Women shaping the future of tech: Stories that inspire

In her blog series, Alice, our Lead Africa, tells us all things Code Blossom from her point of view:

From exciting events happening in our community, to personal stories from her or our students. Stay tuned for this inspiring blog series - you won’t want to miss it!

In celebration of this year’s International Women’s Day, Alice shines a light on three incredibly inspiring women who have helped shape tech as we know it today.

I often talk about how being in a community like Code Blossom is empowering for me. And one of the core reasons for this is that I can vividly remember a time when, in any tech room I found myself in, there were just a handful of women.

Whilst doing my degree in computer science, our final year class consisted of only five girls in a class of 34. This experience continued on even after graduation, such that in most interview rooms, I was the only girl. Or if I researched potential employer office ratios, it was the same. Meeting a female developer was practically unheard of, so as days turned into weeks and weeks into months, I was unable to land a position in any IT department. My dream felt more out of reach than ever before, but with a set desire and some tenacity, I managed to make it. 

Then, in my first ever developer position, I came across the first female developers that I knew of in Malawi. In the early days of my career, my local landscape did not offer me inspirational and motivational pictures of what I could be. So I turned to the global stage of the tech world, but even this seemed to mirror the ratios of women to men I was experiencing here at home in Malawi.

And that is because, when it comes to individuals shaping the tech world, you hear names like Zuckerberg, Altman, Bezos, and Musk a lot. Very rarely, though, do the women shaping the tech get as much airtime. 

So, this week in our blog, having just celebrated IWD, I want to shine a light on some of them and endow them with the flowers they deserve.

Because, as the saying goes, “you cannot become what you don’t see”, and what better way than to show the women of our community and beyond glimpses of their future selves.

Mira Murati

We begin with Mira Murati, who served as CTO of OpenAI during the launches of ChatGPT and DALL·E. At the height of the generative AI boom, she played a fundamental role in moving AI out of the research labs and into some of the fastest-adopted consumer products in history.

Born and raised in Albania, Mira left her home country as a teenager to pursue engineering studies in the U.S, where she built a strong technical foundation that helped shape how the world interacts with AI today. 

During her time at OpenAI, her leadership heavily focused not only on scaling large language models(LLMS) but also on embedding AI safety and alignment into real-world deployment. She stayed true to this mission, even after leaving the company after over six years. She went ahead to found Thinking Machine Labs, an AI research and product company that focuses on building advanced AI systems that are more understandable, customizable, and collaborative with humans.

She thus continues to shape not only the world of tech, but the future of AI specifically. 

Mira’s humble beginnings remind us that it’s not where you start from but where you wish to go that defines you. So, to Mira Murati - here are your well-deserved flowers.

Dr. Fei-Fei Li 

Another notable figure is Dr. Fei-Fei Li, often called the “Godmother of AI.” Dr. Li was born in Beijing, China, and immigrated to the United States as a teenager. Later on studying physics at Princeton before earning a PhD in electrical engineering.

Now a professor at Stanford University, Dr. Li led the groundbreaking ImageNet project that helped spark the modern AI revolution. Over the past decade, her influence has been era-defining. She served as Chief Scientist of AI/ML at Google Cloud and co-founded the Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence (HAI).

Becoming a leading global voice for Human-Centered AI, Dr. Li advocates for technology that enhances - rather than replaces - human capability, ensuring innovation remains ethically grounded. Truly, who wouldn’t want a “fairy godmother” like her helping shape the future of AI?

Her achievements remind us that women also have a place in shaping the tech space, a space that has been heavily influenced by men for so long.

Nelly Cheboi

Our final spotlight goes to Nelly Cheboi, who grew up in rural Kenya with limited access to electricity, computers, and stable educational resources.

Determined to change her circumstances, she pursued computer science in the United States and built a successful career as a software engineer.

Molded by her early struggles, she later founded TechLit Africa, providing recycled computers, digital literacy, and coding education to rural Kenyan schools - turning her success into an opportunity for others. And once again, opening doors for women who could not even dare to dream such a dream. Thank you, Nelly Cheboi.

I don’t know about you, but after talking about these incredible women, I feel just a little bit more inspired and motivated to keep at it. I would like to think that reading about them has just allowed us to dare to dream a bit more. Something we aim to instill in our students here at Code Blossom, but as I said, it is hard to dream of what you cannot see.

Even more so when you are coming from a background where what you could be was not heavily modeled. This is the case for most of our students; thus, shining a light on such figures can act as more than just a couple of words strewn together, but the birthing of a vision for them. And as we continue to empower these women using our full-stack development program as a tool, we understand that we need all the help we can get to usher them through the next phase of their tech journeys.

And as I was just reminded in a recent call, seeing those who have gone before you can be that vital lifeline between you staying down or getting back up after a fall.

So, to our future full-stack developers, know that we see you and you CAN, because you stand on the shoulders of these incredible women who have gone before you.