I’ve always had an interest in fashion and web design since I was kid, I just never seemed to have the confidence to pursue it.  During my senior year of undergrad I had a crazy ‘AH HA’ idea to start a social organization for women. I decided to call her SWAAN which stands for “Secure Women Actively Against Negativity.” I had the idea to represent a group of diverse rockstar women who celebrate their faith, fitness and fashion through education and career. After graduating from college, I struggled with finding a full time job in my field, which is an unfortunate reality for most grads.

After spending hours finding boring templates to create my SWAAN website, I decided that I wanted to challenge myself by creating my website myself using HTML and CSS. And… I must say I’m so happy with my decision! After searching for several bootcamps online, I stumbled across Tech Talent South and realized it was the best option for me. Learning how to code not only introduced me to a new world of tech, it also gave me the confidence to interact with other female web developers as well as social entrepreneurs.  Prior to starting the classes I had little to no experience with programming other than basic online tutorials for CSS.  Who would have thought that over he course of 8 short weeks I would learn HTML, CSS and Ruby on Rails. Is it challenging? Yeah! Is it worth it? Absolutely! 

With TTS I was able to gain new career skills as well as join several networks of other amazing women in tech. With the completion of the TTS Code Immersion Program, I plan to continue building my SWAAN website with the skills I learned during the courses, as well as attend several Meetups to share SWAAN with other dynamic women to empower each other. For my career, my goal is to become a web developer in the fashion industry– bridging the gap between tech and high fashion.