19-year-old CEO Sofie Roux is transforming girls’ education with BloomBox

At only 19 years old, this CEO is changing lives. She is smart, innovative, and sharing her inspiring journey with us in a new interview! Sofie Roux is the founder of BloomBox Design Labs, a trailblazing company helping make education accessible to underserved communities through powerful design. It all started with the art enterprise Sparkly and Smart, one of her many impressive achievements, along with attending Stanford University. I can only imagine where she’ll be 10 years from now!

Disclosure: This sponsored interview features an amazing young entrepreneur creating change to improve girls’ education.

Interview with Sofie Roux

In our conversation below, Sofie discusses the ups and downs of securing funding and reflects on leading a team of professionals at such a young age. She emphasizes the significance of persistence and the inspiration behind BloomBox’s solar-powered STEAM education labs in Malawi. She unveils exciting plans for the company’s future too!

Have you always had a passion for education? Where do you think that passion comes from?

I have always loved school. My family instilled in me to love learning and to be curious and constantly fascinated by and in awe of the universe. My grandpa was a rocket scientist during the space race, and my grandma was a geologist. They were also immigrants and world explorers who delighted in the convergence of oceans in South Africa and the wide open sky of Canada.

My parents raised me to ask big questions and always gave me serious answers. They showed me how to be a brave and creative problem solver, and to serve others wherever possible. I got to grow up in an all-girls school environment, so I was surrounded by an absence of limits on the potential for a girl’s scope of interests and talents.

I think this combination set me up well to love learning and to be a values-driven explorer of the world. I feel very lucky to have had this youth.

How has your first venture, Sparky and Smart, led you to BloomBox Design Labs?

When I was in seventh grade, I learned about the water crisis for the first time, specifically how girls are disproportionately affected by lack of access to clean water. I read about how the responsibility to carry unsafe water for miles would fall on girls’ shoulders instead of going to school. I was devastated, and I wanted to do everything in my power to help.

At the time, I was really into making watercolor art, and I thought I could sell it to raise money for water wells. My mom helped me figure out how to print my art on cards, tea towels, and notebooks, and the Sparkly and Smart social enterprise was born, named in honor of the girls it hoped to serve.

I would spend early mornings setting up a stall at Christmas craft fairs in echoey gymnasiums and most weekends of autumn, sharing bright, funny art prints with the warm and inspiring people who would stop at my booth to buy cards for loved ones. It delighted me to see my creations bringing people joy and the cause inspiring incredible acts of kindness.

After raising enough money for three wells, I got to visit Malawi and paint a mural at a high school since I’d raised money through art. I spent a week painting on the edge of a basketball court and making friends with funny, smart, and effortlessly cool students on their breaks from classes.

In my days there I also realized there was no electricity or running water at the school. I wanted the brilliant girls I met there to have access to the best resources possible, but I was going back to Vancouver soon… I would have to think of a solution I could build at home and send to Malawi. This idea, combined with a budding interest in architecture, led to BloomBox Design Labs.

Wow. An important part of the invention process is getting funding. Can you share some advice on that?

Securing funding is really hard! The waiting periods between investments are so stressful!

It is exhausting and disappointing to know you have an idea that will work, and to lack the resources to execute! I am not the best person to ask for advice on this topic, as I have found this to be a real challenge, but I can say that the times I have succeeded, have often been the ninth or tenth door I’ve knocked on. Persistence is important.

If you believe in your work enough, be willing to fight for it to be taken seriously, and don’t get discouraged by being turned away. Good things will come to you when you’re pursuing an idea for the right reasons.

Be brave. Reach out to unexpected sources. Research everyone. Be bold in asking people to help you make connections. Remember to count your blessings and act strategically when funding comes through.

More with BloomBox CEO Sofie Roux

You are doing so much at such a young age! How do you navigate managing older employees?

All members of my team are older than me. I have so much to learn. I value their opinions and insights beyond measure, and I am so lucky to have their support.

Have you ever been told you couldn’t do something because of your age and, if so, how did you respond?

I have been! I think being young can actually be a superpower. A lot of the time, I am new and an outsider to problems, and so, I can bring idealism and a willingness to learn and to try and to fail.

At the start of my career in this space, I sometimes found myself getting discouraged. Now, I take every setback as an opportunity to learn. I am not yet an expert at anything, but I do have energy and a deep interest in the field of sustainable global development architecture in support of girls’ education.

I try to approach these situations with the attitude, “Yes, I am young, and I don’t know how to do that yet. Please teach me so I can grow and get better.” Be willing, be vulnerable. I have found a lot of excellent teachers in unexpected places.

What would you say to a woman who doubts herself as a young CEO?

Well, this question is one I’ve had some practice with in the mirror. I would say remember that your unique perspective, sensitivity, talent, and work ethic are so needed in the space you’re leading. It might feel lonely to be a leader in a space occupied historically by so many people that don’t look like you, but that is precisely why you are here today: to do things differently, to lead with a vision that the world has been missing out on.

