The Magic Behind Scaling Black Girls Code with Kimberly Bryant

Missions to Movements

May 10 2023 • 35 mins

Kimberly Bryant started a movement out of a passion project. Black Girls Code has scaled significantly over the years and now has over 15 chapters across the United States and DREAM partnerships with brands like Google, TikTok, Verizon, the NBA, and Capital One.

This inspiring conversation touches on so many pillars of growing a nonprofit organization from the ground up. You’ll hear Kimberly’s “founder’s story”, her obsession with building their brand and making it pop, and how she scored all of those incredible brand partnerships for the long-haul.

Plus, Kimberly shares the new trailblazing venture she’s creating with Black Innovation Lab, a space to help marginalized founders and entrepreneurs build pathways to financial freedom and ownership.

In This Episode:

  • How the power of story, authenticity, and vulnerability helped Kimberly expand Black Girls Code so rapidly in the early days
  • Kimberly’s scrappy approach to creating their digital footprint, from leveraging volunteers and stock images, to pro-bono support
  • The first role Kimberly hired within marketing and how she remained flexible to move people within the organization, especially if it was a better match for their talents and passions
  • How Kimberly secured a multimillion dollar grant from Google to fund their New York headquarters (and how she ensures partnerships aren’t just “one and done”)
  • The moment where Kimberly saw an article on Twitter, which inspired her to turn an abandoned, historically Black college, into what will become the Black Innovation Lab

Resources & Links

Learn more about Black Girls Code and follow Kimberly on Twitter and Instagram at @6gems. You can follow ASCEND Ventures Tech on LinkedIn to learn more about the Black Innovation Lab.

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