Ladies Learning Code

West Coast Love: Meet The Mentors of Our First Vancouver Workshop

Ever since our first workshop on August 6, 2011 we’ve received dozens upon dozens of emails from people all around the world asking us to bring Ladies Learning Code to their city. Well, that day has finally arrived, with our very first workshops being offered outside Toronto on August 24th & 25th – An Introduction to HTML & CSS in Vancouver. Pearl Chen, who instructed the first ever Ladies Learning Code workshop, will once again be leading learners through creating beautiful websites. Thank you once again to our sponsor, Simon Fraser University, and to our host, Launch Academy for making this possible. Last but certainly not least, thank you to all our amazing mentors! We look forward to meeting Vancouver’s tech community.

Lead Instructor: Pearl Chen (@pearlchen | Google+)
From LEDs to HTML, Android hacking to micro-controllers — Pearl Chen takes on a cross-disciplinary approach to her work.

With over 8 years of professional experience in web technologies, Pearl has a body of work that ranges from Facebook campaigns for Google Chrome, microsites for Nike, and WordPress customizations for craib.com. Pearl was most recently the Research & Technology Manager at the CFC Media Lab and is now currently acting as CTO for The Hungry Veg, a startup for vegetarians that she co-founded.

Alongside her web developer work, Pearl also tackles more unusual jobs such as modifying the guts of Nintendo Wii controllers, making toys talk to her Android device, and holding electronics workshops (http://gplus.to/klab).

She can be reached on Google+ (http://klab.ca/+), on Twitter (@androidsNsheep), or old-fashioned email (pearl[at]karma-laboratory.com).

Why did you get involved with Ladies Learning Code? For my entire professional career (especially while freelancing as a web developer), I have never found myself working with another professional female developer (except once when I was involved in the hiring process). So…where are you, ladies? What scared you off? I hope Ladies Learning Code will help me answer this.

Kelly Miller (@quilbee | http://kelly.quilbee.com)
Front end and .net developer at T4G ltd.

What are you passionate about? “Startups and quilting!”

Why did you get involved with Ladies Learning Code? “I like working with other women who code, so want to encourage more women to get into the profession.”

Lorena Espinoza (http://www.room101.ca)
Freelancer – photography, design, & web development

What are you passionate about? “Anything design.”

Why did you get involved with Ladies Learning Code? “I am also passionate about sharing my knowledge and being involved in a positive community that shares my passion for technology.”

Yvonne Mendel (@viccityadvocate)
Works at BC Provincial Government, Queen’s Printer, Electronic Publishing Department – Maintaining and updating websites and photo galleries as well as working on print projects

What are you passionate about? “Good website practices, following W3C standards, learning new web design techniques, new versions of Creative Suite software, photography and using Photoshop to enhance my photos, Twitter, reading publications from A Book Apart, listening to The Big Web Show with Dan Benjamin and Jeffrey Zeldman.”

Why did you get involved with Ladies Learning Code? “I’ve been following you for around 6 months on Facebook and Twitter and have been re-tweeting your content. Most events are taking place in Ontario so I haven’t been able to attend/volunteer yet. Would like to meet some other women interested in web design and programming.”

Tiffany Shand (@TASDesigns | http://www.tasdesigns.ca)
Freelance Web Designer – Designing websites, widgets, and apps for independent clients.

What are you passionate about?  “Baking, tablet friendly websites, and websites that scroll left-to-right to navigate.”

Why did you get involved with Ladies Learning Code? “It’s great to come together with other ladies who enjoy technology and coding; and to have the opportunity to teach people these skills especially when it’s aimed towards females, I feel very proud that I can be making a change to someone’s life because you never know where the skills that they have been taught will lead them to in the future. And Techy Girls rule!”

Toby Sullivan (@tobyjsullivan | http://tobyjsullivan.net)
I am an entrepreneur working to build a web application to help yoga teachers get an online presence quickly and easily. So far it’s a one-man show and I’m responsible for everything from design and development to marketing and sales.

What are you passionate about?  “The Internet is an amazing tool but it is still in it’s infancy. My passion in life is to help the web mature to a point where it is easily accessible and available to all. Today I’m doing this with by building easy-to-use online tools which I’m hoping will be a stepping stone to what tomorrow will bring.”

