Interview about Girls Find Girls App, winner of the A' Mobile Technologies, Applications and Software Design Award 2025
Girls Find Girls is a mobile app for females to research industry and understand female presence. Lacking of female representation is one of the reasons females not choose certain industries, even if they are passionate about it. Traditional career reports can be biased by gender. It requires deep knowledge and a great amount of time to dig out female-centered career insights. This app seeks to leverage on live data, advanced insights and woman organizations to help young girls and adult females to see the industry through their own perspective.
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View Design DetailsI recently came across numerous social media posts from parents of teenage girls. It’s very common to see them asking career coaches whether a certain major is suitable for girls. Unfortunately, these questions often go unanswered.One day, I watched a replay of a video session where a teenage girl’s father asked the career coach which majors girls tend to excel in. The coach fell silent for a moment, then admitted that he could not identify many majors where girls specifically perform better.These moments are heartbreaking for me to witness. They remind me of my own experiences, as well as those of many female friends, who often felt they couldn’t succeed in certain fields — even though many women have already achieved remarkable success across a range of careers.Reflecting on these conversations, I believe there is a significant opportunity to help teenage girls and their parents make more informed decisions, using data on women’s labor force participation and success. I would love to explore creative solutions to empower these families with confidence and better support them as they navigate educational and career choices.
This decision draws on both user research and my personal experience. According to the research, many female participants primarily want to understand whether a particular industry is a good fit for them. Their focus is not on competing with men, but rather on assessing their own potential for success. Simply knowing that a significant number of women have already succeeded in a given field is often enough to help them feel confident in their decision. This insight resonates with my own experience as well: seeing successful women has motivated me far more than comparisons between women and men ever did.
Research has shown that the number of women present and their levels of participation are strong indicators of female representation. These metrics were prominently featured on both the main page and the industry detail pages. Presenting this data allows target users to quickly get a high-level overview and easily compare different industries.
Through user interviews and a review of existing literature, I found that simply presenting numbers is not enough to motivate people to enter a field. Being able to connect with real industry experts and hear their up-to-date perspectives is crucial. Many female-focused communities already invest significant time and effort in helping girls and professional women access expert networks. However, these initiatives typically require users to have already chosen a career path and to actively seek out those connections. To reduce this burden and avoid duplicating existing efforts, the app aims to help people who have not yet decided on a career path connect with industry leaders. This allows them to explore and better understand different industries through firsthand experiences and stories.
The first approach focuses on prioritizing relevant data. Labor statistics include a wide range of information for different audiences, so selecting and highlighting the data most relevant to my target users makes the dataset simpler and more actionable. The second approach addresses the visual language. Given the age and experience level of the target users, the app adopts a light, professional, and approachable style. Vibrant colors were chosen to create a sense of familiarity, while imagery featuring professional women helps directly communicate the meaning behind the data. By combining a streamlined dataset with an uplifting visual design, I aim to make the app more appealing and engaging for the target audience.
Throughout my career in the B2B sector, spanning supply chain to finance, I have worked with many professionals who rely on data to make informed decisions. This data-driven behavior can be encouraged and scaled among women exploring new career paths. From my experience, making data understandable, relevant to users’ needs, and accurate empowers users to make smarter decisions. Seeing successful examples of this approach in industry has helped me more confidently assess the feasibility of this project.
The app is currently in development, and as an initial success metric, I plan to track user logins and account creation rates. During user interviews, one concern raised by target users was the availability of networking opportunities in smaller cities or rural areas, where the app could have the greatest impact. Participants worried that local connections might be limited, reducing the app’s usefulness. To address this, a planned feature on the roadmap will enable remote connections through video chats and virtual meetings. I look forward to evaluating the app’s performance and user engagement further once this feature is launched.
The first step is to build trust with network owners and collaborate with them to map out available services. The app is not designed to replace the ownership or management of these valuable networks created by female communities. Instead, it serves as an additional entry point to connect users with existing resources. The goal is to help local organizations and female leaders expand their reach and grow their audiences among target users. Managing or operating these networks is not the primary focus of the Girls Find Girls app.
As mentioned on the main persona page, the app is designed not only for teenage girls beginning their careers but for professional women at all stages. Women today face numerous gender-related challenges in the workplace, from pregnancy to promotion. This app visualizes the typical career paths of women, providing valuable insights that increase awareness of the current status of female professionals. Accurately presenting this data to the target audience is a crucial first step toward raising public consciousness about gender equality issues. As the app and its central platform gain visibility, it will foster deeper public discussions, leading to more innovative and effective solutions.
The challenges are twofold. Qualified women often lack confidence in exploring career opportunities, while employers face talent shortages in many fields. The app addresses this by increasing visibility for both groups—female professionals and employers. By visualizing women’s presence in industries such as healthcare, it highlights their significant contributions, many of which often go unrecognized. The app challenges the common bias that men dominate every industry and helps bring female achievements to light by acknowledging their vital presence.
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