NEW YORK (1010 WINS) – Niesha Butler joined 1010 WINS for a Black History Month special to talk about how she is redefining what it means to “go pro” by creating champions in STEAM through her educational platform.
Butler's platform, STEAM Champs, integrates science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) with the arts to help students solve problems in innovative ways. It bridges hands-on learning and technology, showing young people they can excel in multiple arenas and empowering them to shape their futures on their own terms, Butler explained.
As a professional athlete, software engineer, and entrepreneur, Butler advocates for greater representation in these fields. She holds a distinguished place as one of only two players to make the All-City team for four consecutive years and remains the all-time leading scorer in New York City for both men and women, a record that cements her legendary status.
“It’s my first love,” she told 1010 WINS anchor Larry Mullins about basketball. “But I’d like to see the younger generation take it over and I’m really proud. It’s headed in the right direction though.”
After her basketball career, Butler pivoted to technology, leveraging her skills to teach computer science in high schools for Microsoft. At STEAM Champs, she launched programs such as STEAM camps and Minecraft coding competitions. Notably, the program is fostering a rising percentage of girls in STEM.
The founding of STEAM Champs starts with Butler’s own story. “Initially when I was growing up, we didn’t have a pro league. It just started, and I think the way was to get a college scholarship, mainly in engineering,” she said.
Coming from a family of healthcare professionals, her mother a nurse and her father a pharmacist, her parents had ambitions for her to follow a similar path. “They wanted me to be a surgeon. I don’t like blood too much,” she admitted with a laugh.
Despite her talent on the basketball court, academics were always her foundation. “It was more along the lines of how do we support her interests off the court because on the court, we all already knew it was limited,” she said. “For a young woman growing up, the confidence, the support that sports gives—you know, my parents definitely pushed that. But academics was always first, so it’s what I had to do.”
Butler’s love for math became a defining trait. “It’s finite. It’s concrete. And you know what you’re gonna get. So yeah, I love [math],” she shared. Over time, however, she became acutely aware of the challenges faced by young athletes. “If you are wishing and training since 8, 9 years old to be something that you have a 99% failure rate, we wonder why, you know, they’re at 25 or 35—which is very young—you have no job opportunities.”
This inspired her to create STEAM Champs, a program designed to transform the way underrepresented communities approach career paths in STEM. “My real passion is to change the narrative in our community of what it means to go pro,” Butler said.
STEAM Champs, based in Brooklyn, makes learning accessible and engaging. “I really like to meet kids where they are… art is a way to do that. It’s subjective, it’s expressive, and I think it’s a way to have a well-rounded individual,” she said. “I also believe that in engineering you should be creative.”
The program has already seen success. Butler shared the story of one intern whose path was transformed. “She said she was going to go in and major in marketing, and she’s now a sophomore at Clark about to transfer to Georgia Tech… she’s majoring in computer science,” Butler said.