Our 10 Year Anniversary: A Note from our Founder

By Saniya Vashist

Founder, codeHER

In 2016, I was 13 years old—armed with a borrowed laptop, a few lines of HTML, and a question that wouldn’t leave me alone:

Why were so many girls—especially those from underserved communities—being left behind in tech?

Now, nearly 10 years later, I’m turning 23, and I’ve just graduated from Stanford. In a few months, I’ll be joining Bain. But long before that, I founded codeHER—what began as a scrappy local coding club, and became a global movement.

✳ From Code to Confidence ✳

What started with girls gathered around library computers building websites quickly grew into something bigger. By the time I was 15, I found myself on a plane to Morocco, leading our first in-person international program.

That experience changed everything. I saw firsthand the global appetite for opportunity, for sisterhood, for leadership. From that point forward, codeHER was no longer just about girls coding. It became a mission to shape female leaders—leaders who would return to their communities not just with skills, but with the power to transform systems.

Today, codeHER is a global nonprofit that has empowered over 3,000 young women in 49 countries through conferences, bootcamps, mentorship programs, and entrepreneurial incubators. But beyond the numbers, it’s the stories that stay with me.

✳ The Stories That Drive Us ✳

One student in Nairobi told us she had never met a woman who worked in tech—until she joined our summit. A girl from Guatemala shared that she was expected to be married by 18, but codeHER gave her the confidence to apply for a scholarship abroad. Another, from a rural village in India, would borrow her cousin’s phone just to attend our Python classes under a tree outside her home.

Their stories aren’t rare. They’re the reality for millions of girls navigating expectations to marry young, leave school early, or remain silent in rooms where they deserve to lead.

Through codeHER, we meet them where they are—and show them what’s possible.

✳ Building with—and for—the Girls We Serve ✳

Our approach is global, but deeply local. We design programs that consider language barriers, limited internet access, cultural norms, and economic realities. Whether it’s distributing offline resources, running WhatsApp-based learning groups, or pairing students with mentors who share their lived experiences, we’ve learned that effective empowerment means designing with empathy.

From our flagship International Women’s Leadership Summits to our hands-on mentorship workshops, every codeHER initiative centers around one mission: to close the opportunity gap by investing in the next generation of women leaders—especially those who’ve been told they don’t belong.

✳ Entrepreneurship as a Vehicle for Empowerment ✳

Most recently, we’ve launched one of our most ambitious programs yet: the codeHER Social Entrepreneurship Incubator.

Supported by the Gates Foundation, the US State Department, and international partners, this program helps young women create and launch their own social-impact ventures—from environmental justice startups to education reform initiatives.

• In Pakistan, our team guided 30 women through an 8-week virtual program, culminating in a pitch day to global investors and mentors.

• In Palestine, we launched our first Arabic-language incubator in partnership with JestHub.

• In Morocco, our in-person programs trained over 100 women, leading to the creation of more than 20 social-impact organizations tackling challenges from youth unemployment to gender-based violence.

  
  

These programs are more than just training—they're transformation. They equip young women not only with ideas, but with infrastructure, confidence, and capital to build what they believe in.

✳ The Bigger Lesson ✳

Running codeHER has taught me that the real barriers aren’t just technical. They’re social, structural, and deeply personal.

Many of our students face pressure to marry before they’ve had a chance to explore who they are. They’re told that education is optional, that work is a luxury, and that leadership is reserved for someone else. But the truth is: when girls gain access to skills, mentorship, and community, everything changes.

They don’t just learn how to code. They learn how to own their voice. They build startups, launch nonprofits, and mentor the next girl in line.

That ripple effect is how change becomes exponential.

💬 What Our Students Say

"Before codeHER, I didn’t think I had the right to dream big. Now, I want to become a data scientist and help girls in my village learn tech too."— Amina, 17, Kenya

"My family thought coding wasn’t for girls. After the Python workshop, I built my first website. Now they ask me for tech help!"— Priya, 16, India

"codeHER gave me more than skills. It gave me sisters around the world who believe in me."— Isabella, 19, Colombia

🚀 Join the Movement

We’re just getting started—and we need you to grow this mission.

🔗 Sponsor a Workshop: Help us bring a full-day mentorship or coding workshop to a school or community in need. Just $300 can reach 20+ girls with laptops, materials, and mentorship.

👩🏽‍💻 Become a Mentor: Volunteer your time to guide a young woman through tech skills, college prep, or launching her own social enterprise.

🌍 Partner with Us: Are you part of a school, NGO, or company that shares our values? Let’s collaborate.

📬 Stay Connected: Subscribe to our newsletter or follow us on Instagram for student stories, upcoming summits, and impact updates.

👉 Support codeHER Today

Because every girl deserves the chance to lead. And with your help—she will.