Who is your favorite historical figure?

When people talk about historical figures who changed the world, names like Einstein, Lincoln, or Da Vinci usually come to mind. But for me? It’s Grace Hopper. Always has been.

Back in college, I fell in love with programming. I still remember the thrill of writing my first functioning code and the long, frustrating nights of debugging it. It was like solving a complex puzzle that only I had the pieces to. Programming was my original major, but I eventually switched to a broader field—one that gave me the flexibility to explore different areas of the tech industry. Still, that foundation in code shaped how I think, create, and approach problem-solving.

When I first started working in tech, it was still a very male-dominated space. I used to get that familiar surprised look when someone would ask, “What do you do for a living?” and I’d say I was in IT. Their reaction always made me laugh. I guess I just didn’t look the part. 😁

But Grace Hopper looked even less the part back in the 1940s. And yet, she revolutionized computing. She developed the first compiler—a tool that allows computers to understand human language-based instructions—and helped create COBOL, a programming language that is still in use today. She coined phrases like “debugging,” literally removing a moth from a computer to get it working again.

She didn’t just shape code. She shaped culture. She showed the world that women not only belonged in tech, they could lead it.

When I was still living in San Diego, I used to get so excited every time I saw the building named after her at the Naval Base in Coronado. There’s something incredibly empowering about seeing her name on something so official, so enduring. It made me proud. Proud that a woman was instrumental to the early days of programming. Proud that I chose this path.

Today, every gadget we use—from smartphones to smart TVs to self-driving cars—relies on software. And every line of that software began as a program, written by a programmer. Someone who likely skipped meals, stayed up too late, and worked through weekends just to make something work. Grace Hopper paved the way for that world.

She is more than a historical figure. She is the reason so many of us felt we could belong in this field. And she will always be my favorite coder of all time.

A Personal Dedication: To every woman who ever felt out of place in a meeting room, a computer lab, or a tech conference: you belong here. You always did.

To Grace Hopper, thank you for kicking open the door so that women like me could walk through it with our heads held high.

Here’s to the women who don’t just break barriers—they write the code that redefines them.