SheNET: A Professional Social Media App for Women+ in STEM

SheNET tackles the STEM gender gap by providing a digital space for Women+ professionals to connect with each other, empower one another, and find mentorships.

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Inspiration

The idea for SheNET came from the shared experience of many women+ in STEM fields who have felt underestimated, stereotyped, or unwelcome in professional and educational settings. The lack of mentors and skewed societal expectations puts increased pressure on women+ in STEM, and many leave STEM all together for these reasons. We wanted to create a special digital space for STEM women+ to find each other and to find mentors in their industries.

What it Does

SheNET is a professional social media app for women+ in STEM.

It is a place for connections to be made, accomplishments to be celebrated, and mentorships that will create lasting effects to be found. On the app, users can create a profile, connect with others, and search + apply for jobs all in one place.

How We Built It

  • For the backend, Firebase was used to allow for Google Authentication
  • The front-end was built with Flutter
  • The prototype was built with Figma

Challenges we ran into

  • No one (not even the CS majors!) in our group was familiar with the Flutter/Firebase stack, so it was challenging for us to figure out how to set up the app with this technology
  • Flutter was a bit difficult to use at first given the limited amount of time we had to learn its functionalities
  • It was very difficult to reflect our prototype design onto Flutter due to time constraints and our current Flutter abilities
  • Deciding on a visual design and colour scheme that would best reflect our target market

Accomplishments that we’re proud of

  • Creating a thorough prototype of the app with a cohesive UI on Figma
  • Launching and creating components of an Android App
  • Building a Messaging Function!

What we learned

  • Some of us learned that Figma exists and how to use it
  • How to create a Flutter app and how to connect it to Firebase
  • The basics of Flutter and Dart
  • How to run an Android emulator

What’s next for SheNET

  • Full functionality! Right now there is only basic login and messaging functions, but we would love all the features to be usable in the Android app
  • Translating our beautiful UI into the Android App
  • More features! Dark mode, available mentors by location instead of just by field, etc.

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