Black Girls CODE #FutureTechBoss: Father’s Day

Jerry Williams Shares What Black Girls CODE Means to Him & Daughter, Nyla!

For the past eight years, Black Girls CODE has empowered girls of color all across the country to become future leaders, innovators, and creators in the technology ecosystem. With our Future Tech Boss series, we shared their stories with the world and shined a light on their hopes, dreams, and aspirations for the future. All of this is possible because of the parents & caregivers of BGC!

Today, we are celebrating Father’s Day by sharing what BGC means to a #FutureTechBoss Father! Meet Jerry Williams, who registered Nyla for her first workshop in 2014, where he’s been a part of her coding journey and active with us ever since!

How did you first hear about Black Girls CODE?

I heard about it through a good friend who lives in Southern California. He visited here (the Bay Area) for a weekend with his daughter for a Black Girls CODE workshop. He told me, “this is the thing you have to have your daughter a part of” and “this is the truth!” Those were his exact words. He said, “ you should bring Nyla and just let her try it out… in the worst case, they’d just hang out and have fun together.” So the girls attended and I was very impressed — I was blown away by not only knowing the girls were doing tech-related projects but seeing them deliver their presentations at the end. They spoke about their work in detail — what they exactly did, what they learned, and how it can impact the world — and I was sold! Since 2014, we’ve been a part of the program. Overall, the program was a good vibe, something I knew I wanted Nyla to be a part of and life’s been good ever since!

Seeing her growth and evolution has been beautiful. As a father, I decided to stay involved because I knew this was a serious movement. Just watching my daughter grow is priceless and amazing.

Before her first workshop, did she show any interest in coding or was this something you wanted to introduce her to?

I always wanted to get her involved. We live in Dublin, CA, in a neighborhood that’s not very diverse. So giving her access to a tech experience with others that look just like her was important. After seeing people who look just like her — very engaged and loving what they were doing, using their mind and imagination to create something with it to make something real — she was hooked. I think that’s what motivated her to want to do it because she’s been doing it ever since.

She’s made a lot of friends. She became very social and met so many people. I remember we were at Universal Studios and she saw friends that she made at Black Girls CODE. It’s amazing because we often go places and she’ll be like “dad, do you remember her? She’s a part of BGC!”

For someone that young to build a network and embark on this path that can take you somewhere, it’s impressive. It really means a lot.

In relation to Black Girls CODE or even Nyla’s personal experiences in tech, could you talk about your proudest moment as a father?

It’s been a couple but I’ll talk about two:

1. After the Seattle WeBuild! Pop-up (during the debrief), where Nya attended as an Ambassador, I was telling her that she needs to step up and articulate, especially because she’s speaking for the kids and their experience. She really gave good input, and I was very proud of her! At one point, I was like “dang, I didn’t think about that” and hearing that come from her, very passionate and excited, I was impressed.
2. The second time was during the Hackathon back in 2017. She and her group came up with an app and they were competing against high school kids. She was 10 at the time and they came in 6th place overall. I think the ages spanned from 7 to 17. She was up there with 6th place, out of about 14 groups. I was proud! That was a proud moment because it was her idea, and she and her group each provided input into to leverage that idea in creating a good app. The presentation and everything was great — just to see her compete and really use her mind and imagination to create an app was very interesting!

Would you say that Nyla always had a natural talent for public speaking or presentations? Has she always been confident in front of others?

I definitely would credit Black Girls CODE. This program helped her become comfortable with speaking in front of people. Prior to that, she was social but as far as public speaking, she was not always skilled at presenting data and information clearly to other people, especially to adults and professionals. So to see her really come out her shell and get pumped to share data at the event, that’s beautiful.

In Seattle, it was cool to see her represent her age group, it was beautiful. She still talks about it to this day, the whole experience. I loved the event because she had the chance to speak in front of everyone and work behind the scenes to see the hard work that it takes to put on a perfect event. I say perfect because people were loving it. They were very engaged, a lot of people were talking about it. For her to see what an event really takes, and what goes on behind the scenes is amazing. For her to see the hard work. It was a great experience.

She definitely seems like a natural networker and leader!

I use to work for a startup company and it taught me to teach her that networking and getting your credentials are important. If you treat people how you want to be treated through networking while attaining your credentials, then the sky is the limit.

So now, it’s funny because she goes out and asks me to provide her business cards, and I’m like “hold up, you’re just 13!” [laughs].

What ways have you encouraged Nyla to overcome her obstacles and pursue her goals, despite challenges?

I tell her that no matter what, to keep working hard and staying focused. You have to have a goal because having a goal will keep you aligned with the things you need to do.

Has she ever expressed obstacles or challenges she faced after a workshop or while learning to code?

I’d actually say she’s a fast learner. I actually learn a lot from her. Kids this generation seem to pick up technology very easily. She taught me how to use my iPhone. I remember we were at Whole Foods, and I couldn’t figure how to find or access my discount, and she was like “just do that, and then do this!” So with Whole Foods not being cheap, she saved the day for us to use that discount!

I think over the last 5 years, she’s definitely become technically inclined. Even at school, she teaches her peers to do certain things with computers. Her friends in her circle are even excited about Black Girls CODE, with her even just wearing the shirt. She really gets people excited about her experiences with Black Girls CODE and coding.

That’s great! She really gets people enthused when speaking to them. Could you talk about what that means to you, as a father?

That’s the talent! A lot of people don’t know how to speak in front of people and get them excited, so for her to do that at a young age is amazing. I’m still learning to do that. As a father, I don’t think she sees it yet, but speaking comes natural to her. People become focused. What’s she’s doing, it isn’t easy.

In Seattle, you and Nyla were both important in making the event a huge success, so could you talk about what that moment meant to you — the father-daughter tag-team experience?

To be honest, it was a great father-daughter moment. I often tell Nyla about how important it is to own your own business, to become a Future Tech Boss, to be free, to take advantage of resources to create better things for others. So for her to see that on her own — with the instructors, volunteers, staff, and everyone else coming together to make Seattle a reality through hard work — she’s like, “Oh dad, you are right, it’s not easy!” To see her take that back home and make her more motivated to work towards her goals is amazing. Now, when she goes to different events, she asks, “oh wow, I wonder how much effort it took in putting this together?”

To see Nyla look at the end-result while also noticing the behind-the-scenes, it definitely helps her grow and expand. She has shown a lot of growth from that experience. For her to understand that in working toward something, you have to develop the right team and acknowledge what needs to be done, that was priceless. She’s doing what grown-ups do and what some can’t do.

That right there is something she can talk about for the rest of her life.

And she does.

Black Girls CODE is a nonprofit dedicated to increasing the number of women of color in the digital space by empowering girls of color ages 7 to 17 to become innovators in STEM fields, leaders in their communities, and builders of their own futures through exposure to computer science and technology. For ways to stay involved and support, be sure to join our Mailing List or Make a Donation!