[KRuchan]

The public face for Girls Who Code is Reshma Saujani (law / politics background). As krstck pointed out, the public faces here are Mindy Kaling, Chelsea Clinton. While there are engineers involved behind the curtains in each of these programs, I don't like the fact that the ones who stand to gain the most (publicity, credibility, funding, access to resources and powerful contacts) are people who don't have anything to do with tech themselves except flying around the country giving talks about how everyone should code (Reshma Saujani, I am looking at you). I am being bitter here, but I would hope to live in a world where real engineers are the women in the limelight for the kids to look up to.

[magicalist]

I totally agree with you that the people that kids can look up to in these programs should actually be engineers. I think there is a danger of forgetting the power of spokespeople and the ability for people who aren't engineers to help lead these organizations. I agree they shouldn't be held up as role models themselves, though, at least in this area.

Honestly, though, my experience with Girls Who Code (and why I mentioned it) has been entirely local, where the women up front have all been engineers or close enough. This is the first time I've actually heard of Reshma Saujani (or, if it's not, she wasn't notable enough to stick in my memory).