“Embracing failure is the most important trait I’ve developed in my career. I have tried to learn from my failures, and I believe it has made me stronger, more confident and more resilient.” ~ Reshma Saujani, Founder and CEO of Girls Who Code
Summary: Reshma Saujani is an American lawyer and politician, best known as the founder and CEO of her tech organisation, Girls Who Code. The motivation behind creating Girls Who Code was as a result of noticing a gender gap within local schools in the US. This leading movement focuses on inspiring, educating and equipping young women with computing skills in the ever changing technological environment of the 21st Century. Started in 2012, this organisation now reaches over 40,000 girls in every state. Reshma has been mentioned highly in many publications, including of Fortune 40 under 40, WSJ Magazine, Forbes and Business Insider. Her activities to raise awareness of Gender Gap in Tech Industry has further lead to her moving speech on Ted Talk, as well as her ground-breaking book “Women Who Don’t Wait in Line.”
Nationality: Indian-American
Industry: Law & Technology
Q: What are the ways that companies can make real efforts to support women professionals in the tech space? For example, GE has committed to hiring thousands of female engineers in the next several years. At Slack, we are trying to build the tools that will allow us to go beyond hiring to look at whether we are actually paying, promoting, engaging, and retaining women at the same rates as men. What’s the baseline for what companies should be doing? on lennyletter.com
A: I’m OK with quotas, personally. I set goals for our organization. Companies should set goals and meet them, because it’s not a question of aptitude. We’re not asking you to hire somebody who isn’t excellent. We’re asking you, basically, to make a commitment to find those excellent people and retain them.
