Reshma Saujani

Early life and education

Saujani was born in Chicago. She is of Gujarati Indian descent. Saujani's parents lived in Uganda, prior to being expelled along with other persons of Indian descent in the early 1970s by Idi Amin. They settled in Chicago.

Saujani attended the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where she graduated in 1997 with majors in Political Science and Speech Communication. She attended the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, where she received a Master of Public Policy in 1999, and Yale Law School, where she received her Juris Doctor in 2002.

Career

Finance industry

Saujani worked at the law firm Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP, where she defended securities fraud cases, and on a pro bono basis handled asylum cases. In 2005, she joined the investment firm Carret Asset Management. Subsequently, she joined Blue Wave Partners Management, a subsidiary of the Carlyle Group, the global alternative asset management firm specializing in private equity. She was an associate general counsel at Blue Wave, an equity multi-strategy hedge fund; it was closed in the aftermath of the 2008 market collapse. Immediately prior to running for Congress, Saujani was a deputy general counsel at Fortress Investment Group. In 2012, Saujani founded Girls Who Code, a nonprofit organization which works to close the gender gap in technology. In 2015, she collected a salary of $224,913 from the organization, according to Internal Revenue Service filings.

In September 2015, Reshma Saujani was named to Fortune Magazine's 40 Under 40 list.

Politics

Saujani was on the National Finance Board for Hillary Clinton during Clinton's campaign for president in 2008. Following the primaries, she was named vice-chair of the New York delegation at the 2008 Democratic National Convention in Denver.

In September 2011, she was named one of *City & State'''s "40 under 40" for being a young influential member of New York City politics.

2010 House election

Saujani challenged incumbent Democratic Representative Carolyn Maloney for the New York's 14th congressional district in the 2010 House elections. Saujani's previous work for and link to Wall Street firms was seen as a liability to her credibility and acceptance by Democratic primary voters. Saujani won the support of Jack Dorsey, co-founder and chairman of Twitter; Randi Zuckerberg, director of market development for Facebook and sister of Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg; Alexis Maybank, co-founder of Gilt Groupe; and Chris Hughes, co-founder of Facebook. Saujani outraised Maloney by almost a 2-to-1 margin in the last quarter of 2009, when Maloney had ceased fundraising following the death of her husband, Clifton Maloney, who in September had died unexpectedly on a mountain-climbing expedition in the Himalayas. Saujani's candidacy received the backing of prominent Upper East Side political fundraisers, including Cathy Lasry, Maureen White, and White's husband, financier Steven Rattner.

A poll commissioned in the spring of 2010 by the Maloney campaign showed Saujani trailing Maloney by more than 68 points. The same poll found Maloney to hold a favorable rating of 86%. Saujani's campaign mailed a flyer to voters implicating Maloney as one of eight House members investigated for taking donations from special interests. Maloney won the primary by receiving 81% of the vote to Saujani's 19%, winning the Manhattan, Queens, and Roosevelt Island portions of the district across the board by decisive margins. Saujani received 6,231 votes, despite her campaign's expenditure of $1.3 million, spending more than $213 for every vote she received.

Saujani's campaign was the first political campaign to use technology tools such as Square, Inc.

2013 Public Advocate election

Main article: 2013 New York City Public Advocate election

Saujani ran for the role of New York Public Advocate in 2013, coming third in the Democratic primary. Her campaign manager in 2013 was Michael Blake, who later served as a New York State Assemblyman, and then ran for the Public Advocate seat himself in 2018.

In January 2013, Saujani's Wikipedia page was heavily edited to remove traces of Saujani working for Wall Street firms such as hedge funds. Her campaign admitted to this, arguing they did it because they disagreed with the stated facts.

Girls Who Code

Saujani founded Girls Who Code in 2012 after visiting schools and becoming aware of the gender disparity in computing while campaigning for Congress. Saujani was a speaker at the 2016 TED Conference, with her talk focusing on encouraging young girls to take risks and learn to program.

Other activities

She was elected to a six-year term on the Harvard Board of Overseers, in 2019.

In January 2021, she placed advertisements in The New York Times and The Washington Post calling on the Biden administration to support the passage of a "Marshall Plan for Moms" in the form of a resolution introduced by Representative Grace Meng and pass a series of financial relief executive actions benefiting mothers and women in the workforce.

