Who We Are
Meet the student leadership team driving CSK forward and the founders who built its foundation.
Our committees work year-round to create a supportive, high-impact program dedicated to closing the gender gap in tech.
Together, they make CSK possible.
Lead Directors
Lead Director
Year: Sophomore (2028)
Major: Data Science & Applied Math
Emma Lee
Lead Director
Year: Sophomore (2028)
Major: Data Science & Applied Math
Hanna Tran
Lead Director
Year: Sophomore (2028)
Major: Data Science
Jaclyn Huynh
Internal Committee
Internal Director
Year: Freshman
Major: Cognitive Science & Data Science
Khushi Kolte
Committee Member
Year: Freshman (2029)
Major: Computer Science
Reese Salonga
External Committee
External Director
Year: Freshman (2029)
Major: EECS
Keerath Pujji
External Director
Year: Sophomore (2028)
Major: Computer Science & Public Policy
Trinity Jones
Curriculum Committee
Curriculum Director
Year: Freshman (2029)
Major: Statistics
Lillian Yao
Curriculum Director
Year: Sophomore (2028)
Major: Data Science
Nguyet Nguyen
Curriculum Director
Year: Sophomore (2028)
Major: Data Science
Tanushri Pinjala
Committee Member
Year: Freshman (2029)
Major: Data Science & Public Health
Aanya Chakraborty
Committee Member
Year: Freshman (2029)
Major: Computer Science
Cadence Loh
Committee Member
Year: Sophomore (2028)
Major: Data Science & Economics
Keryssa Li
Committee Member
Year: Freshman (2029)
Major: Data Science
Surabhi Verma
Committee Member
Year: Junior (2027)
Major: EECS
Thanhbinh Nguyen
Industry Committee
Industry Director
Year: Sophomore (2028)
Major: Data Science
Rena Shrestha
Committee Member
Year: Freshman (2029)
Major: Data Science & Applied Math
Anvita Anand
Committee Member
Year: Freshman (2029)
Major: Mechanical Engineering
Sumin Cho
Finance Committee
Finance Director
Year: Freshman (2029)
Major: Computer Science & Economics
Linda Chang
Website Development Committee
Website Development Director
Year: Freshman (2029)
Major: Computer Science
Xiushan Lu
Committee Member
Year: Freshman (2029)
Major: Cognitive Science & Linguistics
Isole Kim
Committee Member
Year: Freshman (2029)
Major: Data Science
Sophie Kang
Digital Marketing Committee
Digital Marketing Director
Year: Freshman (2029)
Major: Environmental Engineering
Kathleen Zhu
Committee Member
Year: Sophomore (2028)
Major: Data Science & Linguistics
Harshini Pulivarthi
Committee Member
Year: Freshman (2029)
Major: Data Science
Isabella Widosh
Committee Member
Year: Freshman (2029)
Major: Statistics
Vanessa Yao
Merch & Design Committee
Merch & Design Director
Year: Freshman (2029)
Major: Data Science
Angela Wu
Committee Member
Year: Freshman (2029)
Major: Cognitive Science
Fate Chen
Committee Member
Year: Sophomore (2028)
Major: Data Science & Cognitive Science
Annie Liu
Committee Member
Year: Sophomore (2028)
Major: Data Science & Cognitive Science
Wendy Liu
Alumni Relations Committee
Alumni Relations Director
Year: Sophomore (2028)
Major: Data Science
Katy Yang
Committee Member
Year: Freshman (2029)
Major: Data Science & Applied Math
Abirami Kumar
Committee Member
Year: Freshman (2029)
Major: Data Science & Physics
Zehra Naqvi
Our Founders
Floraine Berthouzoz
Berthouzoz was a research scientist in the Creative Technologies Lab at Adobe Systems, where she focused on computer graphics and HCI. Her work aimed to build tools that made it faster and easier to create and visualize high-quality media content. Outside of work, she loved to travel, explore new cultures, and learn new languages.
Colleen Lewis
Lewis is an assistant professor of computer science at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She specializes in computer science education and curriculum development and has researched gender and diversity in CS education, as well as how programming environments shape learning and goals. Colleen teaches computer science courses and a seminar on CS education.
Our Story
Floraine Berthouzoz always had a passion for narrowing the gender gap in computer science. In 2011, inspired by a similar program for women she attended as an undergraduate at ETH in Switzerland, she co-founded CS Kickstart at UC Berkeley with fellow graduate student Colleen Lewis.
Since then, annual participants have grown from 25 to over 100, and CS Kickstart has served 800+ women in 15 cohorts.