Shirin Laor-Raz Salemnia

Founder & CEO
PlayWerks, INC and WhizGirls Academy

To date, 5,000 girls, boys and adults have come through Shirin Laor-Raz Salemnia’s WhizGirls Academy program since its inception in August 2013. This includes summer camps, after-school programs, during school programs, 20 hackathons (including one in Long Beach for Mayor Garcia during Innovation Week, three for the White House and four for Mayor Garcetti) and one TechLAvia event during CicLAvia with Mayor Garcetti in South Central L.A. The students in Salemnia’s programs have realized that they have a lot of potential and opportunities in the tech space and not be confined by their culture/society or their neighborhoods. She started WhizGirls Academy to focus on diversity, equity and inclusion as a partnership with the Obama Administration White House to help students from the inner city thrive and create career pipelines in the STEM industry and entrepreneurship.