Episode 37: Malavika Vivek – Girls Make Apps

Malavika Vivek is the cofounder of Girls Make Apps, a U.S. nonprofit she began as a high school junior in 2016. To date, Girls Make Apps has inspired hundreds of girls and women from middle school through college to enter the world of tech through free workshops, programs and hackathons across the country from New York to California, and has worked with educators to improve computer science education in public schools. Some of Girls Make Apps’ partners have included Spotify, Google and Microsoft.

In this episode, Malavika talks about how Girls Make Apps grew from an 8-week Android workshop camp for girls into a national program that gives girls a positive first experience with technology, how her program breaks down stereotypes to show the diversity that’s possible in tech, and helps girls build the confidence to work in STEM through hands-on activities, creative work and collaboration.

Learn more about Girls Make Apps at www.girlsmakeapps.org and @girlsmakeapps on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Full bio:

Malavika Vivek is the cofounder of national nonprofit Girls Make Apps, a US-based initiative she began as a high school junior in 2016. Girls Make Apps has inspired hundreds of girls and women from middle school through college to enter the world of tech through free workshops, programs and hackathons across the country from New York to California and has worked with educators to improve computer science education in public schools. Malavika has been honored as a Stanford University #include fellow for her efforts to bridge the diversity gap in tech and has also been featured for her work in Amy Poehler’s Smart Girls and Huffington Post. She has an extensive speaking background and has given talks to numerous students, guidance counselors, and educators at conferences across the US, as well as given a TED talk at TEDxPaloAltoCollege and spoken internationally at Digital4Her, a conference organized by the European Commission. She has a passion for technology as well as computational biology and has worked as a research intern at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. She is currently working at Avasoft, a software solutions company.