UNIVERSITY CITY, Mo. — Integrity Web Consulting CEO John Simanowitz said 50 percent of his staff is women. So when his second-grade daughter told him 'everyone knows science isn't for girls', he and his wife were shocked. That was the exact opposite of the message he and his wife routinely expressed to their four children.
"I asked 'Why would you say that science isn't for girls?'" said Simanowitz. "And she said, 'Well, you know, on the playground, it's common knowledge, right? Some boys were saying that science is a boy thing.'"
That conversation with his daughter led to a sleepless night.
"It was midnight and I went downstairs and I started writing a book for, for her, an audience for one, about a curious girl who does amazing things exploring the world around her," said Simanowitz.
The book, "A Most Curious Girl", begins with this verse: "She was up every morning with her nose in a book. There's so much to learn. Come and see, take a look."
When asked how a CEO finds time to write and illustrate a children's book, Simanowitz said he had little choice.
"I run a company, on a couple boards, four kids, the poster child of, like, no time," said Simanowitz. "It's really up to us to find the time to make the change that we want to see in the world and not wait for someone else to make it."
As for reaching his audience of one, and changing his daughter's mind about science?
"Totally. Yeah, absolutely. We read it almost every night," said Simanowitz. "Today, if someone on the playground were to say 'science isn’t for you', they will get a very, a very specific answer from any of my children that they are incorrect."
