Skincare and makeup brand Clé de Peau Beauté recently announced the third ‘Power of Radiance Awards.’ The event is part of the company’s commitment to advocate for girls’ STEM education as a key for empowering a brighter tomorrow. In the past year, due to COVID-19, education has been disrupted. Increased reliance on technology has also made it clear that the future will demand a greater focus on STEM fields. This is how the next generation of girls will succeed and thrive.
Clé de Peau Beauté is proud to take meaningful action and deliver tangible results through championing STEM related education. The 2021 ‘Power of Radiance Awards’ will honor Alyona Tkachenko from Kazakhstan. She made incredible contributions advocating for and providing access to quality STEM education for girls and young women in her country. Through this program, Clé de Peau Beauté aims to empower girls and women to take a proactive stance in igniting a positive difference to the world.
Lacking access to STEM education
Unfortunately, access to opportunities often depend on individual’s socio-economic, social and community backgrounds. However, increasing the advancement of girls and women in STEM fields can help equip them with the skills to secure higher earning jobs of the future. In turn, they spur socio-economic advancement for their communities. Education is the key to unlocking the potential of girls. It opens up infinite possibilities and can inspire positive contributions to the global community. However, many young girls around the world are denied the opportunity to advance to secondary school. This is due to barriers such as early marriage, poverty, discrimination and gender bias. Access to STEM education can help combat these barriers and enable girls to claim the future that they choose.
Striving for impact
“Since March 2019, Clé de Peau Beauté celebrates women who have taken action to drive positive change in their communities. We advocated for education and empowerment with the Power of Radiance Awards. This is the third year that we have had the privilege to recognize such exceptional women. I am honored to celebrate this year’s awardee, Ms. Alyona Tkachenko. Her advocacy for STEM education to be incorporated into the curriculum in Kazakhstan has touched over 500,000 girls. Her achievements are testament to our belief that each person has the power to transform not only the world for herself, but also for those around her,” said Yukari Suzuki, Chief Brand Officer of Clé de Peau Beauté.
Launching the Hour of Code in Kazakhstan
Tkachenko is the initiator of the Hour of Code in Kazakhstan. She brought the program to her country in 2014 to inspire students to learn programming, especially young girls. Tkachenko has pushed to make Hour of Code accessible to girls in both urban and rural environments. She worked with the national and regional government to roll the program out in schools across Kazakhstan. Outside of her educational work, Tkachenko has tapped into her own STEM background. She co-founded Nommi, a Kazakhstan-run mobile hotspot startup. Lack of connectivity can worsen education gaps. Tkachenko founded Nommi to solve this problem by providing internet everywhere, especially in rural areas. She strongly believes that STEM is a crucial tool for innovation. Her goal is to encourage other young women to pursue it as a field of study.
“Being involved in STEM and learning about computer science has opened many doors. It enabled me to grasp exciting opportunities that have come my way. Through my work and advocacy, I hope to give young people a clearer understanding of the possibilities that STEM education can provide. My dream is to help provide the tools for young girls to make the most of their potential and not accept the limits imposed on them, no matter their background. Receiving the Power of Radiance Award will help me transform Hour of Code Kazakhstan and ultimately ensure more equal representation of girls in STEM,” said Tkachenko.
Changing STEM education
As the 2021 recipient of the ‘Power of Radiance Award,’ Tkachenko will be awarded a grant that can be donated to a cause of her choosing. Through this, she can further her impactful work in STEM. The ‘Power of Radiance Awards’ are funded by a percentage of global sales of Clé de Peau Beauté’s The Serum. Clé de Peau Beauté’s journey as advocates for education began with a dream for a better world. This is why they selected their product The Serum to pledge a share of its sales towards this mission.
The power to light up the world is within every individual. Through the ‘Power of Radiance Awards’, Clé de Peau Beauté is standing with girls and women globally. They will transform the world for themselves, their families and their communities.
About Alyona Tkachenko
Tkachenko became interested in STEM through studying physics and math, as well as working with tech companies early in her career. She wanted to spread awareness and expand access to STEM education in her home country so she co-founded, Love to Code, a programming training center for children. While advocating for Love to Code’s mission to give every kid in Almaty and eventually in all of Kazakhstan an opportunity to learn coding, Tkachenko launched a social initiative called Kazakhstan’s Hour of Code to bring more attention to the subject of coding and Computer Science.
Since it first launched, Kazakhstan’s Hour of Code program grew from 60,000 students to 350,000 by 2019. The Hour of Code program has quickly become the largest STEM initiative in Kazakhstan – introducing over 500,000 Kazakhstani girls to STEM and training more than 200 female teachers on STEM curriculum. Tkachenko also co-founded Nommi, a Kazakhstan-run secure connectivity startup, that provides fast LTE data for remote workers across the globe. Nommi has expanded and signed corporate agreements with some Fortune 500 Companies. She is the first female tech-founder from Central Asia to make the Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia List (2019).
About Clé de Peau Beauté
Clé de Peau Beauté, the global luxury brand from Shiseido Cosmetics, was founded in 1982 as the ultimate expression of elegance and science. Clé de Peau Beauté means the key to skin’s beauty. The philosophy of the brand is to unlock the power of a woman’s radiance by harnessing makeup technologies and advanced skincare from around the world. Forever guided by an exquisite aesthetic sensibility and intelligence, Clé de Peau Beauté has instilled its products with modernity, enchantment, and dynamism to emerge as an industry leader in delivering radiance so remarkable, it emanates from within. Available in 20 countries and regions worldwide.
Visit Clé de Peau Beauté’s official website.
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