Reshma Saujani quotes: the Girls Who Code founder goes in on celebrating failures, seeking mentors, how coding will impact the future, bein’ brave – not perfect – and more.
“We can’t think of any better way of becoming our best selves, than by finding something we’re great at!”
“A movement only takes form from that first act. Exploring a curiosity, or a real passion, and being motivated by a desire to solve something – that’s really the best way.”
“Never give up. People will always discount you, and you’ll always get rejected. But set your sights high. Be boldly ambitious. Be relentless and never give up.”
“Too many times we just think about our ideas, and we let people convince us not to do it.”
“It’s important to find people who believe in you. You also have to find people that you believe in.”
“I think that feeling of being thrown into the deep end and doing something you never thought you would accomplish is really powerful.”
“There’s no better way of learning from your experiences than having an open and honest conversation with yourself about why you fell short.”
“There’s no more powerful lesson than knowing that your setbacks will one day help you succeed.”
“‘Fail hard, fail fast, fail often. It’s the key to success.’ This one, I learned from experience!”
“When I was 33 years old, I ran for United States Congress in New York City. I lost miserably.”
“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.”
“Don’t be afraid of failure. That’s not an easy lesson for teenagers – especially teenage girls – to learn. Our society sends us a lot of messages that imply we’re supposed to be ashamed when we fall short. But I think we should be throwing each other failure parties!”
“All aspiring entrepreneurs should remember that failure doesn’t mean the end of the road. It can lay the groundwork for something even greater.”
“If you haven’t failed yet, you haven’t tried anything.”
“Hillary Clinton was a hugely important mentor for me. I don’t talk to her every day, but sometimes mentorship means being able to watch somebody’s leadership from afar.”
“I believe in the power of peer mentorship. When I learned how to ask for a raise, how to fire someone, how to deal with a board challenge – I didn’t get that from mentors like Hillary Clinton. I got that from women who were my friends and who had already done the thing that I was doing.”
“You’re never too young or too old to be a mentor.”
“In the workplace, we’re taught to worry about what happens if we don’t have full, complete knowledge of every detail. But if you create a culture and an environment that rewards people for taking risks, even if they don’t succeed, you can start changing behavior.”
“Computer science is not just for smart ‘nerds’ in hoodies coding in basements. Coding is extremely creative and is an integral part of almost every industry.”
“Coding is the language of the future, and every girl should learn it. As I’ve learned from watching girls grow and learn in our classrooms, coding is fun, collaborative, and creative.”
“Teach one girl how to code, she’ll teach four. The replication effect is so powerful.”
“Teach girls bravery, not perfection.”
“I want women to be comfortable with being imperfect. I immediately see how girls are afraid to try things that they won’t be good in. And women stay with the things they’re good at even if that’s not what they’re put on this earth to do.”
“So, I need each of you to tell every young woman you know – your sister, your niece, your employee, your colleague – to be comfortable with imperfection. Because when we teach girls to be imperfect, and we help them leverage it, we will build a movement of young women who are brave and who will build a better world – for themselves, and for each and every one of us.”
“Don’t let our girls play it safe. Don’t let them limit themselves to the thing they’re best at, or the thing they think they should do. Push them to be brave. Push them to take risks. Reward them for trying.”
“There’s a cliché about Silicon Valley: that no one even takes you seriously unless you’ve had two failed startups. If we want to make sure women can fill some of the 600,000 tech and computing jobs that are open right now, we have to encourage them to embrace risks.”
“I’m the daughter of refugees. The immigrant mentality is to work hard, be brave, and never give up in your pursuit of achieving the American dream.”
“Part of the success of Girls Who Code is that I am a hustler. When people ask what my biggest strength is, it’s that I’m shameless. I will ask people for help even when I don’t know them.”
“While I’ve had so many different jobs – I’ve worked in law, I’ve worked in government, I’ve run for office – there’s a common theme. The theme for my entire life has been about giving back.”
“All that time I spent chasing Yale was time I could have been using to actually make a difference in the world. Bravery, not perfection, was the key that unlocked all the doors I’ve walked through since.”
“Mark Zuckerberg gets that, by the way. He was just a sophomore when he dropped out of Harvard to start Facebook. He could have totally failed, with no bachelor’s degree to fall back on. But he just went for it. It’s such a white guy thing to do. It took me 33 years to figure out that brown girls can do white guy things, too.”
“It turns out, when you get a taste for being brave, it’s hard to stop. It’s kind of a rush. And that’s how I started Girls Who Code.”
“I don’t like to do small things. If I’m going to do something, I’m going to really make an impact.”
“You really never know where your path will lead you, but working with technology was truly the best way I could make a difference.”
“When I’m in the best physical shape of my life, I’m in the best professional space. I can track the connection between the two.”
“I’ve chosen opportunities where I might fail rather than live in the shadow of my own potential.”
“Everything I’ve achieved has come from perseverance. I’ve never met another entrepreneur who had a painless path to success – everyone who tries to bring new ideas to the world is tested.”
