Did you know girls tend to lose interest in math and science by as young as age 8? Debbie Sterling, a 2005 graduate of Stanford University and an engineering pioneer, noticed most students in her collegiate program were male - an unsettling fact. After studying gender marketing for toys aimed at young children, she noticed a broad focus of "pink" and "dolls" for girls.

Dissatisfied with this stereotype, Debbie set out to introduce engineering concepts to girls at critical developmental ages, with products that embrace storytelling and building simple machines.

Part of what makes GoldieBlox so innovative is that Debbie used Kickstarter, a social fundraising platform, to raise the money for her project - which, only 2 years later, is featured in over 1,000 retailers worldwide, including big-box names like Toys R Us and Amazon.

Busines Insider Magazine named Debbie one of 30 Women Who Are Changing the World, with her life's mission of tackling the gender gap in science, technology, engineering and math.