SOUTH WINDSOR, CT. (WFSB) - It's a big task for a South Windsor High School junior who decided she wanted to dig deeper into not only the gender pay gap but how women find pathways to success.

And now she's sharing everything she's learned with young girls to inspire the next generation.

"When I was in 9th grade and starting to look at careers for myself I found myself really overwhelmed and lost," Mihika Joshi, a South Windsor High School junior said.

And that's when her idea was born...and it has since spiraled into a bit of a passion project for Joshi.

"Through my research I found that most high paying jobs are dominated by males and most of the lower paying jobs are dominated by females," Joshi said. "So it is definitely a problem."

Joshi calls her project "empowering dreams".

Over the course of a year, she interviewed women firefighters, police officers and CEO's.

"I learned that no journey is linear, all of them had some sort of setback along the way," Joshi said. "But most importantly all of them had the courage to push back that and overcome those barriers to become accomplished. And that's what I found as a similarity between all their journeys."

Now she's focused on empowering other young people.

She has presented it to dozens of kids, at elementary schools, the local teen center and library too.

Anyone can access it.

Then launched a website to bring the information to more people.

"A lot of them said things like I want to be Elon Musk when I grow up I want to be a professional gymnasts and I really liked that passion and want to see it channeled and give them the resources to follow their passions," Joshi said.

After her presentation, she found 92% of students realized they can pursue any career regardless of gender, while 89% reported having newfound role models for future careers.

And all this hard work - led her to the prestigious girl scout gold award.

"The gold award is the highest award in girl scouting," Joshi said. "I like to think of it as a culmination of what you learn in girl scouts. Your courage, character and confidence. We bring these together to make a lasting change in the community."