The Future of STEM is Pink, and You Can Help Make It Brighter
STEM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math. It is an acronym that represents fields that are growing exponentially in our modern world and which, historically, have been dominated by men. One local high school student, however, has started a grassroots effort to change that.
At just 17 years old, Brooklyn Warner, a senior in Hammond High Magnet School’s International Baccalaureate Programme, has already received more than a dozen recognitions and awards, including being named one of the 2026 Top 40 Young Women in Computing by the National Center for Women & Technology, receiving the Tangipahoa Parish Library’s 2026 Young Woman of Excellence Award, and being honored as a Louisiana Young Hero by Louisiana Public Broadcasting. Many of these awards reflect the impact she has already had on the STEM community, despite still being in high school.
Last year, Brooklyn started the non-profit organization, The Pink Potion Society, with a mission to inspire girls to pursue STEM and to prove that “every person deserves a voice in STEM.” She was inspired to start Pink Potion Society in response to a critical observation she made: Even though Brooklyn discovered her love of STEM early on and regularly attended STEM fests, she quickly noticed that there were few other girls or students of color in attendance at these events. She recognized that this could be discouraging to some, so she wanted to create opportunities for girls like her to meet “similar-minded people.”
In the short time since Pink Potion Society was founded, it has already hosted a number of workshops for girls, including an agriculture workshop, in which participants dissected flowers and examined how flowers can be used in different careers, and a cosmetics engineering workshop, in which participants learned the science behind the lip balms and body scrubs they created. She also recently conducted a workshop on civil engineering entitled “BuildHER,” and she is currently planning a workshop on electrical engineering. Brooklyn wants young girls to see that “science is everywhere.”
Pink Potion Society’s success hasn’t been without challenges, however. In order to truly inspire young girls, Brooklyn wants to ensure that the events she hosts are free of charge, but finding funding to ensure that is possible has been difficult. Undeterred, Brooklyn wrote and published a children’s book, The Pink Astronaut, the proceeds of which fund Pink Potion Society, and she started a small business selling hand-crafted air-fresheners to ensure her organization could provide workshops free of cost.
Despite these challenges, Brooklyn has big plans for Pink Potion Society, and its latest project, Potion to Profession, aims to capture the voices and stories of women already in STEM careers so that they can inspire the next generation. We believe our readers can help her make this project a huge success.
Brooklyn’s hope is that sharing these stories will help young girls to see a variety of STEM careers and give them the confidence to pursue their interests. Brooklyn also hopes to organize the videos into a curriculum that can be shared in local schools. In fact, turning Pink Potion Society into workshops that can be added to school or camp curricula anywhere is the ultimate goal of Brooklyn’s. She also has plans to develop an app that will expand upon the initial videos, connecting women in the STEM world worldwide.
When asked what one piece of advice she would give to girls interested in pursuing careers in STEM, Brooklyn said: “DON’T give up. It’s hard to push back against the people saying you can’t. Stay true to yourself.” She also encouraged moms to “Listen… support [your daughter’s] interests; expose your children to those opportunities so that they know it is an option.”
Ultimately, empowering girls to find equality in STEM fields starts with ensuring they can see the pink path others have lit before them.
Want to help?
If you are a woman in a STEM career, please consider participating in the Potion to Profession Series. Information is on the flyer above, and you can follow this link to complete the interest form. The deadline for the first round of videos is June 30th, but additional rounds will be open in the future.
Please consider supporting Pink Potion Society by sharing the flyer in this article or purchasing a copy of The Pink Astronaut, and follow Pink Potion Society on Facebook and Instagram to stay up to date on their latest workshops for kids.
If you are interested in purchasing items for upcoming workshops or making a donation to Pink Potion Society, you can email Brooklyn at [email protected].
