#ILookLikeAnEngineer is taking its message offline.
Supporters of the buzzworthy hashtag have successfully crowdfunded a billboard to blast the faces of diverse engineers to Silicon Valley.
22-year-old engineer Isis Wenger is the brains behind the hashtag. She started using it on Monday, after receiving attention from people who didn't believe she fit the mold of what an engineer should look like.
A flood of tweets from others soon followed, with many people including their photo and role in tech. Since then, over 75,000 tweets with the hashtag have been posted.
On Wednesday, Michelle Glauser, who works in web development at Zana, took the #ILookLikeAnEngineer message one step further.
"Together with Isis, we'd like to put up a billboard in San Francisco showing, celebrating, supporting, and encouraging that diversity," reads the Indiegogo campaign.
The campaign surpassed its goal of $3,500, collecting over $7,825 in less than 24 hours. Supporters get t-shirts, socks and posters branded with #ILookLikeAnEngineer.
Glauser told CNNMoney that where the ads will appear -- whether on buses, in the BART station, or elsewhere -- will depend on the final amount raised.
Next week, Glauser and Wenger are hosting an event in San Francisco. Photographers will be on-site to snap photos of engineers to be used in the ad campaign. (Glauser said they may also ask for submissions from others who can't attend so they can be featured in the ad as well.)
Wenger, who works at San Francisco-based tech firm OneLogin, was inspired to start the hashtag after appearing in her company's new ad campaign.
The campaign, which launched just over a week ago, featured a photo of Wenger, a quote about why she liked working at OneLogin, her name and job title. The were posted in public transit stations around San Francisco.
She first wrote about the experience in a Medium post last Saturday. The self-proclaimed "extreme introvert" said she wants to use the spotlight to spread awareness of tech's gender issues.
