2019 Pass it On Award Winner Spotlight: Aakrati Talati

Aakrati had her first exposure to coding at the young age of nine. This ignited a passion in her as she discovered the endless possibilities technology could deliver to the world. Through her own family hardships, she was no stranger to disparity or to opportunities to close the gap for others, especially for women in tech.⁣⁠
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“By bringing more women into the technology field we have an opportunity to build better and more diverse products for a better society. Women are resilient, have more empathy, and companies need women to build great products.”⁣⁠
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Aakrati is the founder of the Teach Rural Girls to Code Program — an initiative supporting girls in the small village of Khakuwa (Uttar Pradesh), a rural region of India. Aakrati was originally inspired to begin this journey after volunteering with eVidyaloka, an educational social enterprise supporting quality schooling in rural regions, with the hope of allowing other girls the same access and exposure to technology that she was lucky enough to have growing up.⁣⁠
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Since receiving a Pass It On Award in 2019, Aakrati has worked to expand the program to two additional schools in the region and increase its reach to multiple classrooms within each school. Aakrati is also currently working to scale the program by exploring learning platforms and strengthening global partnerships.⁣⁠
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Like many of the tech women trailblazers before her, Aakrati will continue to provide actionable solutions to close the gender gap in tech, focusing on young girls in rural areas. ⁣⁠
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“Much development has happened without considering the needs of half the population of the world. We as ‘women in technology’ have the opportunity to take advantage of the missed business opportunity and create a huge difference.”⁣⁠
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You can win an AnitaB.org #Systers Pass It On Award, too! The cash award helps fund women in computing or projects that inspire and support girls and women to enter computing. We encourage recipients to “pass on” the benefits they gain from the award, creating a movement of women helping women. You can apply here!⁣⁠

This story was written by Crystal M. Cooper, Sr. GHC Program Manager at AnitaB.org. Connect with her on Linkedin.