Marita Cheng

Marita Cheng
Born Marita Cheng
(1989-03-05) 5 March 1989[1]
Cairns, Queensland, Australia[2]
Residence Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Nationality Australian
Ethnicity Chinese
Occupation Entrepreneur
Website maritacheng.com

Marita Cheng (born 5 March 1989) is the founder of Robogals. She was named the 2012 Young Australian of the Year.[3] She is the founder and current CEO of 2Mar Robotics, a start-up robotics company.[4]

Early life

Cheng was raised by her mother, a single parent[5] who worked as a hotel room cleaner,[6] in a housing commission apartment.[5]

Career

In 2007 Cheng founded Nudge, a company which provided reminders by phone or text message to help people manage their prescription drug schedules.[6] She founded Robogals in 2008[7] for the purpose of encouraging young women into careers in STEM fields.[6]

In 2011 Cheng was awarded a Churchill Fellowship, which allowed her to visit the U.S., U.K., Germany and Jamaica to learn about international approaches to science education for young women.[8] In November 2011, Cheng was named Victorian Young Australian of the Year for 2012,[9] and went on to be named as Young Australian of the Year.[3] In that same year she was also a winner in the Financial ReviewWestpac 100 Women of Influence awards' Young Leader category.[10]

In 2013 she established a company to make robotic arms for people with disabilities.[11]

Cheng delivered the closing keynote speech at the 35th World Congress of the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts in Hong Kong in 2014.[12]

References

  1. myRobogals - Profile - Marita Cheng
  2. Packham, Laura (26 January 2012). "Young Australian of the Year honour for Cairns girl Marita Cheng". The Cairns Post. Retrieved 3 February 2012.
  3. 1 2 "Young Australian of the Year 2012". National Australia Day Council. Retrieved 27 January 2014.
  4. "2Mar Robotics - About". 2013. Retrieved 24 January 2014.
  5. 1 2 Katherine Firkin (15 September 2010). "Mum's little helper - Extraordinary citizens recognized for bravery". Herald Sun. p. 010.
  6. 1 2 3 Robyn Rankin (29 December 2010). "Marita Cheng". The Cairns Eye. p. 12.
  7. Bridie Smith (15 November 2011). "Rush in leading role among society's mentors". The Age. p. 5. The Victorian young Australian of the year was 22-year-old engineering student Marita Cheng, who founded Robogals Global in 2008 to encourage women to consider a career in the sciences
  8. "Quite a Fellow". The Cairns Sun. 13 July 2011. p. 1.
  9. "Victorian Australian of the Year award recipients 2012 announced". Australianoftheyear.org. 14 November 2011. Retrieved 27 February 2014.
  10. Upton, Louise (8 July 2013). "How Marita Cheng engineered success". Australian Financial Review. Retrieved 27 February 2014.
  11. Pennington, Sylvia (19 September 2013). "What Marita Cheng did next". Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 27 February 2014.
  12. "WAGGGS 35th World Congress program". Retrieved 9 July 2014.
Awards
Preceded by
Jessica Watson
Young Australian of the Year
2012
Succeeded by
Akram Azimi
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