Girls Who Code Founder and Activist Reshma Saujani Considers Failure a “Privilege”

The founder and best-selling author speaks to editor-in-chief Nikki Ogunnaike for the 'Marie Claire' podcast "Nice Talk."

reshma saujani poses in a black blazer and smiles with mention of her appearance on the nice talk podcast
(Image credit: Future)

Reshma Saujani has made many successful career pivots, from being a lawyer and working in politics to founding the nonprofit Girls Who Code to publishing several books about career and ambition. With each change, she's also learned to embrace failure.

Saujani, who just launched the "My So-Called Midlife" podcast, opens up on the Marie Claire podcast "Nice Talk" about what she's learned from failing—and how women can apply that to their own lives.

She points to her background in tech and how she lost the 2010 New York Democratic House primary as having influenced her view of failure. "In that race, I learned how to be a great communicator, a great fundraiser. I learned how to build strong teams. But had I not lost that race, I wouldn't have been able to actually do that because then I had to go dissect it after I lost," Saujani shares on the pod.

The founder describes the skill of reflecting on what worked and what didn't as her "hack on failure."

"Women are so afraid of failure because they think it will break them—that they will think about it, think about it, think about it, think about it, think about it, and they'll never be able to do anything over again," she says. "For me, I'm like, I give myself 30 days to think about it, to analyze it, and then I move the fuck on. I do not sit in it."

"That's my hack," she continues. "And so I think that I have learned that failure is a privilege."

She adds that every person who has successfully launched a brand has made mistakes, and emphasizes how important it is to talk about that so others don't shy away from their own ambitions. "I want to go through the journey and the steps and the stumbles and the challenges and the mistakes and the failures because that's living," Saujani adds.

cover artwork for the podcast my so-called midlife featuring an impressionist painting of a woman laying on a sofa

The cover artwork for Reshma Saujani's "My So-Called Midlife" podcast.

(Image credit: Lemonada Media)

The best-selling author also opens up on "Nice Talk" about imposter syndrome, which she describes as "a normal response to inhabiting a space that was intentionally built to exclude you."

"Imposter syndrome, though we expect women to feel it, you get dinged when you have it," she says. "The best thing that we can do in many ways to combat imposter syndrome is to reject the premise entirely."

By doing so, Saujani explains, women may not feel held back in their careers, so they can aim even higher—even if they fail along the way.

Saujani opens up more about career transitions, embracing middle age, advocating for yourself in the workplace, and more on this week's installment of "Nice Talk." The episode is out now wherever you listen to podcasts.

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Sadie Bell
Senior Culture Editor

Sadie Bell is the Senior Culture Editor at Marie Claire, where she edits, writes, and helps to ideate stories across movies, TV, books, and music, from interviews with talent to pop culture features and trend stories. She has a passion for uplifting rising stars, and a special interest in cult-classic movies, emerging arts scenes, and music. She has over eight years of experience covering pop culture and her byline has appeared in Billboard, Interview Magazine, NYLON, PEOPLE, Rolling Stone, Thrillist and other outlets.