A 17-year-old youth activist has become the Chief Executive Officer of luxury supercar maker McLaren Automotive for the day to celebrate International Day of the Girl and encourage young people, and particularly young women, into science and engineering careers. Partnering with Plan International, a global children’s charity working to give every child the same chance in life, McLaren Automotive handed over the reigns to Maisy, a youth activist so that she could experience a day in the life as CEO of McLaren Automotive.
The day included leading her executive team in strategic decisions as well as collaborating with many of the company’s female business leaders, engineers, scientists, and designers. CEO Maisy gained an understanding of every aspect of the process of designing, engineering, building and marketing supercars and helped to hand-build a McLaren, including putting on the all-important McLaren badge as the finishing touch to one of the company’s new hybrid supercars, the McLaren Artura.
It comes as McLaren highlights Plan International’s new research* today showing that 1 in 4 (25%) girls aged 11 to 18 have wanted to try out a science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) subject or job but have either been told it is for boys, were worried about being negatively judged, or were unsure since they only saw boys doing it in the media. It also showed that nearly half of girls (47%) have heard through media, friends, or family that ‘girls are not good at STEM’.
“My day as CEO of McLaren Automotive was full of incredible moments but being part of building a supercar was amazing, and that’s not something many people can say. Plan International is about smashing stereotypes, changing attitudes, and unlearning lessons because a lot of girls think they should be playing with dolls and not cars, and that’s not right. This partnership between McLaren Automotive and Plan International is inspiring young women to consider STEM careers and achieve their full potential.” Maisy, CEO for the day, McLaren Automotive.
