Join us for an evening of stories from women leading field research in partnership with the IF/THEN Ambassadors! Hosted by Story Collider’s Maryam Zaringhalam and Emma Young.

IF/THEN® is part of Lyda Hill Philanthropies’ commitment to fund game-changing advancements in science and nature. IF/THEN® seeks to further advance women in STEM by empowering current innovators and inspiring the next generation of pioneers. Rooted in a firm belief that there is no better time to highlight positive and successful female professional role models, IF/THEN® is designed to activate a culture shift among young girls to open their eyes to STEM careers by: (1) funding and elevating women in STEM as role models, (2) convening cross-sector partners in entertainment, fashion, sports, business and academia to illuminate the importance of STEM everywhere, and (3) inspiring girls with better portrayals of women in STEM through media and learning experiences to pique their interest in STEM careers. To learn more, visit www.ifthenshecan.org or follow IF/THEN® on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn.

Heather Chandler makes games. During her 25-year career in video game development, including 3 years as a Sr Producer on Fortnite, she’s led teams at E-line Media, Epic Games, Ubisoft, and Activision. She’s published several books and articles on making games and has lectured about it around the world.In 2019, Heather combined her love of games, passion for team-building, and entrepreneurial dreams to launch Whole Brain Escape, an escape room in Apex, NC.Heather is a strong advocate of STEM education, and is committed to providing opportunities for students of all ages to get excited and engaged with technology.She received a BA from Vanderbilt University, and later graduated with an MA in Film Studies from the USC School of Cinematic Arts.

Nompumelelo Hlophe is a second-year biological anthropology PhD student at Texas A&M University. She was born in South Africa and moved to the U.S. in August 2016 to pursue her Masters at Georgia Southern University. She obtained a Bachelor of Arts in Information Science degree in 2015, while she continued with her undergraduate studies, she always maintained interests in anthropology and had hopes that she could make it a career one day. She would always read about Professor Lee Berger and his discoveries and was fascinated by his work. In 2014, she emailed Professor Lee Berger and expressed her interests in anthropology. To her surprise, he replied, and in 2015 she joined his team as an exploration technician/caver, looking for new fossil sites in the Cradle of Humankind in South Africa. Working under Professor Lee Berger and the Evolutionary Studies Institution has fueled her interests in Biological Anthropology in general. After completing her PhD studies, she plans to go into research and hopefully have an opportunity to recruit young South Africans to get into the field of anthropology.

Story Collider Presents: Women Leading Field Research