Founder18
Naya Ellis
16 Y/O•New Orleans, Louisiana, USA•Healthcare

Naya Ellis

At 14, selected as a National STEM Challenge Champion (one of 126 out of 2,500+ U.S. student entries) for inventing the WingItt stroke-detection watch — The 74 / National STEM Challenge coverage (Mar 2024).

What they built

Naya Ellis designed WingItt, an affordable smartwatch engineered to detect early signs of stroke in adults aged 55 and older, using heartbeat and nerve impulse sensors. Inspired by her grandmother's post-stroke experience and her family's health challenges, she developed the device at age 14 as part of the STEM NOLA Fellows extracurricular program. WingItt was named a National STEM Challenge Champion in 2024, selected from 2,549 student entries across all 50 U.S. states, and was featured by PEOPLE magazine as one of its "Girls Changing the World in 2024."

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The F18 Thesis

Verified track record

  • PEOPLE magazine – 'Girls Changing the World 2024' (Oct 2024) (source)
  • TheGrio – 'A 15-year-old designed a smartwatch to detect stroke risk' (Oct 2024) (source)
  • The74million – 'Louisiana Teen's Stroke-Detecting Invention Recognized in National STEM Contest' (Mar 2024) (source)
  • National STEM Challenge Champion 2024 (2,549 entries from 50 states)
  • PeopleOfColorInTech
  • AfroTech
Updated April 27, 2026