Molly Morgan Black ’05 Founds Portland Chapter of Girls Who Code

What is your current job title?

I am the Head of Experience Design at Zinnia, an insurtech. In human-speak, I am working to ensure people who own and administrate life & annuity policies have access to a really nice and secure platform where they can view and manage those policies.

What was your experience like at OES?

As a “lifer,” OES was the foundational place where I learned to think and to turn ideas into reality. A place that regularly pushed me to what felt like my absolute limit, only to find that I actually had more in me than I knew existed. A place where I went through cycles of doubting myself and building up my resilience. It was not always an easy place to be, but then and now I wouldn't have chosen to be anywhere else. It's also the place where I built many of my most important and lifelong relationships. I remain very close with quite a number of fellow aardvarks. There’s nothing like having friends who have seen you through so many phases of life. It’s incredibly special. 

Looking back at your OES experience, what was your favorite class?

It’s quite hard to name just one, but I probably would have to choose War & Morality with Art Ward. We read incredible books, I happily labored over the papers I wrote for that class, and I wanted nothing more to impress Art, whom I deeply admired.

You are a co-founder and former teacher at Girls Who Code PDX. Can you tell us more about that?

Girls Who Code is a national non-profit organization that aims to expose girls and young women to coding in a safe and supportive environment, in order to both demystify the competency and increase the likelihood that young women will choose a career path in engineering or an adjacent field. There was no Portland chapter, so I and my fellow OES alumnus, Priya Bhatt ‘05, decided to start one. As a full-time engineer who absolutely loved my job, my personal goal was to provide young women with an experience of coding that was gratifying, creative, fun, and empowering. And I wanted them to leave the class knowing that if they wanted to go into the engineering profession one day that they absolutely could. It was an option that was available to them.

You pursued creative writing while attending Columbia; do you still write?

I have always found that writing down my thoughts is the easiest way for me to know my own mind and explore ideas. In that sense, I still write all the time. Also, in my role at work, it's critical that I can communicate the story of the product I'm building and I heavily rely on my writing ability to do so. While I have never attempted to make writing itself my profession, I have stories and essays and books floating around in my brain on a daily basis, so sometimes I think I might give it a go when I'm done with my current career. We’ll see!

The class of ‘05 is having their 20th reunion this year! Will we see you then? (May 31, 2025)

Of course, I wouldn’t miss it. And I’m helping to plan it, I better get on that.