Bio: Stefania is teaching children to solve local problems through coding, hacking and art. Born in the mountains of Transylvania, she has dedicated her life to empowering others to learn by themselves, earn a living through their passion, and create local solutions through a connected community.

Today, this former Googler and fellow at Singularity University is the founder of HacKIDemia- a project that creates hands-on workshops for children using technology, science and art to solve local problems. City by city, HacKIDmeia is fueling curiosity through workshops around the globe, including Bucharest, Paris, Berlin, Sofia, Dallas, Brazil and Nigeria. Stefania believes HacKIDemia is a powerful investment because children are the architects of a better society.

Stefania’s latest project, Afrimakers, is an initiative to enable African makers to use local know-how and hands-on prototyping for solving local challenges like access to clean water, energy and information. Recently, Afrimakers launched a crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo where it was fully funded and they were able to train more than 100 mentors in 10 hubs, organize STEM hands-on workshops for more than 1000 children in 10 countries, give 30 mentors fellowships and provide 10 HacKIDemia maker boxes to all 10 hubs.

Stefania continues empowering children by teaching them the significance of creating instead of consuming. She is steadfast in her belief that through collective intelligence, connected local communities, and of course- play, we can create the tools necessary to help communities solve and overcome any obstacle.