Reshma Saujani is a leading activist and the founder of Girls Who Code and the Marshall Plan for Moms. She has spent more than a decade building movements to fight for women and girls’ economic empowerment, working to close the gender gap in the tech sector, and most recently advocating for policies to support moms impacted by the pandemic. Reshma’s new book Pay Up: The Future of Women and Work (and Why It’s Different Than You Think) presents a bold plan to address the burnout and inequity harming America’s working women today. She is also the author of the international bestseller Brave, Not Perfect, and her influential TED talk, “Teach girls, bravery not perfection,” has more than five million views globally.
Reshma began her career as an attorney and Democratic organizer. In 2010, she surged onto the political scene as the first Indian American woman to run for U.S. Congress. During the race, Reshma visited local schools and saw the gender gap in computing classes firsthand, which led her to start Girls Who Code. She also served as New York City’s Deputy Public Advocate, where she created innovative partnerships to support DREAMers and promote campaign finance reform, among other initiatives.
In her nine-year tenure as the CEO of Girls Who Code, Reshma grew the organization to one of the largest and most prestigious non-profits in the country. Today, Girls Who Code has taught 300,000 girls through direct in-person computer science education programming, and reached 500 million people worldwide through its New York Times-bestselling book series and award-winning campaigns. In 2019, Girls Who Code was awarded Most Innovative Non-Profit by Fast Company.