As an organization, the Girl Scouts pride themselves on empowering young women and enabling them to follow their dreams through leadership experiences and opportunities. The Girl Scouts are an inclusive group of women that center their focus “around STEM, the outdoors, development of life skills, and entrepreneurship” (Girl Scouts). With approximately 2.6 million members, both adults and children, the Girl Scouts are empowering women to make changes.

The Girl Scouts of Northern Nevada

The Girl Scouts of the Sierra Nevada have put together their 16th annual TRIUMPHANT: Celebrating Women in Leadership Awards and Dinner. There, they honored six women leaders within the Northern Nevada community; there were approximately 30 nominees. The categories for which they honored these women are: Environmental Leadership, STEM, Community Service, Healthy Living, Financial Literacy, and Entrepreneurship. This event was held at the Nugget Casino on November 15, 2018. All of the proceeds are benefiting the Girl Scouts.

Women in Leadership

Women in Leadership

Karen Purcell, founder and president of PK Electrical, was the honoree for the entrepreneurship category. Karen’s entrepreneurial skills have assisted her in creating a successful business that has seen substantial growth. She opened PK Electrical 1996; initially, there was one office in Reno, Nevada but the business has since expanded to another location in Denver, Colorado. Karen’s dedication towards women in STEM has motivated her to become a mentor to girls to help them discover ways in which they can break into STEM careers, and explore more STEM learning opportunities.

Get Informed About Careers in STEM

Karen’s book, “Unlocking Your Brilliance: Smart Strategies for Women to Thrive in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math,” describes her experiences as an entrepreneur and female engineer, focusing on her challenges, successes, and gives advice to other women looking to pursue this heavily male-dominated field. Karen is also the founder of STEMspire, a non-profit dedicated to empowering women to succeed in the STEM fields.

Karen is honored to have been chosen for this award and wants young women to keep learning in order to grow into the leaders that she knows they can be. She is passionate about inspiring women in STEM and will always be their biggest advocate.

If you would like to learn more about The Girl Scouts, please go to their website: www.girlscouts.org.

Girl Scouts of Northern Nevada: Triumphant – Celebrating Women in Leadership

Women in Leadership

As an organization, the Girl Scouts pride themselves on empowering young women and enabling them to follow their dreams through leadership experiences and opportunities. The Girl Scouts are an inclusive group of women that center their focus “around STEM, the outdoors, development of life skills, and entrepreneurship” (Girl Scouts). With approximately 2.6 million members, both… Read More

Who We Are: Our Electrical Engineering Company’s Culture and Commitment to Community

Electrical Engineering Company

Our Electrical Engineering Company’s Culture At PK Electrical, we are an electrical engineering company committed to bringing out the best in our employees. Our company’s culture is defined by our core values of passion, commitment, integrity, innovation, and accountability. These values extend beyond the office – they are permeated throughout each client relationship and electrical… Read More

Karen Purcell Speaks at DigiGirlz

Karen Purcell Speaks at DigiGirlz

Karen Purcell was the keynote speaker at the 2016 annual Microsoft’s DigiGirlz event in Reno, Nevada. Ms. Purcell spoke for 45 minutes on the importance of getting girls into STEM fields and ideas on how to get involved. The crowd of 100 responded with great questions and enthusiasm. DigiGirlz, a one-day event, held at multiple… Read More

Variety is the Spice of Life: Engineering Degrees Offer Tons of Options

It used to be the case that in a university setting, engineering curricula was somewhat loosely defined due to there being so many career options available to engineers. Many different fields hire engineers. But colleges and universities won’t see an increase in enrollment in engineering programs if students are unaware of what an engineering degree… Read More

The Importance of Female Mentors in STEM

Karen Purcell, P.E. has written an article that appears in PE Magazine. As a society, we learn about the world and advance our well-being through science and engineering. The United States may be known around the world for its higher education but compared to many other leading and steadily emerging countries we lack a strong focus… Read More

Karen Purcell Launches New Website

In this first of many articles to come, I wanted to welcome you to my blog and thank you for coming. My name is Karen Purcell and I am the author of Unlocking Your Brilliance: Smart Strategies for Women to Thrive in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math. Welcome to my blog! As the founder, owner, and… Read More

STEMing the Gender Gap

Karen Purcell, P.E. is founder, owner and president of PK Electrical. She has authored, ‘Unlocking Your Brilliance: Smart Strategies for Women to Thrive in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math’, available on 8/1/2012. Karen just wrote an article for the Huffington Post on why closing the gender gap in STEM fields is important.  For the full… Read More