Two Brooklyn-born sisters who competed academically as kids and decided to go into business together have spent the past five years helping students build STEM identity while keeping their math anxiety at bay.

Candace Shaw, 34, founder of Why Hate Math?, earned her bachelor’s degree in mathematics from Spelman College in Atlanta and an MBA from Georgia State University. Her for-profit company — which recently opened a nonprofit arm to help those who can’t afford to participate — serves children from K-12 in building STEM identity.

Shaw first discovered her love for mathematics around the age of 6. She said her family split their time between New York and Georgia, where she had access to a large whiteboard. She would often ask her parents and older siblings to leave complex math problems there for her so she could spend the day solving them.

Her sister, Melinda Shaw, 38, is the company’s CEO and co-owner. She earned her bachelor’s from Albany State University in Georgia in addition to a certificate in medical science. She said her sister’s advanced ability in math prompted her to dive into it further. “We always had a positive competition in our family in terms of academics,” she said.

The sisters’ parents are both registered nurses: the women credit them for their success.

“My parents instilled a love of education in us by teaching us our history and showing us the amazing things that our ancestors did,” Candace Shaw said. “It made me have pride and confidence that I was capable of being intelligent so that I could do things to change the world.”

The 74 chatted with the female entrepreneurs just in time for Women’s History Month and as their nine-member company recently opened its first brick-and-mortar tutoring center in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn. Designed in an open-concept style, it includes a small office space and backyard for outdoor learning.

Read the full article about helping kids build STEM identity by Jo Napolitano at The 74.