Why did you get involved with Ladies Learning Code? “The World Wide Web is meant for everyone. Unfortunately, it can be a bit difficult for a lot of people to publish content and share their knowledge. I’ve been lucky enough to learn how to build websites and software and it has been a rewarding experience. Now, I want to help enable others to have the same opportunity to create and share.”

Chris Nicola (@lucisferre | http://lucisferre.com)
“Full-stack” developer at http://tictalking.com – I do a fair bit of infrastructure and architecture stuff but I’ve generally ended up doing a bit of everything whenever I’m working on something. Lately, I’ve been enjoying spending more time working on front-end web development.

What are you passionate about?  “The local software and web development community. I like going to meetups, talking to other people in the industry, sharing ideas. Working on startups, creating something new, developing ideas, it’s exciting. Learning. I know that’s a bit cliche.”

Why did you get involved with Ladies Learning Code? “My wife Tea (who is helping organize LLC in Vancouver) and I helped organize the Polyglot Vancouver conference this year (which has now become a Polyglot meetup). One of our goals is to create an event that is more open and inviting and to improve upon the typically low numbers of women most tech conferences seem to attract. We feel we did ok, but also feel we want to do a lot better next year. Participating in Ladies Learning Code seems like a good opportunity to try and reach out.”

Angelina Fabbro (@angelinamagnum | steamclocksw.com)
Everything/ Software Engineer at Steam Clock Software – My business card says ‘software engineer’ but I’m often designing UX and graphics as well. Most of the time I’m writing code in Objective C, HTML/CSS, Javascript, and sometimes Ruby.

What are you passionate about?  “Learning. My background is in cognitive science. Somehow teenage Angelina figured that if I could be good at any one thing, I wanted it to be learning new things or being able to figure out how to master a skill. I’m still working on that, but I consider this sort of my life’s work.”

Why did you get involved with Ladies Learning Code? “Because I was told for years, in so many ways, to not learn to code by many insecure people who in the end weren’t looking out for me, but for themselves. It was shitty. I’ve seen a lot of other women go through this, and I want to be the person that explains to them that they should do whatever they want, that it’s not hard to start coding, and let people see for themselves just what they are capable of.”

Adam Cooper (https://github.com/adamcooper)
Developer, Team Lead, & Development at Partnerpedia – We build Marketplaces and Appstore’s for the enterprise companies. Currently I am in the R&D department and I’m responsible for removing any technical uncertainty around upcoming work.

What are you passionate about?  “Web Technologies, Software, Ashtanga Yoga (as of recently), Travel.”

Why did you get involved with Ladies Learning Code? “I enjoying helping and mentoring others and would like to help with gender diversity in the software industry.”

Jesse Heaslip (@jjheaslip | http://id8.ca)
Event Organizer at GrowLab

What are you passionate about?  “Technology!”

Why did you get involved with Ladies Learning Code? “Because we need more ladies hacking code!”

Francois Deschenes (@fdeschenes | http://francoisdeschenes.com)
Web Developer at Deversus Software Inc.- I’m responsible for all aspects of the development including coding the HTML and CSS. I also maintain the servers, create the databases, and much more.
In addition to Deversus, I’m also CTO for myBestHelper (www.mybesthelper.com), a startup that aims to revolutionize the child care industry. I’m overseeing the development of the web application and I’m responsible for the technology aspect of the business.

What are you passionate about?  “I’m passionnante about what I do, web development. Anyone that knows me will tell you that “I’m a machine” and that I do this all day, every day. I’ve been in this business processionally for 13 years but started when I was 7 on a Commodore VIC-20!”

Why did you get involved with Ladies Learning Code? “I first heard of Ladies Learning Code because Heather was featured in The Leaflet (FreshBooks) and I was in the middle of integrating Deversus’s SaaS software called Socket with it. I think that what you guys are doing is amazing and I’d love to be part of it. It’s actually a career goal of mine to teach and/or mentor… this could be the start.”

Ruth Hatch (@momijizukamori | http://tokyo-tower.org)
Volunteer for the Dreamwidth Studios open source project – Creating new layout designs and performing clean-up and patching of designs submitted by other users

What are you passionate about?  “Creation – in any form or medium (my favorites are food, sewing, and CSS). Aesthetics that don’t preclude functionality. Biology and the sciences. New technology. Digital privacy and digital freedom.”

