MAYUKHA VADARI - FOUNDER & CEO

Mayukha has been into math since the fourth grade, when she joined her school's math club. She got off to a good start, winning 8th place at the Math is Cool state competition only a few months after she started. For the next few years, she continued to take part in math competitions, including in national competitions like ARML and NSF Nationals. She has won several awards at the regional, state, and national levels. Then, in 8th grade, Mayukha enrolled in Seattle Science Infinity Club.  At first, she did not like science very much, but soon began to love it. She and her team excelled, getting second place in Science Bowl at the regional level, only losing once to the first place team, who also happened to be from the Seattle Science Infinity Club. She also went to Nationals for the North South Foundation's Science and Math Bees and won awards there as well. By this time, she realized a trend that girls were losing interest in math and science.  She noticed this trend through direct experience with her classmates and friends, as well as observing at competitions (e.g. she was the only girl in the top ten at the 2012 NSF MathBee Nationals). In order to combat this drop in interest, she decided to form Girls Rock in Science and Math to increase interest for girls in these two subjects and make them enthusiastic participants in all areas of both academia and extracurriculars.

Ilinca Hamza - GRISM President

Ilinca Hamza is currently a junior at Eastlake High School. She began her journey with GRISM in fourth grade and has since also participated in GEMS and GRASS. After starting high school, she became an instructor for GRISM in the hope to help more girls become passion in STEM fields. She is passionate about marine biology, microbiology, and teaching and is an avid volleyball player.

nikhita penugonda - grass director

Nikhita Penugonda is currently a senior at Interlake High School. She has been involved in the GRISM program since 3rd grade. After graduating from GRASS, the middle school program, Nikhita decided to become a volunteer to excite girls about STEM in the same way she was inspired while participating in GRISM. She is now very excited to be the director of GRASS to engage and enthuse younger girls about STEM topics. Although she loves learning about everything STEM-related, Nikhita is particularly passionate about math, astronomy, and physics! She was selected as one of sixteen inaugural flight crew members by Million Girls Moonshot to amplify youth voices in the national conversation around STEM equity. Nikhita loves thinking outside of the box! She has participated in Destination Imagination for seven years and won first place in the Digital Open 2022. Nikhita has also been a Girl Scout since kindergarten. She has many hobbies and enjoys camping, hiking, rowing, stargazing, reading, and playing video games! In the future, Nikhita aims to study astrophysics and computer science in order to make new discoveries about the cosmos.

Kaitlyn Tsiu - GRISM vice president of media

Kaitlyn Tsiu is a current junior at Skyline High School. She started GRISM through GEMS, but decided to become an instructor because of her love for everything STEM. Kaitlyn is passionate about advocating girls towards STEM careers and she is most interested in anatomy and physiology, biology, chemistry, and engineering. Outside of GRISM, Kaitlyn is a student leader at her church where she helps in worship, speaking and children’s ministry. She also takes part in her school's Club MED, DECA and HOSA. She also enjoys being a part of swim teams, reading, and volunteering at a local senior center

Anika Rao - GRISM vice president of outreach

Anika Rao is a senior at Skyline High School. She started out as a GRISM instructor because she is passionate about spreading her STEM knowledge. Some of her key interests include coding and math. She has experience in participating in competitions for the First Robotics Team and in DECA. She hopes to pursue the field of computer science when she goes to college and has taken on internships to help her achieve this goal. Outside of STEM interests, Anika plays the violin and is part of the Bellevue Youth Symphony Orchestra. She also enjoys volunteering, reading, and listening to new music.

Saltanat Begalieva - Manager of Expansions and Communications

Saltanat is currently a senior at Nathan Hale High School. She joined GRISM at the start of her junior year as an instructor and found a passion for teaching STEM and involving more girls in the program. Her favorite subject has been science and math since 3rd grade. She hopes to pursue a field in Bioinformatics or Computational Neuroscience. Saltanat is part of her school’s competitive robotics team in FIRST, swims, plays flag football and tennis, and is president of her class. In her free time, she also enjoys listening to music.

Vanesha Hari

Vanesha Hari is a senior at Redmond High School. She has always been passionate about working with youth and sharing her STEM knowledge and interests. As the co-founder of a nonprofit initiative, Joys of Giving, she has raised close to $20,000 thus far, collaborating with 6+ global nonprofits and volunteering over 800 hours with a focus on bringing global equity in education and fighting youth hunger.  

She strongly believes that by creating more opportunities, advocates, and role models we can march towards an inclusive STEM community. She has taught math, science, the art of baking, and coding for youth specifically girls and underserved kids through her nonprofit, as well as GRISM and other non-profits for over 400+ hours and impacted the lives of at least 300 kids thus far as part of workshops, classes, and camps. Her other passions include competitive robotics (qualified for Worlds this year), teaching swimming, playing the violin (Western and Indian classical), and also a quirky interest like Rubiks cubing! She is passionate about pursuing a degree in Computer Science or Engineering in the near future. She strongly believes in this: “When one teaches, two learn” - Robert Heinlein