HP Innovation Journal Special Edition: Sustainable Impact | Page 28

FOSTERING A
PIPELINE OF TALENT
LESLEY SLATON BROWN TALKS FUTURE
OF TECH WITH THE INSPIRATION BEHIND
BLACK GIRLS CODE, KAI MORTON
Kai Morton loved to play video games.
Her mom, Kimberly Bryant, an
electrical engineer with a successful
career in biotech, encouraged her
preteen daughter to not just play with
technology, but to learn the skills to design her own. She
sent Kai to a computer summer camp at Stanford to help
open the door to opportunity.
Kai was instantly inspired to learn coding and dreamed
of creating “the best game ever.” But Kai and Kimberly
realized there was something important missing from
that camp—other girls of color. Kai was one of just
a handful of girls represented, and the only African
American in the room.
Kimberly recalled her own feelings of cultural isolation
when she was a young woman studying engineering
at Vanderbilt University. Yet even years later, girls—
especially girls of color—remain sorely underrepresented
in pursuing careers in science, technology, engineering,
and math.
According to the National Science Foundation, women
make up half of the total U.S. college-educated workforce,
but only 29 percent of the science and engineering
workforce. And minority women comprise fewer than one
in 10 employed scientists and engineers. Kimberly believes
the absence of women and minorities in STEM isn’t from
lack of interest, but rather lack of access and exposure.
In 2011, Kimberly founded Black Girls Code to provide
young girls of color, like her daughter, opportunities to
Innovation Journal Sustainable Impact
learn in-demand technology and computer programming
skills. Today, Black Girls Code offers after-school
programs, weekend workshops, summer camps, and field
trips to girls of color, ages 7-17, primarily focused on
reaching youth in inner-city neighborhoods. The group
currently has 14 volunteer-led U.S. chapters, and one in
Johannesburg, South Africa. Kimberly and Black Girls
Code aim to double the number of U.S. chapters and
further grow internationally over the next three years
in a pursuit to provide African-American youth with the
skills to occupy some of the 1.4 million computing job
openings expected in the U.S. by 2020, and to train 1
million girls by 2040.
HP shares a common passion and commitment with
Black Girls Code to fill the STEM-education/career
pipeline with diverse talent and to enable young female
leaders to drive lasting change in the world. In addition
to providing financial and technology support to Black
Girls Code to run workshops and summer camps that
serve more than 500 girls in 13 cities across the U.S.,
HP partnered with Disney to co-sponsor the “Warriors
Who Code Challenge” in Spring 2018. The all-day coding
challenge hosted for Black Girls Code brought together
female voices in tech and filmmaking to inspire the next
generation of leaders and celebrate the premiere of the
film A Wrinkle in Time.
HP’s Chief Diversity Officer Lesley Slaton Brown sat
down with the young inspiration behind Black Girls
Code, Kai Morton, in David Packard’s historic office
at HP’s Palo Alto headquarters, to discuss diversity,
inclusion, and the future of technology.