Remember, you deserve to be exactly where you are. Don’t be afraid to ask for help, and to constantly keep learning. Embrace the discomfort, and give every day your best energy.

Treat people well. Everything is going to be okay.

Conversation with Sofie Roux cont’d.

I’m curious, does leadership come naturally to you?

Naturally, I don’t think I’m much of a leader. I’ve learned most of what I know about leadership from my mom and dad.

Running my company has forced me to step into my role as a leader. I think a big part of leadership is having an unwavering vision, and I’ve noticed that people who share and believe in that vision will move mountains to support your work.

That is something I can do well as a leader because I care about this work with all my heart, and it keeps me up at night. I hope to always keep learning about how to be a good leader.

What inspired the idea to create modular solar-powered education labs?

A conversation with my friend Faith, a grade 12 student at New Beginning Secondary School in Malawi inspired the start of this idea. I wanted her to have the resources she needed to be a great animator, which she told me was her dream while showing me her incredible portfolio of sketches.

I went home, took an architecture course that summer, and got to work designing a space where she could be creative and have access to reliable electricity and high-quality technology. The concept was built within the framework of a shipping container since we’d have to ship it across the ocean to her school.

Since that first build in my backyard in tenth grade, new challenges have impacted the design. A desire for true sustainability and local employment led to building a supply chain fully within the South African Development Community, which cut shipping costs for future labs.

An expressed interest from the Ministry of Education of Malawi to put 70 labs across the country inspired a more mobile and transportable design with a custom retractable solar roof system. The design thinking process constantly evolves with new and relevant inspiration.

Sofie Roux on confidence and balance

How can we build confidence in ourselves as women leaders?

I think we have to be excellent at what we do and achieve that by always growing, learning, and adapting. I am also learning to practice positive self-talk every day. We must lead with confidence even when we don’t feel it.

I am lucky to be surrounded by family and friends that believe I can do hard things when I don’t. Remember you are so loved, your ideas matter, and that you are doing everything right.

Great things never come easily. Keep going so that the next generation of female leaders don’t have to ever have to question if they are worthy of their positions.

So encouraging! Along with being CEO, you attend Stanford University. How do you balance the two?

Stanford has been my example of the height of innovation and creativity since I learned about it when I watched High School Musical in middle school. When I got there, I found it to be even better than I had imagined.

It is a place where people come to think critically and build thoughtful solutions to complex challenges with an unshakeable sense of joy and purpose. I love the culture of entrepreneurship and the way the school is transitioning to place maker spaces, design, and sustainability at the core of many disciplines. I am so excited to get a degree in architecture.

I found my first year at Stanford to be a whirlwind. I learned about Bernoulli’s principle and physical model-making, but also about friendship. It was an amazing experience to grow up alongside some of the smartest and funniest people I’d ever encountered.

This quarter, I took a three-month gap to focus on BloomBox full-time. I have learned about business and service, law, design and technology, and policy. It’s been a beautifully creative time. I love it, and I’m excited to return to school this winter. That will be the big test, striking a balance between two lifestyles that inspire me.

I think the key thing is to work hard, stay positive, be organized, and do the best I can every day. I won’t always be able to be perfect at managing both worlds, but that’s part of business and life — adapting, making mistakes, and learning.

I’ll lean on my network of people I love when I encounter seemingly insurmountable setbacks. I’m also really lucky to have a growing team of experts in Malawi, Canada, and the US, whose expertise makes BloomBox deployments successful and whom I trust and believe in beyond measure.

A few final questions for CEO Sofie Roux

Where do you see BloomBox going from here?

I am so excited to announce that we are launching a web app, SuperBloom Knowledge Network! Now, high school students in Malawi at BloomBoxes will be able to connect with high school students in Canada and the US about what they are learning and vice versa.

Questions in a video format from around the world will be responded to and supported with resources from university students majoring in question-specific fields. With BloomBoxes getting connected to the internet via Starlink, we will be ready to launch this app network in March.

Like when California erupted in a wildflower superbloom last year after much-needed rains, I hope the beautiful potential waiting to explode will be supported by this platform. I also plan to build more BloomBoxes with my team in Malawi and for off-grid applications in the US.

Exciting! Where can we find out more about BloomBox Design Labs?

Thank you for asking!

Please check out my Instagram: @sofie.roux and @sparkly.and.smart

And websites: BloomBox Design Labs, Sparkly and Smart

Is there anything else you want to add?

It’s a privilege to be featured on a site that celebrates phenomenal women leaders so early in my career. Thank you for including me and for the important work you do.

Thank you for being here, Sofie Roux!

I’m ending this conversation with a huge sense of optimism for the future with Gen Z leaders like Sofie. BloomBox offers so much hope for girls’ STEAM education in underserved areas, and the groundbreaking app will surely take Sofie’s mission to the next level.

What role do you think innovation plays in the future of education and gender equality? How can young leaders motivate and guide the next generation of change-makers? Please comment below on this and any other thoughts about the interview!