Linda Liukas

Finnish programmer making coding accessible to children globally

Linda Liukas (b. 1986) transformed tech education through her Hello Ruby series - the world's most whimsical coding books for kids. Combining storytelling with basic programming concepts, her work has been translated into 30+ languages.

As co-founder of Rails Girls (2010), Liukas organized free programming workshops for over 300,000 women across 260+ cities. Her TED Talk reimagines computers as creative tools rather than cold machines.

Breaking from traditional STEM pedagogy, Liukas' methods use narrative-driven learning featuring Ruby, a girl who solves problems through code. This approach particularly engages young female audiences, helping close tech's gender gap. Her latest project Hello Again Festival combines live theater with computational thinking exercises.