Books

Saujani is the author of Women Who Don't Wait in Line: Break the Mold, Lead the Way, published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt in 2013, and Girls Who Code: Learn to Code and Change the World, published by Viking in August 2017, and Brave, Not Perfect: Fear Less, Fail More, and Live Bolder in 2018.

She is the author of the book Pay Up: The Future of Women and Work (and Why It’s Different Than You Think) published in March 2022.

Personal life

Saujani is married to entrepreneur Nihal Mehta, who was a co-founder of ad tech startup LocalResponse and now is a co-founding partner of Eniac Ventures, a seed stage venture capital firm. Saujani is a practicing Hindu. They have two children.

Electoral history

References

References

1. Bilton, Nick. (June 26, 2012). "Tech Companies Announce 'Girls Who Code' Initiative". The New York Times.
2. (11 August 2020). "'Every Girl Has to Learn How to Code.' Reshma Saujani Wants to Make Space for Young Women in Tech".
3. Paybarah, Azi. (2012-11-20). "Gillibrand headlines a fund-raiser for Reshma Saujani". Capital New York.
4. Colvin, Jill. (2012-03-05). "Reshma Saujani Leaving Public Advocate's Office to Explore Potential Run". DNAinfo.com New York.
5. "Reshma Saujani".
6. "Reshma Saujani, Challenger to Carolyn Maloney, Hires a Campaign Manager". The New York Observer.
7. [http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/ahmedabad/Gujarati-woman-aims-for-House-history-in-US/articleshow/5511099.cms "Gujarati Woman Aims for House"], ''The Times of India'', January 1, 2010.
8. "Creating history: Reshma Saujani to run for US Congress".
9. (10 September 2013). "Reshma Saujani, New York Candidate For Public Advocate: Daughter Of Indians Expelled From Idi Amin's Uganda".
10. Halbfinger, David. [https://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/27/nyregion/27maloney.html "Pro-Wall Street Democrat Takes On a House Veteran"], ''The New York Times'', January 26, 2010.
11. Paybarah, Azi. [https://web.archive.org/web/20091021181630/http://www.observer.com/2009/politics/hillary-lawyer-reshma-saujani-ponders-challenge-maloney "Hillary Lawyer Reshma Saujani to Challenge Maloney"], ''[[New York Observer]]'', October 21, 2009.
12. Shontell, Alyson. (August 23, 2013). "RESHMA: How A Daughter Of Refugees Taught Girls To Code, Won Over Tech Millionaires, And Pushed Her Way Into Politics". Business Insider.
13. Robbins, Tom. [https://web.archive.org/web/20100521053341/http://www.villagevoice.com/2010-05-18/columns/reshma-saujani-congress-carolyn-maloney/ "Wall Street Runs for Congress"], ''[[Village Voice]]'', May 18, 2010.
14. Halbfinger, David. [https://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/27/nyregion/27maloney.html "Pro-Wall St. Democrat Takes on Veteran"], ''The New York Times'', January 24, 2010.
15. [https://www.forbes.com/forbes/2010/0208/opinions-careers-networking-immigrants-heads-up.html "The Immigrant Connection"], ''Forbes'', February 8, 2008.
16. "RESHMA: How A Daughter Of Refugees Taught Girls To Code, Won Over Tech Millionaires, And Pushed Her Way Into Politics".
17. "IRS Form 990 Girls Who Code Inc".
18. "Reshma Saujani".
19. [http://www.cityandstateny.com/rising-stars-40-under-40-reshma-saujani/ "Rising Stars 40 Under 40: Reshma Saujani"] {{webarchive. link. (2013-01-19 , ''City & State'', September 19, 2011.)
20. Halbfinger, David. [https://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/08/nyregion/08maloney.html "Links to Wall St. Become Liability in Primary Races"], ''The New York Times'', September 8, 2010.
21. [http://guestofaguest.com/events/parties/ny-tech-scene-gets-political-with-cocktail-benefit-for-reshma-saujani/ "NY Tech Scene Gets Political With Cocktail Benefit For Reshma Saujani"], [[GuestofaGuest.com]], January 14, 2010.
22. [https://twitter.com/randizuckerberg/status/10753058584 Tweet], Twitter account of Randi Zuckerberg, March 19, 2010.
