SmartGurlz CEO Sharmi Albrechtsen is a robotics aficionado, educator, author and mom with a passion for closing the diversity gap in technology.
In 2015, Sharmi started SmartGurlz after becoming frustrated with the lack of STEM toys available for her daughter. The SmartGurlz flagship product, Siggy, was the first robotics product designed specifically for girls. More than 30,000 girls have been educated with SmartGurlz. SmartGurlz partners include BlackGirlsCode, Girl Scouts of America and Morrison Mentors.
SmartGurlz recently expanded its product line to include Smart Buddies (a joint-venture with Pitsco Education), which features a diverse set of characters suitable for both girls and boys, targeted towards schools.
Sharmi was recently given AdWeek’s Disruptor Award in Championing Gender Diversity in Advertising and Tech. She has also been named Women Entrepreneur of the Year 2018 by the Asian Chamber of Commerce as well as named a Morgan Stanley Multi-Cultural Innovation Lab fellow. Sharmi has been featured in Forbes, Huffington Post, Financial Times, Fox Business News, Fox and Friends and CNN. She is also a featured TEDx speaker.
For more information, please visit www.smartgurlz.com