Interview with Petra Meliska, CEO of 42 Prague

With experience in a vast array of different professional fields, and an undying thirst for learning, Petra Meliska became the CEO of 42 Prague in 2024. Two years into her tenure, we sat down with her to discuss her career, her role, her thoughts on 42, and where she thinks education is headed.

Can you tell us more about your background and what you were doing before joining 42?

My path to 42 Prague was anything but linear. Which, thinking about it, fits perfectly. I’ve spent my entire career in corporate environments, both in the Czech Republic and abroad. Marketing, sales, PR, HR, I moved through roles every two or three years, always chasing the next interesting challenge.

Each move brought a new set of skills, a new perspective, and a new set of people to learn from in truly international settings. Somewhere in the middle of all that, I also became a mother. Honestly, that taught me more about prioritization, resilience, and getting things done than any corporate job ever could.

By the time 42 Prague came along, I had a wide toolkit and a clear pattern: I thrive when stepping outside my comfort zone. Leading 42 Prague was the obvious next step.

What do you enjoy most about your role at the campus?

Honestly? The students. Watching someone walk in with zero coding experience and, months later, debug their way through a complex project entirely on their own. That never gets old. What moves me most is seeing real life change happen in front of you, in person.

I also have a thing for unique models, and 42 is genuinely unlike anything else. The peer-to-peer approach isn’t just a teaching method; it rewires how people think. It changes how they solve problems, how they ask for help, and how they take ownership. That mindset shift is everything right now. In a world being reshaped by AI, technical skills matter. But the ability to learn, unlearn, and adapt is the real edge.

What is your vision for the future of education?

Education needs to stop pretending the world still works the way it did last century. The future belongs to people who know how to learn, unlearn, and figure things out under pressure, not to those who can recite the right answers.

My vision is simple: education should be lifelong, accessible to anyone regardless of background or budget, and built around real-world problems. It should produce people who are comfortable with uncertainty, who collaborate instinctively, and who don’t wait for permission to start.

How would you describe your management style?

Direct, honest, and curious. I believe in giving people real responsibility and real trust, and then getting out of their way. I don’t micromanage, but I do care deeply about quality and about why we’re doing what we’re doing.

42 is built on four pillar values: openness, excellence, tech, and ethics. Which one matters the most to you?

Openness without question. It’s the one that makes everything else possible. Excellence means nothing if it’s reserved for the privileged few. Tech is a tool, not an end in itself. And ethics without openness is just gatekeeping dressed up nicely.

Bonus question: Is there a topic that we haven’t covered which you would like to mention here?

Nobody ever asks me if I’m having fun. And the answer is: yes.

Building something from scratch, against all odds, in an education ecosystem that hasn’t changed in decades is the hardest thing I’ve ever done. But I never do it alone. I have an incredible team that shows up every day with energy, creativity, and genuine care. And then there’s the student community: curious, driven, wonderfully diverse, which reminds me every single day why this matters. That combination (a great team, an amazing community, and a mission worth fighting for) is what makes it all worth it.