23. [http://dnainfo.com/20100308/manhattan/reshma-saujani-breakfast-fundraiser-brings-out-big-female-backers Resto-Montero, Gabriela, "Reshma Saujani Breakfast Fundraiser Brings Out Big Female Backers"] {{webarchive. link. (2010-03-12 , DNAinfo, March 8, 2010.)
24. [http://www.reshma2010.com/pages/chris_hughes_on_start_up_america Video of Chris Hughes Endorsing Reshma Saujani on Start-Up America] {{Webarchive. link. (2024-11-26 , Reshma2010 website, March 8, 2010.)
25. Haberman, Maggie. [https://web.archive.org/web/20100124093725/http://www.nypost.com/p/blogs/knickerbocker/maloney_challenger_brings_in_DxntRveYX4VDtnWYmsTLEM "Maloney Challenger Brings In $403G"], ''New York Post'', January 19, 2010.
26. Healy, Jack, [https://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/27/nyregion/27maloney.html "Rep. Maloney's Husband Dies on Tibet Trek,"] ''The New York Times'', September 26, 2009.
27. Saul, Michael Howard. [https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748704912004575252651898777186 "Rep. Carolyn Maloney's Poll Shows Big Lead"], ''Wall Street Journal'', May 19, 2010
28. [http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_l8p16lcGfR1qz802uo1_500.jpg "BREAKING NEWS: CAROLYN MALONEY TAKES MONEY from the Special Interests She Is Supposed to Regulate,"] Saujani flyer sent to voters Sept. 2010.
29. [http://elections.nytimes.com/2010/house/new-york/14 "New York 14th District Race Profile - Election 2010"], ''The New York Times'', September 15, 2010.
30. [http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/alsorun.php?cid=N00031334&cycle=2010 Reshma M. Saujani (D)] [[OpenSecrets]]
31. (2010-03-18). "Square Now Being Used For Mobile Payments At Political Fundraisers". TechCrunch.
32. (September 11, 2013). "Democratic Runoff Is Likely in Contest for Public Advocate". The New York Times.
33. (December 11, 2015). "Hilltop hires sitting Democratic assemblyman Michael Blake". Politico.
34. Max, Ben. "In Run for New York City Public Advocate, Blake Offers Federal and State Experience".
35. [http://www.salon.com/2013/04/11/wall_street_dem_covers_up_her_past_and_runs_again/ Wall Street Dem covers up her past and runs again] Salon, April 11, 2013
36. [http://www.crainsnewyork.com/article/20130206/BLOGS04/302069997 Saujani's campaign wipes hedge fund history from her Wiki page] Crain's New York Business, February 11, 2013
37. "No boys allowed: Girls Who Code takes on gender gap".
38. (7 March 2016). "Teach girls bravery, not perfection".
39. Parsons, Lian. (2019-05-30). "Seven Harvard Overseers, six Alumni Association directors elected".
40. (25 February 2021). "Why this tech CEO is calling on Biden to give $2,400 monthly stimulus checks to moms".
41. (8 March 2021). "How can we help working women? This proposal calls for a 'Marshall Plan for Moms'".
42. Saujani, Reshma. (2013). "Women who don't wait in line : break the mold, lead the way".
43. Saujani, Reshma. (2017). "Girls who code : learn to code and change the world".
44. Saujani, Reshma. (2020). "Brave, not perfect : how celebrating imperfection helps you live your best, most joyful life". [[Random House]].
45. Grose, Jessica. (2022-03-02). "Opinion {{!}} Remote Work Doesn't Have to Be the 'Mommy Track'". The New York Times.
46. Paulina Karpis. (February 26, 2018). "What This Serial Investor Wants All First Time Founders To Know". Forbes.
47. Garcia, Alfredo. [http://www.timesunion.com/news/article/Is-converting-a-part-of-politics-564008.php "Is Converting a Part of Politics?"] ''[[Albany Times-Union]]'', July 3, 2010.
48. Liriel Higa. (July 10, 2015). "How Reshma Saujani, Founder of Girls Who Code, Spends Her Sundays". New York Times.
49. "Reshma Saujani | World Bank Live".
50. "New York 14th District Profile".
51. (September 30, 2013). "Statement and Return Report for Certification, Primary Election 2013 - 09/10/2013, Crossover - Democratic Party, Democratic Public Advocate, Citywide".