14 years old from San Francisco, California
Samaira Mehta
Favorite Food: Veggie burritos from Chipotle
What is their mission/cause?
Samaira wants to inspire the next generation of problem-solvers and encourage them to get involved with STEM. The youth of today need access to engaging methods of education, and she is taking on the challenge to reach out to them. Veggie burritos from Chipotle
How is she doing it? Samaira took it upon herself to develop new platforms for learning how to code. She wants to encourage kids and teenagers to have fun in the learning process and does this by turning STEM subjects into a form of interactive entertainment. As a result of her efforts, she created Yes, One Billion Kids Can Code to open doors to the next generation of technological changemakers.
Fun Fact: Ever since she was a kid, she has always loved to talk. She considers it her favorite hobby!
Inspirational quote: Ever since she was a kid, she has always loved to talk. She considers it her favorite hobby!
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Date of recording: July 21, 2022
Samaira Mehta turned her childhood interest into a creative coding community by founding Yes, One Billion Kids Can Code. Even as a kid, she had a passion for STEM and quickly discovered her love for teaching others. As she began to host her own workshops, she realized a lack of interest and attendance from girls. Since then, Samaira has made it her mission to make learning fun and engaging for kids, especially young girls. She is proud to have built a connected network of future change makers through a shared interest in technology. As she continues to bridge the gender gap in STEM, Samaira is leading the next generation of coders and digital innovators!
About Samaira
“Nothing beats the first smile you see when they write their first line of code,” Samaira said in an interview with Zhive.
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Her work couldn’t have been done alone, though. Much like her goal of being a mentor, Samaira had her own role models growing up. Her grandmother embodied the spirit of change as she was the only girl in many spaces dominated by men and was the only woman on a track team and in her college classes. As a result, Samaira had powerful women to look up to as she was taught by her mother and grandmother to pursue her interests with no doubt that she could do it. Being a girl didn’t stop her. In fact, it was a reason for her to keep going.
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She describes her upbringing as a woman of color and how it gave
her the strength to withstand the challenges of establishing herself
in spaces where she has yet to see someone like her. Despite people
not believing in her or dismissing her efforts, she continues to work
toward a brighter future for all girls trying to get involved in
technology. She owes her success to her support system: her family.
They have supported her and boosted her self-esteem as well as her
connections, accompanying her every step of the way on her journey.
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By Clove Morgan
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As a kid, everyone has felt like the odd one out at some point or another. When you enter a space, you’re interested in and see nobody like you, the feeling of isolation is beyond intimidating. You may have even felt as though you didn’t belong there. Young girls especially can fall victim to not feeling welcomed by their environment.
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Samaira Mehta grew up noticing a huge lack of her
peers interested in coding, a passion of hers that she
took to at the young age of eight. Those around her,
especially girls, had no drive to be involved in the ever-
changing world of STEM. As a way to encourage them
to join her in learning about coding, she developed a
game called CoderBunnyz to turn the experience into
something fun and enjoyable. She took her pitch to
schools and libraries in an effort to create an interactive
learning environment. Unfortunately, she was rejected by
most of them, but that didn’t stunt her drive to become
a mentor.
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She kept at her passion and achieved her goal of getting kids in her workshops and realized the distinct absence of girls. The difference was startling, and she felt a sudden desire to create a space for girls in the coding community. Samaira set her mind to finding the root cause of gender bias in STEM and made it her mission to encourage girls to find their voice in technology. She dedicated her workshops to be a safe space for young women. As her teaching sessions grew in popularity, so did her passion for coding and inspiring the next generation of digital innovators.
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In her work, she feels hopeful and optimistic that her accomplishments will pave a way for girls to have easier access to STEM subjects. She never imagined herself where she is now and is proving that her dedication is making a change for herself and others. Persistence and ambition are the two qualities she would attribute to getting her through obstacles in her path.
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“If I keep working towards my goals, who knows what’s possible in the future,” Samaira explains. Her evolution into the person she is today is only adding to her drive to keep building a better world for girls.
Samaira is a firm believer that dedication is the key to reaching your goals, and she uses this mindset to reassure herself and other young women. Being presented with hardships and challenges is no reason to abandon progress, especially when she is aware of how important her mission is. Her philosophy is this: “Even if you do fail… it’s only a building block in your success.”
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Everyone is different. Samaira wants to raise awareness about
the importance of recognizing each kid as an individual and
not generalizing or limiting them to preconceived expectations.
She believes they must be given the opportunity to grow and
mature into their own person. Like-minded individuals do
not make a change, Samaira notes, you must build a
community of diverse personalities in order to achieve
greatness.
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In hopes of establishing a space for kids to learn and evolve without pressure, Samaira founded Yes, One Billion Kids Can Code, an initiative to help one billion kids around the world become involved with coding and STEM. She encourages kids to engage with computational thinking skills in fun ways and provides them with the tools they need to learn. She feels that having a community for people to feel they can safely be themselves and pursue their interests is important in the world today. Samaira strives to be the innovator and mentor for the next generation of coders. Through her technological entrepreneurship, she is building a network of support for girls around the world.
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