Maya Brooks

A LETTER FROM MAYA:

I never thought tech was for me.

I graduated NYU in 2015 with a clear trajectory toward business and finance, where I spent most of my professional career. Yet, I couldn’t shake my entrepreneurial spirit, passion for creative ideas and solutions, and craving for learning new things. When I decided to take one of my musings more seriously and research the process of building a mobile application, I had no idea where to start. So, I decided it was time to invest in myself and learn more about web and mobile app development. After almost a year of minimal sleep, late night coding sessions, and squeezing in classes before and after my fulltime job, I had gained skills in six computer languages and databases, completed several client projects, and began teaching courses at General Assembly, my coding alma mater. The passion had set in and I was addicted to the power of creating.

The resources available to me as I was growing my skillset as a developer were plentiful. I made deep connections with my mentors, teachers, and classmates and their support was overflowing. However, one bothersome fact remained obvious, the further I embarked on the developer track, the less women I saw seated next to me. I saw even less in teaching positions.

I believe that a small ripple can lead to big change. I started COFFEE & CODED not only to expose more women and girls to a career path that is accessible to them, but also to provide a model for female leadership in tech. We are proud to source our incredible guest instructors and speakers from the local NYC community, many of which are entrepreneurs themselves and dedicated to inspiring positive change. Through COFFEE & CODED, I hope to do my part in advancing women in the technology space. Our vision includes not only building skills, but building a community. It’s my goal to let them know that they deserve to be in the room, because they’ve earned it.

We’re thrilled to have you along on our journey. Thank you for your support.