Dr. Tarika Barrett is determined to transform the tech industry with a sisterhood of girls who code

Dr. Tarika Barrett's entire career has been about finding scalable ways to help students who need a lift. She began her career as an educator and program leader, creating opportunities for marginalized students in New York City. In 2016, she joined Girls Who Code, a non-profit committed to empowering girls with computing skills so they can pursue careers in tech. 

Initially, Tarika was tasked with leading their programs and international expansion. Five years later, she stepped into the role of CEO in the midst of a global pandemic, taking over from the founder, Reshma Saujani, who handpicked her for the role. 

Now, Tarika is out not to just change students' lives but the entire workforce. She has set her sights on closing the gender gap in entry-level tech jobs by 2030. Today, only about 25% of technical roles in tech companies are held by women, and BIPOC women hold only about 5% of tech jobs. With college-aged alums of Girls Who Code declaring majors in computer science and related fields at 15 times the U.S. average, it looks like they’re headed in the right direction.

In the latest This is Working, I talked with Tarika about what Girls Who Code has learned in training 450,000+ girls; why she's so intentional about using the word "sisterhood" as what they're building; and her career advice for introverts like herself.

You can download the podcast on Apple, Spotify, or wherever else you listen to your podcasts. Or just click here:

Here are some edited highlights of our conversation. You can find the full version in the podcast:

Are kids typically pushed into joining Girls Who Code or are they seeking you out?  

”Girls and young women come in contact with our program in different ways. My daughter's almost 13 now, but I remember when our fiction series came out and she found it and she looked at the cover and saw this diverse group of girls. And she immediately started reading it with this plot and storyline around coding.

"We have girls who get involved in our programming that way. But very often it's through schools and libraries and community centers and universities where our programming happens. And so if they're in an after-school club, they are coming together in a sisterhood of their peers. Our curriculum very much involves identifying an issue in your community that you want to change through tech and the girls coming together, learning about women in spotlights, women who are making an influence in the field and the sector, and then also doing kind of things that resemble what you do in the tech industry, like stand-up meetings and planning out their project. And so that's what it looks like across a lot of our programming. 

"During the pandemic, we recognized that we would have to reach girls where they were. Half of the girls we serve come from historically underrepresented groups and we knew we were at risk of leaving them behind. And so a lot of this in-person programming that I'm telling you about, we moved it to offer virtual options as well, deeply expanding and scaling our programming. And I'll give you an example in terms of our summer programming which would normally be seven weeks, with girls coding from 9 am to 4 pm in partner classrooms across the country, 1,600 girls total. We managed to actually reach 6,000 girls by changing it to a two-week virtual program, which was nothing short of amazing. So we really reached girls at every stage of the pipeline as early as elementary school and all the way through college and career."

What have you found that works best to keep girls engaged in tech? 

"It's one thing to build a pipeline. It's another thing for these girls and young women to get their first ever tech job and then the revolving door happens. We did a study with Accenture that found that 50% of women leave the tech industry by the age of 35. That's astounding. So when I talk about Girls Who Code and our secret sauce, it's that sisterhood that keeps these girls recognizing that they belong, that they can persist in the field.

You know, when one girl gets stuck on a thorny coding problem, we've created an environment where her peers step up and help. It's about creating a sisterhood of coders so that frankly, when the obstacles to entry into this old boys club seem impossibly high, there's a completely separate door for these young women to walk through. We know it's complex, but we know it's very much about them understanding that ecosystem that they're going into, but feeling deeply confident that they are entitled just like any boy or guy they see to that opportunity in tech.”

Are you more optimistic now about tech companies, not just opening the doors, but seeking out these women and making sure they stay in these roles?

“We stay optimistic because we know our girls and young women and they're so dynamic and they're exactly who these tech companies need. So we always kind of keep that lens, but I think that some things have happened, frankly, just at a societal level that have changed the way that people have thought about this.

"When you think about this pandemic, that has exacerbated so many of the educational inequities that we knew existed, but they come into even starker relief right now, it's pushed people to really look at how they think about opportunity, who gets opportunity. And I'm heartened that the conversation seems to have shifted somewhat over the last few years about who should have a seat at the table.

"And the numbers that you're pointing to, Dan, are abysmal, right? Women make up only 26% of computing jobs. You talked about black women, combined black and Latinx women only hold 5% of computing jobs. And we still have half of women saying that they lack female role models. You know, a third say that they have unequal growth opportunities compared to male colleagues.

"And we know that women make up only 5% of leadership within tech and women of color are there are absolutely zero Black and Latino women CEOs of Fortune 500 tech companies. While these numbers show that the road ahead is a long one, we know that closing the gender gap in tech, our actual mission, it goes way beyond these statistics. It's about changing the lives of the most marginalized groups in our country. STEM jobs pay. We know that there are also going to be a half a million new stem jobs by 2029. When you think about black women and the wage gap compared to white men, it’s 63 cents to the dollar. For tech, black women actually make 90 cents to the dollar.

This is urgent stuff here. It's about preparing women for the labor force of the future. I would say that what feels different in this moment is that it's almost like we all are on the same page. You can't opt out of tech today. You can't just say, 'Well, tech, you know, is messed up. We'll have another pathway.'

This is urgent stuff here. It's about preparing women for the labor force of the future. You can't opt out of tech today. You can't just say, 'Well, tech, you know, is messed up. We'll have another pathway.'

All these issues are front and center. And I feel as though folks recognize their issues. Folks recognize that there are people who've been historically marginalized and excluded and are beginning to think about what that looks like.

