Kimberly Bryant is the founder of Black Girls Code based out of San Francisco, California. A former project manager for Genentech, Kimberly Bryant remembers going to technology networking events in San Francisco and Silicon Valley, looking around and finding that she was often not just one of a handful of women in attendance, but also one of just a few people of color.
The mother of a 13-year-old girl, she also wanted to see her daughter take an interest in not just playing computer games but also creating them.
That’s how Bryant ended up quitting her job and starting Black Girls Code, a San Francisco nonprofit aiming to teach girls – particularly girls of color – about technology, from developing video games to introducing them to computer programming.
It began as a six-week course held last fall at a community center in San Francisco’s Bayview-Hunters Point neighborhood and has since expanded to include additional after-school programs in San Francisco and the East Bay, a one-week summer camp and several one-day workshops held around the country.
Volunteers from LinkedIn, Apple and other local tech companies have jumped in to help run the courses. It also received a grant from Google and formed a corporate partnership with ThoughtWorks, a tech consulting firm. More than 300 girls have participated in its programs so far.
When it comes to women in technology, the numbers still fall short. Just about 25 percent of the computer workforce was female last year, according to the National Center for Women and Information Technology. For women of color, the numbers shrink further: 3 percent were African American women, 4 percent were Asian and 1 percent were Latina.
Bryant recently discussed how she hopes to help change those figures. This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
Q: What was your inspiration for Black Girls Code?
A: There were two different ways I was inspired to found Black Girls Code. From a personal standpoint, it was having a daughter in middle school. She has always been a heavy gamer. As a mom, I was frustrated with the amount of time she stayed on the computer playing games and such. I was always looking for something to put her in that would be more challenging, and help her learn some skills where she could create with the computer, instead of just playing games.
I put her in a couple of things (such as a tech camp at Stanford), and she was one of maybe five girls and the only student of color. There was not much diversity in the class. I thought that was a shame because it was an amazing opportunity, and I thought more kids should have that opportunity.
Professionally, around the same time, I was looking to make a move out of corporate America and to start my own company. I was doing a lot of networking in the city and in the valley. Time after time, I was one of maybe a handful of women in the room, and many times I was the only person of color.
It just doesn’t seem that it should be that way, especially with the startup industry exploding in the last few years. I thought I should take a step back and do something to address (that).
Q: How did you get into technology?
A: The only model I had for engineering was my older brother, who was two years ahead of me and went to college for engineering (but later switched out).
In my community, I had no role models. I had no one to look up to in that area. What I did have going for me was I was very engaged in math and science from middle school to high school. As I was looking at different colleges and careers, engineering was a field that my guidance counselor suggested and pushed me toward.
Q: How are you hoping Black Girls Code will help?
A: My dream is we will be able to encourage girls to explore a career field that they may not have envisioned for themselves in the past and really open their eyes to the possibilities that they have as they grow and go to school.
It would be amazing in middle and high school to encourage them to continue to develop these skills, and to take (advanced placement) computer science classes.
When you look at the valley, even though we have this ecosystem for startups, there may be less than 1 percent of startup companies that are currently founded and run by women of color. That is something I hope our program will impact. My dream is to seed that pipeline through the girls that are going through the program.
Q: Has your daughter participated in the program?
A: She has. What’s nice to see is her progression and the progression of some of the older students. Some of our older girls were moved into the role of teaching assistant, and they’re now teaching the younger students how to do the projects. That’s one of the things we envisioned for the program – to not only give them an introduction to technology, but for them to progress enough to teach other girls.
“Imagine. Build. Create.” has always been the motto at BlackGirlsCode. The digital divide is steadily eroding, but if we want to create truly universal access to technology, San Francisco needs to come together as a community. Imagine a world where everyone is given the tools to succeed, and then help us build ways for everyone to access information and create a new age of women of color in technology. To learn more about Kimberly Bryant and Black Girls Code visit www.blackgirlscode.com.
Source. SFCode.com
