MELISSA SARIFFODEEN

Co-founder & CEO CANADA LEARNING CODE

BIO: Melissa is the CEO and Co-founder of Canada Learning Code. She is a celebrated digital literacy advocate who is dedicated to ensuring that all people in Canada have the critical skills, confidence, and opportunities that they need to thrive in our increasingly digital world. To date, the organization has taught over 600,000 people in Canada technology skills through their in-person programs, which are offered in over 30 cities across the country and now live online. She taught herself how to build websites from scratch using HTML when she was 11 years old and has been coding ever since.

BEST/MOST-VALUED CAREER LESSON IN THE PAST YEAR: Change can be incredibly hard, especially when out of your control, as so much of this pandemic year was. Being intentional about finding ways, and creating opportunities for others, to contribute and influence the change — in decisions or solutions — not only leads to better outcomes but also a sense of agency in a challenging environment.