Dr. Tarika Barrett is the CEO of Girls Who Code, an international non-profit organization working to close the gender gap in technology by inspiring, educating and equipping young women with the computing skills to pursue 21st century opportunities. Prior to becoming CEO, Tarika served as Chief Operating Officer of the organization. She led the organization’s free Summer Immersion Program and after-school Clubs Program, reaching 670,000 girls around the world to date. Additionally, she managed the launch of international Programming, Alumni Programming, and managed the People & Culture team.
Tarika has served on the boards of CSforALL, Eskolta, AT&T’s Accelerator Advisory Board, and McGraw Hill, a leading learning science company that creates world-class educational content and provides best-in-class digital platforms for learners and educators.
In March of 2024, Tarika was appointed Co-Chair of New York Governor Kathy Hochul’s Emerging Technology Advisory Board. She also serves as a member of the Homeland Security Advisory Council, Chair of the New York University Steinhardt Dean’s Alumni Advisory Board, and a member of the NewVisions for Public Schools Board of Directors.
She has received prestigious accolades such as the New York University Steinhardt School’s Dorothy Height Distinguished Alumni Achievement Award and the New York City Bar Association Huntington Bank’s Her Hero Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2021, she was recognized as one of Crain’s 50 Most
Powerful Women in New York. Additionally, Tarika was named to City and State New York’s “Power of Diversity: Women 100 List” in 2022. She was honored as the 2022 NYU Alumni Changemaker of the Year and included in the Diversity MBA Media’s Top 100 Under 50 list, as well as the PoliticsNY and amNewYork’s Power Women list. In 2023, Tarika was also named to the Actual Agency’s Purposeful 50 list.
Previously, Tarika worked as the Chief Program Officer at iMentor, leading the organization’s programmatic efforts to build mentoring relationships supporting students from low-income communities in graduating high school and succeeding in college. Prior to iMentor, she worked in the Office of Postsecondary Readiness at the New York City Department of Education overseeing options for students significantly off-track academically, as well as developing new school models including the Academy for Software Engineering. Tarika’s previous experience includes serving as Deputy Network Leader of the Brooklyn-Staten Island Network of New Visions for Public Schools, designing and implementing research and program evaluations for New York University’s Center for Research on Teaching and Learning teaching high school students, and working as a political organizer.
A graduate of Brooklyn College, Tarika has an M.A. in Deaf Education from Columbia Teachers College and a Ph.D. in Teaching and Learning from New York University.
Tarika lives in Brooklyn with her husband, two children and their Giant Alaskan Malamute.
