Monday, January 13, 2014

Model by Day, Coder by Night



When we think of coding we tend to associate the word with Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, and Mark Zuckerberg. After all, the software industry is generally dominated by men and the most well-known social entrepreneurs are male.

Breaking down stereotypes about coding and the software industry, Lyndsey Scott is just the opposite of that. Dubbed by her family as a mix between Giselle Bundchen and Bill Gates, she entered Amherst as a theater major and picked up Computer Science as a second major. Although her interest in software began at a young age when she programmed her TI-89 calculator with games of her own creation, she only began modelling after college and has now modeled for Victoria's Secret, Gucci, and Prada. Despite her success on the runway, Lyndsey still finds time to code and has developed several apps for Apple, including an iPad app that serves as a digital portfolio for models and an app called Educate!, which helps students in Uganda find sponsors.

Given her two very different careers, Lyndsey is aware of the struggles that come with being a female coder. "[The fashion industry] wouldn't talk about my education," she said. Because of her experience in both the software programming industry and fashion industry, Lyndsey is an advocate for girls getting into coding and computers, and has spoken about Code.org's Hour of Code, a campaign designed to recruit students to try computer science for at least one hour; she pointed out that of the 20 million students who were given the opportunity to try programming, most participants were female. Lyndsey believes that more girls will become interested in programming and technology as long as they are given the opportunity to do so.

To read the full article for "What It's Like To Be A Victoria's Secret Model Who Codes In Her Free Time" by Business Insider, click here. Also check out http://code.org/ to learn more about the organization and the Hour of Code. What do you think about the future of female coders? Did your child(ren)/students participate in the Hour of Code? Let us know in the comments section!

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