In honor of the one and only Sheryl Sandberg’s birthday this past weekend, she has been designated as our #WCW for three reasons:

Like us, she strives to inspire women around the world “lean in” to their potential and gain the type of social and financial independence that the workplace provides.

Also like Code to Inspire, she was the subject of a Ted Talk. “Why we have too few women leaders” quickly went viral and made Sandberg a household name. In it, she reminds us not to undersell or undervalue ourselves. She taught us that we don’t have to internalize the systemic sexism that has kept women out of the C-suite for much too long.

She understands technology and its transformative powers. Not only is tech an industry that enables otherwise disenfranchised people to make money, at its best, technology connects people and makes them closer. Throughout her tenure at Google and at Facebook, she worked to make the world a more connected place.

Happy birthday to one of our favorites in the industry!