Alexia Hilbertidou is a New Zealand social entrepreneur and the founder of GirlBoss New Zealand, a social enterprise which aims to empower women in leadership, entrepreneurship, science, technology, engineering and mathematics. GirlBoss has attracted 13,000 members, and has become New Zealand’s largest women’s network.

Life

Hilbertidou was born in Cyprus, and moved to New Zealand whilst still a baby. She is of Greek and Samoan descent. She was educated at

Albany Senior High School, Auckland Albany Senior High School is a state school, state coeducational senior secondary school situated in North Harbour, New Zealand, North Harbour, Auckland, New Zealand. Opened in February 2009, it was New Zealand's first state senior secondary sc ...

. She studied digital IT and physics, and found that she was frequently the only girl in the classes. At 16, she founded GirlBoss New Zealand as a way to encourage teenage girls to participate more fully in leadership, entrepreneurship, science, technology, engineering, and maths. GirlBoss events have featured guest speakers such as My Food Bag founder Theresa Gattung, Green Party candidate Chloe Swarbrick, Labour leader Jacinda Ardern, and Xero'
Anna Curzon.
ref name=":0" /> Hilbertidou is a strong advocate for equity of access and for ensuring every young woman in New Zealand, regardless of their socioeconomic status, can succeed.

Recognition

In 2016, Hilbertidou won the Young Leader Award, an award given to the most influential New Zealand woman under at the age of 25, at the

New Zealand Women of Influence Award The New Zealand Women of Influence Awards are an annual set of awards which recognise women who make a difference to everyday New Zealanders' lives. The Awards were first made in 2013 and were initially sponsored by Westpac Bank. In 2016, Stuff N ...

s. She is an Eisenhower Youth Fellow and New Zealand's representative at the Global Teen Leader Summit. She also received the AIMES Bellingham Wallace Emergent Talent Award, which enabled her to work full-time on GirlBoss. In July 2017, Hilbertidou was invited by NASA to be part of the SOFIA Project and ride onboard NASA's 747 jumbo jet during an overnight exploratory mission. She is the youngest person to receive such an invitation. Hilbertidou is also the youngest member of the Super Diverse Women Network led by

Mai Chen Mai Chen is a New Zealand and Harvard educated lawyer with a professional and specialist focus in constitutional and administrative law, Waitangi tribunal and courts, human rights, white collar fraud and regulatory defence, judicial review, re ...

. In 2018 Hilbertidou received a

Queen's Young Leader Award Queen's Young Leader Award was an annual award given in recognition of leadership skills by young persons between the ages of 18 and 29. The award was open to selected Commonwealth of Nations to recognize exceptional people or organizations who ar ...

for her work founding GirlBoss. In 2021, Hilbertidou was named part of the Forbes' list '30 under 30 Asia', as a featured honoree.

References

External links

GirlBoss New Zealand
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hilbertidou, Alexia Living people 21st-century New Zealand people People from Auckland New Zealand Women of Influence Award recipients New Zealand people of Greek descent New Zealand people of Samoan descent Recipients of the Queen’s Young Leader Award 1999 births Immigrants to New Zealand Cypriot emigrants