Karlie Kloss isn’t your typical multi-hyphenate millennial. The 30-year-old Missouri native is best known for her high-flying modelling career as one of the industry’s ‘new supers’, but is also – deep breath – an entrepreneur, sometime-television host, full-time businesswoman, investor, mother, wife (to Joshua Kushner, US billionaire whose brother Jared Kushner is Donald Trump’s son-in-law) computer programmer, and founder of widely-praised philanthropic venture, Kode with Klossy. The non-profit was launched in 2015 to help young women and non-binary teens aged 13 to 18 get into the fields of software engineering and computer science, typically dominated by old, white men and Silicon Valley ‘tech bros’.
Nowadays, celebrity activism comes under more scrutiny than it used to – is it all just one big PR push to help polish personal brands? – but it’s no doubt that Kode with Klossy has helped change lives. Since its inception, the organisation has reached over 12,000 scholars through its free summer coding camps, teaching girls programming languages such as HTML and Javascript. By the end of the two-week programme, teens had managed to build their own apps or websites. This year, the organisation is giving away 5,000 scholarships and opening camps internationally in London for the first time.
To say that Karlie – who welcomed her first child with Kushner in March 2021, a baby boy named Levi – has been busy, would be a whopping understatement. She sat down with GLAMOUR to share why she’s helping young women break into male-dominated industries, how an interest in fashion and tech aren’t mutually exclusive, and why she’s done shrinking herself for other people…
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You’re now in your eighth year of running Kode with Klossy camps, but what made you want to help girls get into coding in the first place?
Almost a decade ago, I kept hearing the word ‘coding’ and I was curious. People that knew this abstract language were building technology that was transforming industries – around the same time that social media was really just taking off. For me, it was that curiosity of, ‘wow, what is this powerful language, and why is there only a select group of people on this planet who know how to use it?’
I’m one of four girls, and I’ve always been of the mindset that anything boys can do, girls can do just as well, if not better. So I’ve always had a competitive desire to prove that this is not just a boys’ world. Unfortunately, the technology industry lacked – and definitely still lacks – diversity in all areas, and I realised when I first started learning to code that it wasn’t going to go away until we create more pathways to opportunity for young people – young women in particular – to realise their potential in these spaces.
Because imagine the possibilities if everyone had access to these sorts of skills. If people with all different passions and creative skill sets could intertwine them with and be empowered by these technical skills. That’s why I started Kode with Klossy, and to help girls realise their potential in spaces that they’re underrepresented in, and have somewhere where they can share their experiences of being the only girl in the room, not only in their computer science class, but throughout their experiences of school and life.
It’s such a shame that girls aren’t taught that from a young age, because that’s how industries end up being dominated by older, white men, who aren’t necessarily the people consuming the thing that they’re creating.
Exactly. And it’s surreal. When I think back to my high school classes, we didn’t have computer science classes at all. It was either ‘shop’ [woodworking] for the boys, which was stuff like drilling and sawing – very stereotypically masculine things – or ‘home ec’ for the girls, which was cooking, baking, looking after a home. It was so cliché, but it wasn’t actually that long ago. It’s exciting to see how women in STEM – and why it matters to have women in the room and diversity of thought – is becoming more a part of the mainstream conversation. It’s part of building our future world and the technology that touches all our lives.
Talking of having women in the room, what sort of reaction did you get as a young woman in the fashion industry wanting to break into the tech world?
The irony is that the things that are the most authentic about me are the things that surprise people the most. I’ve had a career in fashion for half my life now. But long before I was walking runways, I was passionate about science. I always thought I’d pursue a career in medicine; my dad’s a doctor, and I thought that that would be my life's path. So then, at 15 years old, my life took a total left turn. I ended up walking in New York Fashion Week, and pretty much overnight, I had this fast-paced, high-fashion career. So actually, to me, that was the unexpected part.
Whereas when I started Kode with Klossy, so many people were surprised by my interest in computer science, technology and business, because it wasn't the stereotypical thing that somebody like me would transition to. But creative industries are so intertwined with technology, and I think it’s important for girls to realise that because I was always taught that they were mutually exclusive – you’re either into arts or music or fashion, or you’re into science and math. That’s why I like to say STEAM [Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics) instead of STEM [just Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics).
Do you see technology changing the world of fashion and helping to solve some of the issues your first industry faces, such as size inclusivity and sustainability?
Absolutely. A majority of our scholars build projects that are social-impact oriented, including issues in the fashion industry, whether it's sustainability, water pollution, global warming, or size inclusivity. And it actually makes me really hopeful for the future, because I see the things our scholars care about – and they're thinking about the problems that actual global leaders are thinking about that. So many these scholars are so young they can't even vote, but that doesn't stop them from taking real action. I think there's just so much opportunity for digital technology to help solve some of the biggest issues in creative industries like fashion. I think we will see this impact in years to come in everything from sustainability and manufacturing to size inclusivity and diversity.
Your scholars are taking action, you’re taking action – this is all quite political, and your family obviously has a high political profile. Would you consider going into politics?
Oh my goodness, I have zero interest in politics. But I will say that being an informed individual as a voter and a citizen, and being able to stand up for your rights, is something that is really important to me. And also to many of our scholars, who can’t participate in elections but still engage in voter rights. To me that’s what it's all about; empowering our scholars to realise the power and potential that they hold.
What are your hopes for the future of women in male-dominated industries?
I hope that we have more women in leadership positions across every industry – in politics, in every corporation, in the private sector. I think there's this idea of, ‘if you can't see it, you can't be it’. We need to change the paradigm of girls seeing women in leadership positions to realise that they, too, can hold these positions. It doesn’t happen overnight, but we’re seeing change at Kode with Klossy – of the 12,000 scholars who have been through our programme and are in college today, 78% of them are majoring or minoring in computer science, which is crazy compared the 4% of women in the US graduating with a degree in these fields.
If you could go back to your younger self – the schoolgirl who was taught that girls cook while boys fix things – and tell her one thing, what would it be?
I would tell her, ‘Don’t underestimate your power and your potential.’ Certainly as a young 13-year-old teenage girl and all through my 20s, there were times I didn’t believe that, and I needed to hear it. There were so many times when I made myself smaller, or felt like I needed to be what other people expected me to be or wanted me to be. And I think when you actually can just tap into your authentic self – even if it’s different to what society, your family or the world expects of you – you have to be true to that. There’s so much power in that.
To find out more about Karlie Kloss's ‘Kode with Klossy’, visit kodewithklossy.com. The deadline to apply for this year's coding camp in 20th March – apply here.
