My Journey

I was just 14 when I was signed up for a Microsoft camp called DigiGirlz. My amazing parents wanted me to explore as many avenues possible for my career and they believed this camp would open a new horizon for me, which it did. I was surrounded by other girls who are either in their beginning understanding of technology or those who are way beyond their years with their technical fluency. I never knew what coding was in those first two days of DigiGirlz camp until we had a class that showed a video from Code.org that explained what it was. The key sale point pitch for me was "With coding, you can create anything." That's where it clicked for me, ANYTHING! I am sold! So my computer programming journey began. I was learning through code.org and then signed up for a pro membership with Codecademy.com. Currently have 600+ badges sitting in my still active account haha. But just like any Black girl entering a male-dominated field I was unsure of where I fit when I was in high school until I learned how coding can be applied practically and I started getting better at it. It was love at first sight but I needed reassurance. So my Dad took me to see the amazing film, Hidden Figures where I learned about my forever STEM heroes, Katherine Johnson, Mary Jackson, and Dorothy Vaughn. After watching that film I realized that if three black women were able to conquer and prosper in STEM at NASA then I could do the same. So I did, 4 years later I graduated with my Bachelor of Science in Computer Science and served as an outspoken voice for women in tech by running as an executive board member for the Girls Who Code UNCC chapter and was recognized by my school to I have done to create an impact on my college campus. Now I have a current passion for RPA(Robotic Process Automation), Data Engineering, and Software Engineering. It has been a long journey with coding but I don't regret it at all.