Being the only girl alongside nine boys in your middle school robotics team might sound intimidating to some. But Zaynah Bhanji took it as the motivation she needed to push for success, ultimately leading the team to win a spot at the provincial robotics competition when she was in Grade 8.

She felt supported, the Mississauga 14-year-old said, “but I was like, ‘There should be more girls here.’”

It was her first introduction to the world of technology and a sign of her potential. Now in high school, Bhanji is a developer focused on artificial intelligence and virtual reality, working on projects for major companies and regularly giving talks about technology and the importance of getting more girls interested in STEM. In May, she was one of “six under-16 extraordinary young people” invited to speak at the international business conference C2 Montreal, which bills itself as helping “established and aspiring leaders unlock their creativity” and featured Snoop Dogg and Sophie Grégoire Trudeau among its 2018 speakers.

“She’s very driven and ambitious, and obviously very bright. She’s a go-getter,” said Natasha Walji, a sector lead at Google, and now a mentor for Bhanji after the teen visited Google in Toronto with The Knowledge Society, a learning and leadership program for teens interested in technology. “I think she’s got a lot of potential to do great things in the world.”

Beyond her school work, Bhanji has a packed schedule working on projects such as creating a VR experience, then writing an article or making a video about it so she can share her work with others on her website. She spends the evening either cold-calling industry professionals to network or get technical advice, or attending conferences and other events where she can learn from the experts.

“Every time I start to feel a little bit unmotivated, I think back to why I started in the first place, which is to create an impact and eventually become a thought leader in whatever I decide to do,” Bhanji said.

Earlier this month, Bhanji spoke about how new AI and VR technology will impact our lives and various industries in the future at this year’s MAX Gala, an event that celebrates achievements by Canadian Muslims. She described how every industry would be affected, such as agriculture with computers that are able to look at a plant and recognize when it needs to be watered or harvested.

“From a youth perspective, it’s literally our future. We’ll grow up living it,” Bhanji said in an interview. Other speakers included tech industry experts and leaders from RBC Capital Markets and ROBO Global, who also spoke to the gala’s theme this year of the “Fourth Industrial Revolution.”

“She was the only one who got a standing ovation,” said Aazar Zafar, who founded MAX in 2015 to create scholarships and mentoring opportunities that would help “elevate the brand of Muslims.”

“We’ve never had a speaker as young as her.”

Zafar said Bhanji was chosen to speak because she can help inspire other kids, particularly girls.

“We see fewer girls already in the fields and that’s why we don’t go into it,” Bhanji said. She’s also speaking at next month’s summit for #movethedial, an organization dedicated to encouraging more women and girls in technology. “Having more organizations and conferences like that, and workshops with groups of people who are just women, could really help.”

Bhanji’s own mother, Shaifa Kanji, has been a strong role model as a digital strategy director with the Region of Peel. She’s the one who discovered The Knowledge Society online, which connected Bhanji to opportunities like a summer internship at CIBC to develop an augmented reality app to engage customers, a TD bank challenge to create technology for new immigrants navigating banking, and other opportunities with Microsoft and Google. Bhanji’s younger brother, 13, is now also in the program.

“She works extremely hard and she’s very dedicated to her passion,” Kanji said of her daughter. “I think that’s the one thing I’m really proud of: she’s able to accomplish whatever she sets her mind to and she doesn’t give up.”

While Kanji said she’s always there to offer moral support, Bhanji’s technical work itself has progressed beyond anything she can understand. So when Kanji hears her speak, “I’m as amazed as everyone in the audience,” she said.

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“In my mind she’s still a little girl who sometimes doesn’t clean her room,” Kanji said.

Bhanji’s age is often a surprise to people. She was recently talking on the phone with an industry professional when she mentioned speaking last May in front of 2,000 people at the conference in Montreal. The woman asked Bhanji if she does public speaking professionally.

“I said no, I’m in high school,” Bhanji recalled. “And she said, ‘Hold up, what? I need a moment to process this,’ and put me on hold for a good 30 seconds.”

Correction — Oct. 16, 2017: An earlier version of this article misspelled the name of MAX founder Aazar Zafar.