Icon2Icon: Indian American Reshma Saujani Among Activists Recognized by Lizzo at People’s Choice Award
- She is the founder and CEO of Marshall Plan for Moms, “a national non-profit fighting to put moms first in America and get them the support they deserve, from affordable child care, paid family leave, to equal pay.”
Reshma Saujani, founder and CEO of Marshall Plan for Moms, shared the stage with Emmy and Grammy Award-winning singer and songwriter Lizzo, and other women leaders and activists at the 2022 People’s Choice. Awards. Lizzo received the People’s Champion Award at the Dec. 6 ceremony for her efforts to empower and uplift people of all backgrounds.
“I am here tonight because to be an icon isn’t about how long you have had your platform,” Lizzo said. “Being an icon is what you do with that platform. Ever since the beginning of my career, I have used my platform to amplify marginalized voices, so tonight I am sharing this honor.”
The popular artist shared the moment with 17 activists who she invited on stage including Saujani. “We are so excited to have been honored by Lizzo,” said Saujani in a Marshal Plan for Moms press release. “As a visionary artist and advocate, Lizzo has always used her voice and platform to empower girls and women. Marshall Plan for Moms shares her commitment to advancing equality –we are fighting to put moms first in America and get them the support they deserve, from affordable child care, paid family leave, to equal pay.”
Saujani found the national non-profit at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic as millions of women were forced out of the workforce, the press release said. “ The organization has worked to successfully introduce Marshall Plan for Moms legislation in Los Angeles, New York City, and in Congress, “ according to the non-profit. “It has launched the National Business Coalition for Child Care, to work with industry leaders across the private sector to equitably provide child care benefits for employees and speak out on child care as a critical economic and infrastructure issue.”
A first-generation American whose parents were Indian refugees from Uganda, Saujani grew up in Illinois and attended the University of Illinois (majoring in political science) and Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government before earning her J.D. from Yale Law School. She began her career as an attorney and political organizer.
In 2010 she ran for U.S. Congress, campaigning for the U.S. House of Representatives seat for New York’s 14th district. She later served as New York City’s deputy public advocate, creating new partnerships to support DREAMers and promote campaign finance reform, among other initiatives.
During her congressional campaign, Saujani witnessed the stark gender imbalance in computing classes while visiting local schools, inspiring her to start Girls Who Code, which equips girls and young women with computing skills to be competitive in the technology sector, in 2012. Ten years later, the organization has taught more than 500,000 girls through direct in-person and virtual computer science education programming and generated 14 billion engagements globally through marketing and advocacy campaigns. Girls Who Code, which is working toward a goal of closing the gender gap in new entry-level tech jobs by 2030, was named the most innovative nonprofit organization by Fast Company magazine in 2019.
Saujani serves on the boards of Harvard University, the Economic Club of New York, and mParticle. She has been recognized among Fortune World’s “Greatest Leaders” by Fortune in its “40 Under 40” list, as the WSJ Magazine “Innovator of the Year,” as one of Forbes’s “Most Powerful Women Changing the World,” and in Fast Company’s listing of the “100 Most Creative People.” She is also the winner of the 2018 Harold W. McGraw Jr. Prize in Education, awarded annually by the Harold W. McGraw Jr. Family Foundation and the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education. She lives in New York City with her husband, Nihal; their sons, Shaan and Sai; and their bulldog, Stanley.