Cristina Mancini

The CEO Making Sure Black Girls Are Prepared for the AI Revolution

After 15 years as an executive at companies like Salesforce and 20th Century Fox, Cristina Mancini saw firsthand that the people creating today’s technologies don’t often look like the communities they’re supposed to serve. So, in 2023, she took the helm at Black Girls Code as the nonprofit’s first non-founder CEO, announcing a goal to place one million girls of color in tech by 2040. (Right now, only 3% of computer science Bachelor’s degrees are earned by Black women.) At a time when AI is reshaping how we work and live, Mancini is reimagining BGC’s impact by expanding existing programming to more cities, adding more AI-focused apprenticeships and redefining the idea that tech is limited to traditional programming roles. In 2024, BGC expanded its summer camps to 12 cities, launched Code Along Jr. to reach students as young as 7, and executed its first training program for women 18+ getting into tech with software company ServiceNow, which received over 1,000 applications in 3 months. Last year, nearly 5,000 women and girls participated in BGC’s programming.

By Audrey Goodson Kingo