I never take for granted how lucky I am to be an American and what a privilege it is to spend each day at a nonprofit dedicated to helping the next generation of girls achieve their dreams. My journey, as the daughter of refugees, shows what refugees and the children of refugees can create for all Americans.
As I've traveled the country, we visit tech incubators all the time where women are going into their second or third act in their career and learning how to be software programmers, or how to work at startup companies, and learning a completely different skill set. I think it's never too late.
Theoretically, I have no business starting an organization called Girls Who Code, because I don't code.
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.
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.
In college, I studied political science, policy, and law. My plan was to move to New York, pay off student debt in a year or two, and then run for office.
When I first ran for office in 2010, I was 32 years old. The average age in Congress was 69. I was a brown woman whose name was Reshma Saujani - a name most people couldn't pronounce. And there was never a South Asian woman who had ever run for United States Congress before.
My parents were engineers. In the 1970s, they came to the United States as refugees from Uganda. Seeing everything this country did for my family inspired me to want to give back through public service.
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.
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.
We're being told that America is a zero sum game - that the dreams of immigrants come at the expense of those native born and that the religious freedom of some threatens the security of others. But we know this is a lie.
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.
The culture of tech companies cannot change if women aren't in the room.
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.