Where the big gap for me is, Dan, is that these thoughts aren't being operationalized in a concrete way that translates into changing hiring practices and changing culture enough at these tech companies so that we see the gender gap closed in a way that's sustained, as opposed to recruitment that is all about numbers, and quotas, and trying to move the needle in a performative way, as opposed to something that's deep and really gets hardwired into the DNA of some of these companies."

You use the word ‘sisterhood’. Could you explain how you think about it and why you seem to be very intentional about making that a term that you want the Girls Who Code community to embrace?

”Sisterhood is something that has shaped my life personally and continues to shape the lives of those in our community. When I think about my own leadership journey, I stand on the shoulders of generations of inspirational women who got me to where I am today. And I think about the girls who inspired me to keep working for a better future.

"The minute a girl engages with Girls Who Code, they hear about this sisterhood. It's about lifting up each other. It's about recognizing women in tech who have been hidden figures, who haven't been recognized. It's knowing that you might get stuck, but you're going to have this community of support there for you. These are young women who know that they can keep leaning, keep holding on each other and holding onto these bonds in spite of what they encounter. When they go into a computer science classroom in college and feel like they are in a very small minority of young women, they know how to seek each other out. And that sisterhood is what will carry them through their journey and eventually into the workforce.”

Is being CEO something that you always wanted to achieve?

“Absolutely not. My predecessor Reshma tells a funny story where she claims that she asked me multiple times and I rejected her. I can remember one, one time when she asked me to step into this role. I don't think either of us was ready. I will say that I knew it was the right time during a pandemic, I knew how important it would be for our girls, especially Black and brown girls to see me step into this role at a moment like that.

"I come to the space first and foremost as an educator and an activist. I’d been fighting for issues of equity and education nearly my entire career. I've been so fortunate. I have a mom who taught me about the power of education, but also how to go into spaces to see the type of work that was necessary but wasn't happening. And to have the agency to believe that I could actually be the change that I wanted to see that was needed. And my journey, when I think about the through line in terms of my past, and this moment sitting in the CEO chair at this wonderful organization where we're one of the largest girls' organizations on the planet. 

"When I was at the New York City Department of Education, I worked with kids who frankly, many people had written off. Most of them were poor Black and brown kids who looked a lot like me when I was their age. And I got super lucky. I led a team who basically built a first of its kind high school focused on software engineering. It was a part of the then mayor's plan to make New York City into a tech hub. But one of the challenges I encountered really early was that it was clear that there was a tension, that this school was going to be potentially meant to be a [specialized] school, which would mean that kids would have to test-in in order to be accepted. But I also knew that relying solely on test scores would put kids of color at a tremendous disadvantage. And there are lots of reasons for it. Poverty. Racial bias and testing disinvestment in low-income neighborhoods. So even though I knew it risked turning off some of our key stakeholders, I fought against screening and rallied support for our decision to open the school to any kid in New York City interested in programming. 

You have to kind of live and exist at the intersection of opportunity and bravery.

And today, right now, any kid who wants to learn computer science can apply to the Academy for Software Engineering. And for the kids who are there, 95% of them are graduating on time. Helping to get that school off the ground was absolutely one of my proudest accomplishments as an educator, but it was an incredible lesson that you have to kind of live and exist at the intersection of opportunity and bravery. And that you have to disrupt the status quo every chance that you get.

I think about that experience and I know that it's what led me to say yes — eventually — to my job here as CEO of Girls Who Code. And what drives me in terms of this cause, because we're at a moment where I actually think equity in tech education is possible. I actually think closing the gender gap in tech is possible. And I knew that I had to be a part of that change.”

Why did you say no to the CEO job originally? 

“I don't know if you’ll fully grasp this but I'm an introvert at heart. And so this was a huge leap for me. I have so loved sort of being that No. 2 person working behind the scenes with a very internal focus where I get so much energy from my internal team. We have the most incredible staff at Girls Who Code and I didn't really want to change that dynamic. But it was definitely something that I was crystal clear that when Reshma asked me to do this in the pandemic that I had to say yes, and I was energized to say yes. And I knew that I would be successful. So much of this, frankly, was her belief in me.” 

What kind of career advice do you tend to give? I would love to know if you have specific career advice for other introverts.

“Let's say something to the introverts. I continue to be reflective around things that push me out of my comfort zone. It doesn't mean you have to say yes to every opportunity, but you should at least interrogate it and say what stands in the way. Very often in my career journey I’ve found that I've been the one standing in my way because I thought I didn't want to do it. Or I didn't think I was ready. Or I thought it would be extremely stressful when, in fact, it's much easier to put one foot in front of the other and try it and kind of test the waters. And if you have a supportive organization or company, you find that there's scaffolding to support you in exploring and stretching and growing professionally. And certainly those are the kinds of roles and organizations you want to seek out. 

Very often in my career journey I’ve found that I've been the one standing in my way because I thought I didn't want to do it. Or I didn't think I was ready. Or I thought it would be extremely stressful when, in fact, it's much easier to put one foot in front of the other and try it and kind of test the waters.

"And then the second bit of advice I want to offer is always mentorship. Never discount the folks who are in your corner that you can lean on and that you can turn to who have wonderful examples of how they've navigated a given professional situation or how they think about a transition, which I know is often very difficult as people think about new careers. But mentorship is key and beyond being on the receiving end, please pay it forward.

"You know, I never say no to anyone who reaches out to have a conversation because people have shown me tremendous kindness in my own professional journey. When I just wanted to have an informational interview or ask a question about an organization. And so that's the advice I would offer up.”