DESIGN CHALLENGE
HACKATHON 2022

The Girls Who Start annual ‘Environmental Sustainability Design Challenge Hackathon’ held on February 27, 2022, was the largest event to date, with over twenty teams, and included more than 100 middle school, high school, and college girls from around the world. Partnering with University Startups and with support from the David & Mikel Blair Foundation, the annual event inspires and supports girls to be tomorrow’s leaders and entrepreneurs.

The twenty teams included members from the US, Canada, South Africa, India, Ukraine, and Azerbaijan. The teams spent the day creating an idea to solve a sustainability problem, developing a prototype, and producing a pitch to promote their model with an eye on a monetary prize. Judges include: Saleema Vellani, Founder and CEO of Ripple Impact and University Startups instructor; Dayna Grayson, co-founder of Construct Capital; and Sharon Kedar, co-founder and partner of Northpond Ventures.

After a strong showing from all teams, the 1st place was awarded to sophomores from Washington, D.C. with the creation Mycelium Packaging, an innovation that replaces styrofoam lunch plates with a mushroom based recyclable product, and 2nd place was awarded to a senior from Maryland and a college student from India for their creation of Hunger Bags, an application that repurposes food waste to bring food to customers at a low cost.

The event was produced by Sophie Beck, the Girls Who Start Director of Hackathons, Startups Competitions, and Scholarships, and the Hackathon Committee, including Rayna Varma, Emelia Coopersberg, Gehna Yadav, Annie Tully, and Kelsey Lee.

Sophie Beck explains “it’s a fun day for everyone, but the really great thing is working together, sharing ideas, and inspiring more female entrepreneurs, investors, and women creating solutions to tomorrow’s problems.”