We cannot tell the story of Coding It Forward without telling the story of Rachel and Ariana’s involvement to date. We are tremendously lucky as an organization to have two such talented leaders on the team, with the opportunity to transition seamlessly between them.
After serving in the inaugural cohort of Fellows at the U.S. Census Bureau, Rachel became Coding It Forward’s first (and only) full-time employee from her graduation in 2018 until the staff grew in 2020. She has dedicated the past 7 years to building Coding It Forward in ways large and small, and as such, her impact on the organization is nearly impossible to quantify. During her tenure, Coding It Forward grew from its dorm room roots into an established, national public interest tech organization. We are so very grateful to her for her tireless contributions, thoughtful leadership, and for all that she has done to set the organization up for stability and scale. We cannot wait to witness her next chapter.
Speaking of next chapters, Coding It Forward’s future is exceedingly bright under the leadership of incoming CEO Ariana.
Ariana, too, has been a part of Coding It Forward’s founding team from her student days, beginning her work with Coding It Forward years ago while still a sophomore in college. As Deputy Director, Ariana has been a fierce and eloquent champion for the mission, a source of empathy and expertise as the primary face of Coding It Forward to government partners on the ground, and a key driver of Coding It Forward’s expansion into an offering for state and local governments in addition to federal. It is hard to leave a conversation with Ariana not feeling inspired into action. We are all so excited for her tenure.