This Thursday we are highlighting a moving-and-shaking, innovating, helping the world to be creating, super-amazing woman who founded one of the coolest organizations I know - Kimberly Bryant.
Bryant is the founder of Black Girls Code, an organization whose name says it all. This group seeks to provide a welcoming environment for young black women who wish to learn technology and computer programming skills. We could type up a grandiose explanation of the importance of BGC, but Bryant explains it best when she says:
"Much has changed since my college days, but there’s still a dearth of African-American women in science, technology, engineering and math professions, an absence that cannot be explained by, say, a lack of interest in these fields. Lack of access and lack of exposure to STEM topics are the likelier culprits.
By launching Black Girls Code, I hope to provide young and pre-teen girls of color opportunities to learn in-demand skills in technology and computer programming at a time when they are naturally thinking about what they want to be when they grow up.
That, really, is the Black Girls Code mission: to introduce programming and technology to a new generation of coders, coders who will become builders of technological innovation and of their own futures.
Imagine the impact that these curious, creative minds could have on the world with the guidance and encouragement others take for granted."
As a result of her work, Bryant has been recognized by several organizations. She was named a Champion of Change for Tech Inclusion by president Barack Obama and one of the 25 Most Influential African-Americans In Technology by the website Business Insider. Bryant is also the recipient of several awards including the Pahara-Aspen Education Fellowship, the 2014 American Ingenuity Award for Social Progress (Smithsonian magazine), the 2019 SXSW Interactive Festival Hall of Fame award, and more.
To help you learn more about our Thursday Black History Month personality this week, click on the BGC link directly underneath Bryant's picture. Additionally, we have included two different readings to further enlighten our readers below:
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