Reshma Saujani

It’s no secret that the tech industry has a serious gender imbalance. We live in an era in which girls are told they can do anything, so why aren’t there more women in leadership roles to look up to? In 2012, Reshma Saujani founded Girls Who Code with the mission of correcting this disparity. Since then, she has sparked a national conversation about increasing the number of women in tech, and Girls Who Code has reached nearly 40,000 young girls, 90 percent of whom have declared or intend to declare a major or minor in computer science.

Drawing from her book, Women Who Don’t Wait in Line, Saujani will advocate a new model of female leadership focused on embracing risk and failure, promoting mentorship and sponsorship, and boldly charting your own course, both personally and professionally.

Do you run yourself ragged trying to not just do it all, but do it all flawlessly? Do you lose sleep ruminating over small mistakes or worrying that something you said or did might have offended someone? Have you ever passed up a big opportunity – a relationship, job, or a personal challenge – for fear you wouldn’t nail it right away or look foolish trying? For you, is failure simply not an option?

You’re not alone. As women, we’ve been taught from an early age to play it safe. Well-meaning parents and teachers rewarded us for being quiet and polite, urged us to be careful so we didn’t get hurt, and steered us to activities at which we could shine. Meanwhile, boys were encouraged to speak up, get dirty, take risks and get right back up again if they fell. In short, boys are taught to be brave, while girls are taught to be perfect.

In a moderated Q&A, drawing from her book, Brave, Not Perfect, Saujani shares powerful insights and practices to make bravery a lifelong habit. Key takeaways include:

• The distinction between bravery, perfection and excellence
• Understanding whether or not this phenomenon is gendered
• Tangible actions both male and female leaders can take to enable women’s success
• Strategies to start undoing some of that perfection training
• How you can be part of the Bravery Revolution

As the founder of Girls Who Code, Reshma Saujani knows as well as anyone the risks technology poses to the most vulnerable among us. The sense of impending doom over AI stealing women’s jobs, proliferating racial bias, and furthering economic disparities, however, distracts us from the incredible opportunities to help those same vulnerable communities.

In this conversation, Reshma details how the next generation of AI will close inequality gaps and help solve a variety of complex societal issues from education to healthcare to climate change by streamlining processes, sharing trusted information, and more. She also shares her experience launching PaidLeave.ai, showing us how AI can help one of the communities she’s most passionate about supporting – moms. Audiences will walk away optimistic about our AI future and with a better understanding of how AI advancements will impact not only every business sector but also our personal lives.

Imposter Syndrome describes the self-doubt that creeps in, making women in particular feel inadequate or unworthy to speak up in a boardroom or a classroom. From running for office and founding Girls Who Code to building an advocacy movement for moms, Reshma Saujani is all too familiar with the feeling that you’re not prepared or “good enough.”

In this talk, however, Reshma isn’t going to tell you how to overcome imposter syndrome. Instead, she’ll explain why it’s not a syndrome at all. Reshma dissects the myth of imposter syndrome, explaining that the idea is one rooted in misogyny in order to make women feel unworthy of their progress and success. Reshma expertly details the negative impact of the myth of imposter syndrome and explains the systemic changes needed to dispel this invisible construct, leaving audiences feeling empowered and encouraged to take big swings.

Reshma Saujani is a serial failed politician. Strikingly, it is because of her failures she has built a national movement that is changing the conversation about women and technology. Recounting her personal narrative and lessons learned in this compelling, dynamic and earnest presentation, Saujani also weaves in stories of other accomplished women who have overcome roadblocks and forged new paths—women who have similarly learned to live an authentic life by taking risks and choosing to seek failure rather than fear it. Offering tools to improve resiliency and embark on new ideas, she ignites and inspires audience members to pursue risk and help reshape the country.

We told women that to break glass ceilings and succeed in their careers, all they needed to do is dream big, raise their hands, and lean in. But data tells a different story.

In this urgent and rousing conversation, Reshma Saujani dismantles the myth of “having it all” and lifts the burden we place on individual women to be primary caregivers and to work around a system built for and by men. Through powerful data and personal narrative, Saujani shows the cost of inaction and lays out four key steps for creating lasting change: empower working women, educate corporate leaders, revise our narratives about what it means to be successful, and advocate for policy reform.