Girls Who Code Founder Reshma Saujani to Deliver 2025 Commencement Address

Reshma Saujani, founder of Girls Who Code and founder and CEO of Moms First,will deliver the keynote address at Harvey Mudd College’s 67th Commencement ceremony on Sunday, May 18.

Saujani has spent more than a decade building movements to fight for women and girls’ economic empowerment, working to close the gender gap in the tech sector, and most recently fighting for the structural changes moms need and deserve, including affordable childcare and paid leave. She is a New York Times bestselling author of several books including PAY UP: The Future of Women and Work (And Why It’s Different Than You Think), Brave, Not Perfect, and the Girls Who Code book series. Her influential TED talk, “Teach girls bravery, not perfection,” has more than 54 million views globally. In 2024, she launched My So-Called Midlife, a podcast with Lemonada Media that quickly entered Apple’s Top 10 show chart, reached No. 1 in Health and Fitness, and was named one of the best new podcasts of the year by TIME magazine.

Senior class presidents Rohan Subramanian ’25 and Mikayla Mann ’25 celebrated the announcement. “At Mudd, we have always believed that excellence goes hand in hand with reducing disparity in STEM careers,” said Subramanian. “Reshma has championed these principles on the national level, leading the charge to found a nonprofit organization called ‘Girls Who Code,’ which aims to bring more women and nonbinary individuals into technology fields.”

“As an officer and active member in the Society of Women Engineers at Mudd, I’m so excited we’re inviting a speaker who uplifts women in science and technology,” Mann said. “We’re inspired by all she’s accomplished, and we are looking forward to hearing her story of breaking boundaries to close the gender gap in STEM.”

Saujani is a graduate of the University of Illinois, Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government and Yale Law School. Her innovative approach to activism and movement building has been recognized on lists, such as Fortune World’s Greatest Leaders; Fortune 40 Under 40; WSJ Magazine Innovator of the Year; Forbes Most Powerful Women Changing the World; and Fast Company 100 Most Creative People, among others. She is the winner of the Harold W. McGraw, Jr. Prize in Education. She serves on the Board of Overseers for Harvard University, the Board of Overseers for the International Rescue Committee, and the Board of Trustees of the Economic Club of New York, and as an ex-officio Trustee of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA).

The College’s 67th commencement ceremony will take place at 1:30 p.m. on Sunday, May 18, on the Mudd Quadrangle.