Debbie Sterling

While hosting a once monthly "Idea Brunch", the idea for GoldieBlox emerged from a discussion about the lack of women in engineering.^[9][8] Having spent time working in branding, marketing and jewelry making, Sterling was well prepared to found GoldieBlox – a company that focuses STEM education, specifically engineering, to young girls with a new construction toy destined with girls in mind. Initial criticisms of the company targeted at her product were that construction toys would never catch on, and that "fighting nature" was no good – construction toys were meant to be for boys, and dolls for girls, as Sterling discussed in a 2017 Forbes interview.^{[citation needed]} Years of research concluded this was incorrect, and she pursued the concept.^[9] After initially trying to gain support for GoldieBlox at a New York toy fair, Sterling launched a Kickstarter campaign that raised nearly $300,000.^[2][10][11] The campaign, which ended in 2012, was backed by 5,519 backers, and incentives included magnets, tee shirts, and toys.

Since then, GoldieBlox found success, selling over a million toys and racking up a million downloads on the app store, as of late 2017. GoldieBlox has been featured in traditional brick and mortar retail stores such as Walmart, Target, and Toys R Us,^[12] online at Amazon,^[12]  along with featuring a Super Bowl commercial that aired during the 2014 game. GoldieBlox expanded into puzzle books in 2017, after feedback from users suggested interest in the product. Sterling successfully worked with the Girl Scouts of the USA to include new badges in STEM fields, with the stated goal of getting girls to think about inventing and engineering.^[8]

• Sterling at TEDx