My name is Stefanie Zbinden and I'm the chair of the EGOI organization.
I myself have participated in several international competitions
and in only one of them women were not a minority.
And that was EGMO, the European Girls’ Mathematical Olympiad
I could tell you a hundred great things about EGMO but for me personally
what impacted me the most, was seeing all those brilliant and passionate young women
And seeing them gave me hope and ambition and confidence, that one day I might be like that too.
When you are the only girl around, you feel like you stand out.
You feel like everybody is watching you.
You cannot really just relax and feel part of the group. But you feel singled out.
But when you're at a competition like EGMO where there is only girls around
you suddenly feel like you belong.
You feel like this is right, this is where I'm meant to be.
Why can't women in informatics have such an opportunity?
They deserve it as well.
So one day a few of us organizers, we sat together and we said: "We can do it".
And that's the day EGOI was born.
See you at EGOI 2021 in Switzerland.