Which women in tech do you most look up to?

Gonzales: My mentor, Nikki Wiles, has been an incredible guiding force for me. And Reshma Saujani, the founder of Girls Who Code, is the person Sophie and I have to thank for it all. But it’s hard to pin down which women in particular we look up to — throughout our journey with Tampon Run, we’ve met an incredible amount of women who’ve made an impact in tech.

Houser: We’ve met so many incredible female founders and entrepreneurs and they’ve all been so encouraging and supportive. Reshma has been a huge mentor and role model. She’s both encouraged us to keep coding and also to self-advocate for what we want.

What resources like online communities or events do you find most useful for women and girls in tech?

Gonzales: Girls Who Code was an invaluable resource for me. It created a space for Sophie and me to make Tampon Run, which connected me to the whole world of tech and women in tech. Once you’re in the program, you’re given access to an incredible network of GWC alumni, teachers, and sponsors all devoted to supporting women in tech.

But Girls Who Code is far from the only resource available to women and minorities in tech. There’s Women Who Code, Black Girls Code, plus all sorts of meetups that happen all the time, everywhere. Minorities in tech work really hard to create spaces where participants old and new feel welcome.

Why did you choose Girls Who Code’s learning environment rather than a coding course or camp that wasn’t gender-specific?

Gonzales: For the two summers before I went to Girls Who Code, I attended a co-ed computer camp. I loved it, but it, like many co-ed coding programs, had an unequal gender divide. Taking the leap into Girls Who Code was a challenge because I was used to interacting with mostly men, but I was curious to see how I would change as a programmer and as a learner in an environment with only women. I wouldn’t have been encouraged to talk about women’s issues at my co-ed camp in the same way I was encouraged to at Girls Who Code — and safe to say, I wouldn’t have felt comfortable enough to make Tampon Run at my co-ed computer camp.

What kind of tools has coding given you in life, both work and play?

Houser: So many! And that’s why I love to code. On a literal level, coding gives me the power to build anything technology-based I want. If I have any idea, big or small, and I can figure out a way to solve it with code, I now have the skills to bring it to life. And I can apply my coding skills to solve problems in any industry.

Coding has also taught me a lot emotionally. I used to be so afraid of failing, mostly because I was afraid of affirmation that I was stupid and because I didn’t want other people to know that I was. But you have to be OK with failing when you code. The coding process is basically you write some code, you find a bug, you do everything in your power to fix it but nothing works, you feel frustrated times a million, and then you figure it out and feel like the smartest person ever.

Another huge lesson: If you don’t know how to do something, just look it up. Every coder does it, but also applies to all facets of my life. I love the internet. The answer is always there.

What other social-good tech projects have you been inspired by?

Gonzales: I learned after making Tampon Run that there was a whole genre of games that have objectives other than pure entertainment. “Serious games,” as they’re called, focus on other things, like education, sexual assault, sustainability, and, in our case, the menstrual taboo. Games for Change is an incredible organization that works to create a community for games with social impact.

Houser: Tech is an incredibly powerful tool to talk about social issues since technology-based products can reach so many people so quickly. Games can bring humor or fun to difficult topics and allow users to actually engage with the topic. One “social-good” game I learned about recently, Phone Story, is about the abusive and awful conditions for people who manufacture smartphones. In order to “win” the game, the user must actively perpetuate these awful conditions. Playing causes an uncomfortable visceral reaction, which makes you stop and think about what goes into making devices we use daily.

There are also a lot of social-good Twitter bots. One I found particularly jarring is @congressedits. It tweets every time someone anonymously edits a Wikipedia page from an IP address in the U.S. Congress. Most of the pages have something to do with events or people in the U.S. government.