Why did you get involved with Ladies Learning Code? “I’m (at least nominally) a lady, and I’ve been involved in some facets of coding and the internet for a very long time. I’m also looking to expand my own personal knowledge of code and programming.”

Marjolein Visser (@prettytinymight | http://www.tinymight.ca)
I’m a Visual Designer at SAP Vancouver – I work closely with interaction designers and other stakeholders to develop and document visual designs of web-based software applications including layout specifications, colour palettes, typography, hierarchy and positioning of UI elements.

What are you passionate about?  “I’m passionate about when things work well. I love how there’s a growing awareness of traditional graphic-design techniques in web design, such as grid systems and the finer points of typography.”

Why did you get involved with Ladies Learning Code? “This is my first time. I found the link to this form on the meetup.com group for the Vancouver Pub (web) Standards group.”

Yuriy Dybskiy (@dybskiy | http://dybskiy.com)
Front-End Engineer at Unbounce – I’m responsible for development of new features and improvement of the current code-base. Check out the new UI we are rolling out soon: next.unbounce.com (after beta it will be available at app.unbounce.com )

What are you passionate about?  “I’ve been trying to make the web easy to use and accessible since joining psd2html.com in 2006 and I’m really happy to see how much attention HTML5/CSS3 is getting these days. Open source community has a tremendous impact on the world and it’s really nice to see how much people contribute to it on a daily basis and how much has been improve within the last few years. Aside from work my passions are Photography, Argentine Tango and combination of those two.”

Why did you get involved with Ladies Learning Code? “I’d love to get involved because I’m thankful to a lot of people who helped me become who I am today. I’d love to give back to the tech community and help grow it. I also miss my teaching days back in the university. Hope it’s not too late to join.”

Richard Tse
Works at EA – Transforming the aesthetics and the design of the website to the live webpages for the public; implement Google Analytics, Google Web Optimizer and Omniture for creating reports; build and implement the widgets (i.e. carousel, Facebook, Twitter) to the frontend

What are you passionate about?  “I am passionate about computers and everything related to computing technology. I believe that computers are the gateway to connect people and improve the quality of our life. Other than computers, I am also loving to practice Tai Chi everyday.”

Why did you get involved with Ladies Learning Code? “Because I would like to share my experience in building websites with more people and Ladies Learning Code gives me this opportunity to do this. In my personal perspective, I would like to expand my career field and learn how to teach.”

Tim Abdulla (@tabdulla | http://www.timabdulla.com)
Principal Software Engineer at PaySavvy – My responsibilities are developing our software on both the front and back end and setting priorities for our team

What are you passionate about?  “I’m sure many people responding to this call will say that they are passionate about software development. At the risk of this sounding tired, there is no better feeling for me than building a well thought out piece of software that improves people’s lives. When I am not actually coding, I am probably reading about something to do with software engineering. It’s such an enormous field that is exploding with new developments every day that it is practically a full time job just to keep on top of developments in the industry. We live in a great age for technology, and I am happy to be a part of it.”

Why did you get involved with Ladies Learning Code? “I want to get people excited about learning to code. Building things is a very satisfying feeling, and I want others to feel that satisfaction. This to me seems like a good way of accomplishing that goal.”

Catherine Winters (@catherineomega | http://catherineomega.com)
Web Designer and Developer at Winters + Associates

What are you passionate about?  “Usability, punctuation, standards.”

Why did you get involved with Ladies Learning Code? “It’s such an important cause. I wish it’d been around when I was learning.”

Carlo Costantini (@fifteen3 | http://carlocostantini.ca)
Works at Bensimon Byrne – Developing solutions to problems usually with code.

What are you passionate about?  “Being efficient, learning/understanding, rowing.”

Why did you get involved with Ladies Learning Code? “Nothing is more rewarding than working with people who are genuinely interested in something, especially when you yourself are interested in it.”

Robbie Trudeau
Founder and CEO of Vult Technologies Inc.

What are you passionate about?  “I’ve always been really interested in innovation, especially in regard to technology. Being involved with programming languages and development definitely fuels that passion which is why I’ve decided on a career in the field.”

Why did you get involved with Ladies Learning Code? “I currently work out of the GrowLab space, and I heard that the workshop was being held there, so I decided helping out is another great way to meet new people!”

