Madeline Stoddard

I attribute my success to two things: persistence and community. I have a phenomenal support system around me, and I don't take that for granted. I truly believe it takes a village, not just in child-rearing, but in all things. Everyone brings different strengths, and when you're surrounded by people who show up for you, it changes what's possible. And then there's persistence. There have been moments when I've wanted to throw in the towel. But I get up, I keep going, and I have never once regretted pushing forward.

Put things out there before you're ready. You know, dive in before you think you're ready, because if you're waiting until you think you're ready, you're gonna be waiting forever. This is just me personally, like, I never think I'm good enough or ready to dive in, and so if I wait for that, I will never dive. So jump in even before you think that you're ready, or even before you think that you'll be a huge success. And it's okay if you go out there and it doesn't work the way that you thought it was. That doesn't mean that you've failed. That's okay. So, dive in even before you're ready.

Don't let the naysayers cloud your motivation. Do things before you're ready. Do things before you're an expert. Learn along the way. I think that that's so important. And if you don't see someone that looks like you in the space, that means a space is waiting for you to be in it. So don't let the absence of someone like you prevent you from being part of something.

I think some of the biggest challenges are access. I think a lot of girls, unfortunately, don't see themselves as inventors, and I think that's due to the narrative that we're given from the time that we are born. I also think that, I love women in STEM content, I think that's phenomenal, but I think that there's a cool niche within inventorship, where you don't necessarily have to be a woman in STEM to be an inventor. There's lots of inventor women who have innovated in fashion. One of my favorite examples is Sarah Blakely, who was the first self-made female billionaire, and it was due to her inventing Spanx. You can invent in all kinds of different fields. So, I think one of the barriers is girls don't see themselves in STEM, but invention is so much more than just STEM. It truly is transdisciplinary and encompasses every kind of pocket of technology, every field of industry. So I think the main barrier is access. We need to remove barriers to access and flip the narrative on what an inventor actually is.

I think everyone should genuinely believe that they can do whatever they set their mind to, no matter the barriers, and I feel like I'm feeling that in my personal and professional life. It's not easy to start a nonprofit, and there's lots of people that are like, this is a terrible time to start, people aren't giving money, and so believing in yourself, even when other people don't believe in you. And I think that that's really important for women inventors, too, as they might be surrounded with a lot of negative mindset in their field, people telling them that they're not going to be successful, so I think believing that you can, even when others don't believe in you. I think that's very, very important. And I also think valuing creativity and failing forward, I think that that's a huge thing. I have worked to overcome perfectionism quite a bit through my life, and still working on that now. But knowing that it's okay to fail, and you actually want to fail, because that's what makes you better, that's what makes your product better, whatever. So, I think failing forward and being okay with failure is an important value as well.