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Crosscurrents

Black Girls Code trains young women of color for careers in tech

Courtesy of blackgirlscode.com
Black Girls Code intern Vanessa See with another intern, Bella, working on a trampoline.

Electrical engineer and computer programmer Kimberly Bryant says that when she was in college, she was one of only a few women, and the only black woman, in her class. When she had her own daughter, Kai, she wondered what she could do to get more young girls of color into the fields of science, technology, engineering, and math. 

The answer came in April of 2011, when she launched a company called Black Girls Code to teach girls how to build their own websites, make computer games, and train them for careers in the tech industry. Kimberly Bryant and her daughter, Kai, who has been through the program, joined KALW’sHana Baba in the studio.

KIMBERLY BRYANT: We’re seeing them take the interest that we plant, the seed, in our classes and take it far beyond what we ever anticipated.

Kimberly was a finalist for the San Francisco Chronicle’s Visionary of the Year, and she’ll speak in a panel discussion at St. Mary’s College in Moraga on Thursday, April 27th. Find more details here.

 
This piece first aired on August 12, 2014. 

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Hana Baba is host of Crosscurrents, KALW's weeknight newsmagazine that broadcasts on KALW Public Radio in the San Francisco Bay Area.