Women Who Reign: Meenakshi Das

“Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement. Nothing can be done without hope and confidence.” — Helen Keller

Tell us about yourself along with a fun fact!
I am an international student from India studying computer science at Mississippi State University. One fun fact about me is that I did not study any science in high school but after taking a programming class in freshman year of college, I fell in love with it and now I am a computer science major!

What # would define your life journey?
One hashtag that would define my life journey is #bepositive. I was diagnosed with a speech impediment in my childhood and it affected my confidence largely throughout my teens. Although I was terrified of interacting with the outside world, it was always my dream to study in the United States and coming here was the best decision I have ever made in my life!

Having a disability myself, I understand the importance of Accessibility and why it is important for us to work toward accessibility in the education and tech. I recently received a grant to attend an Accessibility Conference in San Diego where I realized that I need to contribute towards making the world a more accessible place. I got in touch with some researchers at other universities who were working on tools to teach programming to…