Karlie Kloss has made headlines for her appearances in the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show and her on - point fashion choices at red carpet events. She's appeared on countless runways. It turns out, she is also an entrepreneur, philanthropist, student, and...avid coder. Coding? Isn't that some computer science thing that nerds do? Well, guess what. In her video for Code.org, Karlie admits that she is, in fact, a "closeted supernerd."
"It's important to break that stigma of thinking that it's not cool to be smart," Karlie remarks in her video. And she has a point. Even in our modern day, I think people too often assume that beauty and brains cannot go hand in hand, and that being smart isn't "cool." Giving that stigma the metaphorical middle finger, Karlie has made it a point to educate herself.
In May 2014, she attended a two week business course at Harvard Business School on "The Business of Entertainment, Media, and Sports." In September 2015 she enrolled in The Gallatin School of Individualized study at NYU. Then, a year ago, Karlie took a class at NYC's Flatiron School for to learn how to code. She became so passionate about learning to code that she decided to partner with the school to give out "Kode with Karlie" scholarships to 20 young girls for a summer course.
Karlie's philanthropic endeavors in the past have included raising 58,000 at AIDS Walk New York, teaming up with eyewear brand Warby Parker to benefit community farm stands, and working with Momofuku Milk Bar to provide nutritious meals for those in need. The "Kode with Karlie" Program, which took place this past summer, covered the $2,000 tuition of a two-week Introduction to a Software Engineering Course. Hopefuls applied by creating a 60 second video with the hashtag #KodeWithKarlie, explaining why they wanted to learn how to code. Karlie believes that coding is a medium for creativity and self-expression, and that teaching young girls to code will ensure that they have a stake in shaping our world's future.
A study conducted by IT Manager Daily and Girl Scouts of America indicates that during adolescence, 35% of young girls are interested in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math), but several years later, only 18% of students pursuing tech degrees are women. Then, only 12% of computer science degrees go to women of computer science degrees go to women. This is what experts are calling the "Tech Gender Gap." This is what Karlie hopes to close by offering her scholarship program to high-school aged girls. Karlie is more than just a fashion model, and continues to prove herself as an excellent role model for young women.
