Photo: Courtesy of Kode With Klossy
This summer,Kode With Klossyis going global.
“This experience has impacted so many others that I could have never imagined when I was first starting it…And it’s what inspires me to keep growing it and it makes me so proud of our scholars,” Kloss, 30, tells PEOPLE.
Krissy Saleh
While 2023 will mark the first time international Kode With Klossy scholars can attend sessions in person, the nonprofit first opened its opportunities to the global stage during the pandemic. Like most collaborative operations, the coding camp was forced to host its workshop remotely.
“It challenged us to grow in ways that maybe we wouldn’t have otherwise,” she says, explaining that they transitioned their curriculum into virtual classrooms. “By doing that, we’ve been able to have scholars…from over 100 countries Zoom into our classrooms and make friends across borders and across nationalities.”
According to Kloss, many of her scholars focus their coding talents on social impact and effecting change in their communities. Kloss says one of her 12,000 alumni created an app designed to provide resources for victims of sexual assault. Another produced a way to find safe running routes around her neighborhood, solving a problem for herself and her broader community. Some of her scholars have even won Apple’sSwift Student Challenge.
Since Kloss started the program, she’s already seen changes in the male-dominated industry of tech, a goal she’s aspired to since starting her own engineering journey nearly a decade ago.
“I think there’s this idea of if you can’t see it, you can’t be it,” says the supermodel,whoenrolled in a coding bootcampat New York City’s Flatiron School in 2014. In addition to Kode With Klossy’s focus on education, Kloss says the organization makes an effort “to shine a light on incredible [female] leaders in the space.”
Though Kloss and her program have taken on a now-worldwide presence in the effort to diversify technology, she says she isn’t abandoning her “day job” in the fashion world. Instead, theformerProject Runwayjudgetells PEOPLE that she’s “connecting the dots” between her interests.
“I really try and align myself with partners and brands that I share a set of values with,” explains Kloss, whoended her contractwith Victoria’s Secret in 2019. In addition to seeking brands that fit with her ethics (she told BritishVoguethat leaving Victoria’s Secret was “a pivotal moment in me stepping into my power as a feminist”), the runway star has found ways to integrate Kode With Klossy into some of her partnerships.
Kode With Klossy
Kloss’s work with Estée Lauder has been especially tied to her tech pursuits. She says the cosmetics brand has helped with “building our programs and hosting our classrooms and having scholars join their internship program.” Estée Lauder’s online developers have even mentored “hundreds” of Kode With Klossy participants via Zoom, showing them their work on the company’s websites.
“Creative industries and these technical skills are not mutually exclusive…I think that’s something that I didn’t see enough of in [the] media and in the world,” says Kloss. “We need to help equip, I believe, this next generation of workforce to realize the intersection of these spaces.”
Kode With Klossy will run five two-week sessions from June through August. Applicationsfor this summerclose on Monday, March 20 at 11:59 p.m.
source: people.com
