When Kimberly Bryant was first introduced to coding, the Macintosh was the new kid on the block and the promise of careers in technology seemed endless. She was excited to learn and grow into a rewarding career, but there was something that felt different to Kimberly as she began her studies: cultural isolation. 

To this day, there’s still a dearth of African-American women in science, technology, engineering and math professions. It's an absence that cannot be explained by a lack of interest in these fields, but rather lack of access and lack of exposure to STEM topics.

In 2011, Kimberly Bryant launched Black Girls CODE (BGC), an organization devoted to showing the world that black girls can code, and do so much more.

Black Girls CODE's ultimate goal is to provide African-American youth with the skills to occupy some of the 1.4 million computing job openings expected to be available in the U.S. by 2020, and to train 1 million girls by 2040.

By reaching out to the community through workshops and after school programs, Black Girls CODE introduces computer programming and technology to girls from underrepresented communities in technology areas such as web design, robotics, gaming, mobile app development and more. BGC is cultivating the next generation of coders, hopes to grow the number of women of color in technology, and give underrepresented girls a chance to become the future leaders in technology and the masters of their technological worlds.

If you'd like to support Black Girls Code in celebration of the transition from Black History Month + International Women's Month, you can find their program needs wish list here. All donations are tax deductible and are shipped directly to Black Girls Code in California.

Have another success story you'd like to share on RightGift? Or ready to make a difference in your community, give me a shout at caroline@rightgift.com.