LearnDistrict 
If you start to notice the longstanding boys-club image of the videogaming community wane throughout this decade, you’ll have Shabir to thank. An immigrant from the Middle East and lifelong gamer, Shabir established LearnDistrict after graduating from MIT with the intention of developing educational games. After noticing applicants were overwhelmingly male, she conceived the idea for Girls Make Games, which is now an organization running multinational summer camps and workshops that teach girls ages 8-17 to conceive, design and program...
LearnDistrict
Laila
Shabir
CEO / Founder
If you start to notice the longstanding boys-club image of the videogaming community wane throughout this decade, you’ll have Shabir to thank. An immigrant from the Middle East and lifelong gamer, Shabir established LearnDistrict after graduating from MIT with the intention of developing educational games. After noticing applicants were overwhelmingly male, she conceived the idea for Girls Make Games, which is now an organization running multinational summer camps and workshops that teach girls ages 8-17 to conceive, design and program their own videogames. 2020 threw a hard wrench into Girls Make Games’ plans, but Shabir and her team succeeded in taking their camps online, using Zoom to show hundreds of girls in the U.S. the ropes of game design throughout the summer. While the global situation remains uncertain, Shabir plans to continue the virtual camps going forward.
