Episode 7 (Season 3) of the Empowering Women Podcast
GUEST: Christina Chen, Founder and Vice President of GirlsCodeIt
BIO: Christina is, as a high school junior, Founder and Vice President of GirlsCodeIt, a nonprofit initiative led by passionate young women who strive to combat gender and education inequality in STEM. She is passionate about gender equality and the effects of gender roles on society. In her future academic studies, Christina plans to pursue Biomedical Engineering degree while continuing her groundbreaking work at GirlsCodeIt.
CONNECT WITH CHRISTINA AND THE GIRLSCODEIT TEAM
Email GirlsCodeIt Website Instagram YouTube Discord
Watch on YouTube.
LINKS
May as Celebrate Inventors Month
SHRM: Girls Who Code Filling The Gender Gap in Technology
Empowering Women Slack Channel
Empowering Women 2021 Event Information
QUOTES
“Coding – I actually got into that field accidentally.”
“First thing I noticed is there were a lot more guys in the case than girls.”
“When I was there struggling a bit (with a coding lab assignment), a guy tried to explain to me how to do it. It was helpful, but he would not take ‘oh no, I can figure it out myself’ as an answer.” He did not leave room for me to ask questions or for me to say anything.”
“Saw an opportunity to start something that could help our community. We all saw the gender gap in our classrooms and in competitions.”
“We also wanted to build a collaborative community for girls. We wanted to save space where girls come together.”
“Society markets coding as a superpower that anyone can unlock. But I think it’s deeper than what they portray. Not only do you need the ability to code, you need the facilities.”
“Start anyway you can. Start as slow as you want; just continue to make progress.”
“It’s not going to be a smooth path. Probably going to be a little rocky. You’re going to hit a few roadblocks. It doesn’t mean you have to stop there.”
