Recent Edina High School graduate Hasna Ali has a self-awareness that far exceeds her age. This helped her become one of 22 Minnesota high school students selected for the 2015 Aspiration for Women in Computing program, presented by Advance IT Minnesota.
At age 2, Ali moved with her mother Sayrab and sister Halima from Kenya to the United States. The family settled in Minnesota, where Ali balanced classes between Edina High School and Minneapolis Community Technical College. That’s when Ali began to explore the technology field.
Women hold only 27 percent of all computer science positions, and African-American women represent only a small fraction of this group. But Ali is determined to be part of the technology field. She became a data management intern at Cargill, gaining new skills and an appreciation for work in IT.
“Technology is continually evolving…that’s what makes it interesting,” Ali says. “I just want to choose [a field] that benefits me, my family, and the rest of the world.”
