like, act like, and do. These stereotypes are affecting the way individuals choose their career paths, and this shouldn’t be the case. Gladeo wants young minorities to see their future, dream it, and believe it. With good storytelling and an engaging media platform, Gladeo hopes to bridge this representation of women and minorities in the workplace, by sharing and spreading the success stories of diverse individuals thriving in their careers.
About Gladeo
Gladeo is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to inspiring and helping young individuals discover, navigate and achieve their dream careers by creating innovative multimedia career content and distributing it through the web and social media. Founded by Stanford graduate and film professional Michelle Cho, Gladeo provides freely available online content. The organization strives to ensure that young people have access to quality career information, regardless of their socio-economics, ethnicity, or geographic location. Gladeo’s mission is to improve career-readiness, reduce un/under-employment, and bring down educational debt burdens by guiding youth towards better-informed educational and career choices.