Reshma Saujani

A lawyer with a background in politics

and activism, Reshma founded Girls
Who Code a non-profit organisation
whose mission is to fight the gender gap
in computer science and support women
and girls in the field.

Abouts
● Reshma Saujani was born on November 18, 1975 in Illinois.

● Is an American lawyer and politician.

● Founder of the tech organization Girls Who Code.

● Saujani is the author of Women Who Don't Wait in Line: Break

the Mold, Lead the Way, published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
in 2013, and "Girls Who Code: Learn to Code and Change the
World," published by Viking in August 2017.
Girls Who Code Girls Who Code
is on a mission to
● Girls Who Code is a nonprofit
close the gender
organization which aims to support and gap in technology
increase the number of women
in computer science. and to change the
● The organization is working to close the image of what a
gender employment difference in programmer
technology and change the image of what
a programmer looks like. looks likes and
● The aim is to inspire, educate, and equip does.
young women with the computing skills to
pursue 21st century opportunities.

7 8
Incredible journey to becoming
brave, and not perfect.
 • Reshma is a graduate of the University of Illinois, Harvard’s
Kennedy School of Government, and Yale Law School.
• Hated the job of a lawyer.
• Always been passionate about creating opportunities for girls,
or for those who are working class, or poor.

“When I was 33, I

found myself
working in finance to
pay off my student
Gave herself permission to live
loans and make my authentically
immigrant parents
proud, but I wasn’t
living my dream. “

“We live in the society that’s
very ashamed of failure and
especially the women - it
feels like we have to do the
job before we get the job.”
Failure won’t break you
• Saujani’s unsuccessful first political foray (she lost the
Democratic primary to Congresswoman Carolyn B. Maloney) to
a room full of South Asians.
• The moment she started that race it was the best 10 months of
her life and flash forward to her election day she lost 80/20 it
was miserable.
• She had no backup plan.
• We live in the society that’s very ashamed of failure and
especially the women - it feels like we have to do the job
before we get the job.” Yet she learned a very important
lesson “It’s okay to fail.”
 The State of Skills in the Apparel Industry

Brave Not Perfect

• During the race, Reshma visited local schools and saw

the gender gap in computing classes firsthand, which
led her to start Girls Who Code.
Girls Who Code
is on a mission to
• This new generation is about supporting, close the gender
doing business together; a generation that gap in technology
needs to accept risk and failure and
embrace it, generation that fights for and to change the
structural changes in society that makes it image of what a
possible for women to work and have
children, take parental leave, fight for programmer
affordable day care. looks likes and
does.
Embracing Risks

In her book, Women Who Don’t Wait

In Line –she advocates for a new
model of female leadership focused
on embracing risk and failure,
promoting mentorship and
sponsorship, and boldly charting your
own course – personally and
professionally.

Brave, Not Perfect:

Fear Less, Fail
More, and Live
Bolder

7
Thank You
Presentation By:
Drishti
B.F.Tech ( Sem-4)
 REFERENCES

• https://cpl.hks.harvard.edu/event/conversation-reshma-saujani-founder-girls-
who-code
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reshma_Saujani
• https://www.ted.com/speakers/reshma_saujani