Lyda Hill Philanthropies is celebrating Friday’s International Day of Women & Girls in Science in grand style.
Its “IF/THEN” initiative grabbed the spotlight Friday on dual national stages — NBC’s Today show and the Smithsonian Institution.
Lyda Hill Philanthropies, the namesake nonprofit of Dallas’ renowned billionaire entrepreneur and philanthropist, encourages girls to add science, technology, engineering and math to their career game plans.
During Friday’s show, Today revealed plans to feature the initiative in a 30-second public service ad that will air twice before Sunday’s kickoff of Super Bowl LVI.
Meanwhile in Washington, D.C., the Smithsonian Institute announced that IF/THEN’s 120 life-size, bright orange role model statues will be prominently displayed along the National Mall and inside Smithsonian museums to celebrate the power of women and girls in STEM.
These lightweight, 3D-printed statues held court at NorthPark Center last year as “#IfThenSheCan — The Exhibit.”
The largest collection of female statues ever assembled embodies diverse, contemporary women doing wondrous things. They create couture, tag sharks, study bats, make movies, create smudge-proof lipstick, send astronauts into space and search for extraterrestrial life.
“This is such a pivotal and exciting moment for our organization and the result of Lyda’s dedication to pique the interest of our nation’s young girls in STEM careers,” said Nicole Small, CEO of Lyda Hill Philanthropies.
Small hopes that seeing real, living female scientists on TV and on display in the nation’s capital will shift cultural thinking about girls in science among all children — not just girls — and parents, too.
“These two events will propel us forward to reach many different groups and illuminate the importance of STEM everywhere,” Small said.
Double exposure
The PSA stars Today’s five anchors as students contemplating their future careers, homing in on STEM.
The commercial was created by ad agency Deloitte Digital in collaboration with the Ad Council, a nonprofit producer of social-impact campaigns, and Lyda Hill Philanthropies.
It will air twice between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. Dallas time on Super Bowl Sunday in time slots donated by NBCUniversal. According to industry estimates, the pre-game slots have a combined price tag of more than $2 million.
In the commercial, Savannah Guthrie has an on-set daydream in which she envisions herself and her fellow anchors — Hoda Kotb, Al Roker, Craig Melvin and Carson Daly — as students in a 1970s classroom, talking about what they want to be when they grow up.
In this back-to-the-future dream, Guthrie and Kotb, along with young students, come up with cool careers that no one thought of in the ‘70s, but actually exist today.
Al Roker says he wants to be a meteor and refuses to be corrected.
Three female actors represent real-life role models Tiffany Kelly, Mitu Khandaker and Karina Popovich, who are part of the IF/THEN Ambassadors Program.
More than an ad
As part of the Friday broadcast, Today also aired a behind-the-scenes “making of the PSA” segment and another featuring Khandaker, who discusses her experience as a video game designer and why embedding STEM in girls’ minds is so critical.
Both segments will be repeated on Today’s post-Super Bowl Monday.
The spot will be distributed to NBCUniversal stations nationwide for future airings throughout 2022. NBCUniversal is also featuring content about the PSA and the importance of STEM for girls on TODAY.com.
Khandaker’s lightweight, acrylic twin, along with those of Kelly, Popovich and all 117 other IF/THEN sisters in STEM, will be displayed in the nation’s capital from March 5 through March 27. The exhibit kicks off the Smithsonian’s monthlong celebration of the power of women and girls in STEM.
For the first two days, visitors will be able to explore all 120 statues and meet the women behind them at the Smithsonian’s Arts and Industries Building and the adjacent Enid A. Haupt Garden.
After that, some statues will remain, while others will be displayed along the National Mall and at various museums — including the Smithsonian Institution Building, known as “The Castle,” and the National Museum of Natural History — based on the IF/THEN ambassador’s career field.
The exhibit will be accompanied by programs and educational and digital content from the Smithsonian.
Small will tell you the exposure is priceless.
