Women Who Reign: Priya Talreja

What would you do if you weren’t afraid? -Sheryl Sandberg
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Tell us about yourself along with a fun fact!
My name is Priya, and I’m currently a junior at Mission San Jose High in California. I am interested in biotechnology and computational biology. In addition to being interested in STEM, I am a huge advocate for environmental policy and sustainability practices!

I am the founder of an organization called Project EmpowHER Girls, which aims to bridge the gender gap in computing and technology. I created this organization with the goal of providing high school and middle school girls with more opportunities to get involved in the field. We held our first tech panel in mid-February at Thoughtworks SF, with panelists from companies including Medium, Netflix, LinkedIN, and Adobe!

What inspired you to found this organization?
In a male dominated field, females are often discouraged from participating in activities related to STEM. Interestingly, such problems exist even here in the Silicon Valley. I have seen instances of this occur at my school. For instance, it took several attempts over the course of a year to get enough…