Dr. Tarika Barrett currently serves as Chief Operating Officer at Girls Who Code, an international non-profit organization working to close the gender gap in technology by inspiring, educating and equipping young women with the computing skills to pursue 21st century opportunities. In her role as COO, Dr. Barrett oversees the organization's free Summer Immersion Program and after-school Clubs Program, which have reached 300,000 girls around the world, in addition to the International Expansion, Alumni Programming, and People & Culture teams.
Previously, Dr. Barrett worked as the Chief Program Officer at iMentor, leading the organization’s programmatic efforts to build mentoring relationships that support students from low-income communities in graduating high school and succeeding in college. Before iMentor, she worked in the Office of Postsecondary Readiness at the New York City Department of Education overseeing options for students significantly off-track academically, as well as developing new school models including the Academy for Software Engineering.
Dr. Barrett’s previous experience includes serving as Deputy Network Leader of the Brooklyn-Staten Island Network of New Visions for Public Schools, designing and implementing research and program evaluations for New York University’s Center for Research on Teaching and Learning, teaching high school students, and working as a political organizer.
Dr. Barrett serves on the board of Eskolta, a nonprofit dedicated to helping urban public schools re-engage at-risk teenagers. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in political science from Brooklyn College, a Master of Arts in deaf education from Columbia Teachers College and a Doctor of Philosophy in teaching and learning from New York University.