Lindsay Watt (@lindsayrgwatt | http://placeling.com)
Cofounder of Placeling – I write front end code and handle all the business side of the company.

What are you passionate about?  “My family, exploring, cities and how we can use technology to solve problems.”

Why did you get involved with Ladies Learning Code? “Love the idea; would like to see more women in tech and if I can help change that, want to participate.”

What an amazing group! Thank you for helping to make our west coast debut a success!

For more info about Ladies Learning Code, follow us on Twitter or check out our Facebook Page. If you’d like to join our email list, click here or to volunteer as a Mentor, join our developer email list.

Three Brand-New Girls Learning Code Events!

Girls Learning Code Summer Camp – Day 3, 4, & 5

This post is a follow-up to our post about Day 1 and 2 of camp.

Girls Learning Code summer camp came and went last week, and it was full of design, code and creativity! Our first-ever Girls Learning Code summer camp ended on Friday, August 17th with spectacular results. It wasn’t a surprise, though, after a full week of hard work and lots of fun!

If you read our post about Days 1 & 2 of camp, you’ll know that the week’s theme and focus was game design & development. We took a break from Stencyl on Wednesday, though, and had the girls create invitations to Demo Day for their parents, families and friends using Mozilla‘s LoveBomb Builder, which teaches HTML & CSS basics (check out this awesome example, from camper Willow).

This week, we really wanted to encourage the girls to think about technology outside the context of camp. We want Girls Learning Code campers to start imagining what it might be like to pursue a career in development, design, or other fields related to STEM. On Wednesday, we invited four inspiring women in tech (Cristina Graci, Tiffany Shand, Tina Venema and Kate Hudson) to join a panel, moderated by Ashley Lewis. The girls were even more engaged that we expected! They showed genuine curiosity about what a career in technology is all about and asked lots of questions, including questions about how game design & development can help us do important things, like what Tina is doing with Philanthrokidz and Takara.

On Thursday, we went on a field trip! We spent the morning at the George Brown College Digital Media and Gaming Incubator. Thanks so much -once again – to George Brown College for having us! After a short tour of the amazing facilities we took over two classrooms to give the girls a lesson about Photoshop, led by Cristina Graci and myself (Carly Chalmers). Each camper had her own computer and we used a photos of Justin Bieber, or whatever else they desired, to teach the girls the basics of photo editing. It was amazing to see how quickly they picked up design skills and the final results ranged from artsy to funny (check out one by two-time Girls Learning Code camper Carol below).

On Friday, the Mozilla community space was transformed from Girls Learning Code HQ to a presentation room for Demo Day! Parents, families, friends and our amazing sponsors were invited to check out what the girls had been up to all week. The room was buzzing with excitement as each team decorated a whiteboard with their team name, game name, and rules of their game. A laptop was set up at each station for parents and sponsors to try their hand at saving baby sea turtles, collecting bananas, or rescuingJennifer Lopez from the evil Bieber Bots! After practicing all week girls were confident in speaking to the crowd – even girls who were shy on the first day of camp were eager to speak into the microphone and present. The girls’ dedication to their games definitely paid off – each presentation garnered a loud round of applause. Don’t believe us? You can check out and play all the games the girls created here!

The theme of this camp was Games Can Change The World. Did we change the world of these girls? Only time will tell, but based on the work we saw this week and their curiosity for learning about careers in tech (yes, you can Photoshop all day long and get paid for it) we think these girls will one day be doing great things.

Thanks again to all of our wonderful sponsors. Camp would not be the same without you. 50% of Girls Learning Code attend camp on a full or partial scholarship, and it’s because of all of you that it’s possible. And a special thanks to Mozilla and George Brown College for letting us take over your space so the girls could learn and discover in inspiring environments.

Our Girls Learning Code camps have been such a success that we have decided to make a dedicated effort to growing our Girls Learning Code offering in Toronto. We are excited to announce that we already have three workshops scheduled for this fall! On September 30th we are offering Funky Photo Editing with Gimp. On October 20th we are offering Intro to HTML/CSS. And we are running our first PA day event on November 16th, Become a Brilliant Blogger with Tumblr! We are so excited for these events and hope you will help us spread the world to girls and their parents. All of these workshops are designed for 9- to 13-year-olds, and are girls-only.

