The subject of my cultural research is Reshma Saujani. She is an Indian-American lawyer and politician. Saujani was born in Illinois, and is of Gujarati descent. Her parents lived in Uganda until Idi Amin expelled all the inhabitants of Indian descent in the early 1970’s.

Her culture differs from mine in that she is a practicing Hindu, while I am a Christian. She faced prejudice which I never have.

In her interview on Makers.com, she talks about being a Hindu, with her mother wearing a bindi or a sari, and people making fun of her mother for that. She mentions being a child and not being able to find a toy license plate with her name on it, and leading a march to bring awareness to prejudice. She talks about her desire to change the world, and the struggles she went through to get into Yale, as well as winning a grant and starting her non-profit organization.

Reshma founded Girls Who Code in 2012 to help girls overcome the gender gap in technology. Her goal is to teach 1 million girls how to code by 2020. She is an inspiration and I am looking forward to learning more about her. Since she is still alive, I think the possibility of an interview is pretty good.