Thanks again to everyone who made Girls Learning Code a success this summer. Campers, parents, volunteers, sponsors, hosts, and everyone who helped spread the word…we couldn’t do it without you!

To stay up-to-date on all the latest Girls Learning Code news and announcements, please join our mailing list by clicking here. You can also stay in touch with Ladies Learning Code the following ways:

Join our mailing list: http://ladieslearningcode.com
Follow us on Twitter: @llcodedotcom
Like us on Facebook: facebook.com/ladieslearningcode
And check out our upcoming events for adults at http://ladieslearningcode.com/events 

Lights, Camera, Action! Meet the Video Editing Mentors

It’s a summer of firsts here at Ladies Learning Code. Back in June we had our first 3D printing workshop, we’re currently running our first Girls Learning Code Summer Camp & now, on August 18th, we’re having our first video editing workshop! Hosted at the George Brown College Digital Media and Gaming Incubator, our learners will be gaining new skills in interviewing, directing, lighting, and of course, editing. Thank you to BizMedia for sponsoring this event and all our wonderful mentors for volunteering their Saturday to help our learners make their video a success. If you are interested in attending, you can still buy tickets here. See you all on August 18th & then…. YouTube!

Co-Lead Instructor: Justin Smith (@justinbsmith | http://bizmedia.com)
Creative director & Product development at BizMedia – Producing, directing, filming, and editing videos.

What are you passionate about? “Anything artistic, but primarily movies and music.”

Why did you get involved with Ladies Learning Code? “Teaching is its own reward.”

Co-Lead Instructor: Peter Strauss (@strausspeter | http://www.petestrauss.com)
Lead Editor and Head of Post-production at BizMedia

What are you passionate about? “I have a strong passion for film and filmmaking. I love the study, aesthetics, and creation of design and art.”

Why did you get involved with Ladies Learning Code? “BizMedia suggested a course for teaching the video production process. I thought this could be a great learning experience for students and for myself.”

Maurice Chang (@maurice360five | http://www.mauricechang.ca)
Business & Co-Founder at DayForTwo.com – I do everything other than code.

What are you passionate about? “Video, travel, photography, break dancing, sneakers, tech, web, entrepreneurship, food.”

Why did you get involved with Ladies Learning Code? “Fact 1: I love web, tech, entrepreneurship, digital
Fact 2: I love ladies; the 5 most important people in my life are women
Fact 1 + Fact 2 = A natural desire to get involved with Ladies Learning Code”

Katie Grant (@kategrant | http://kategrant.ca)
Camera work, lighting and green screen set up, audio monitoring and editing at Garage Studios
AV Service Help Desk at Seneca@York

What are you passionate about? “Design and Technology.”

Why did you get involved with Ladies Learning Code? “I have had lots of people help me throughout my career and while I am still learning I believe knowledge should be shared so that we can all achieve.”

Nate Robertson (@n8_bomb | http://www.n8bomb.com)
Senior Editor / Animator / Creative at Corbin Visual

What are you passionate about? “So many things. In broad-strokes: using technology to create art with scientific themes.”

Why did you get involved with Ladies Learning Code? “Patrick Connolly.”

Gonzalo Vazquez (@gonzalosvazquez | http://www.gonzalovazquez.ca)
Multimedia Developer at Canadian Memorial Chiropractic College – I am in charge of developing interactive e-learning units for students.

What are you passionate about? “I love creating. My passion is film, code and learning.
When I was a little kid my mum told me that knowledge is one of the most important traits we have as human beings.
Since then, I have always keep that saying at heart and never stopped learning.
Coincidentally, the path I took requires me to always learn and share my knowledge with others.”

Why did you get involved with Ladies Learning Code? “I want to get involved with Ladies Learning Code because I want to give back to the community as well I love explaining and sharing my knowledge with people.”

Michael Goldberg (@MichaelGTV | http://MichaelGoldberg.tv)
Freelnace @ CBC, CP24, CityNews and Web producer for Bachelor Canada – As Web Producer I am responsible for all content that goes on the site, as well as development of the website. I work with sales, marketing, developers, and designers to make the site is working properly, and that all content is correct.

What are you passionate about? “The merging nature of web and TV is where my passion in my professional life currently resides. In my personal life I’m a big comic book geek.”

Why did you get involved with Ladies Learning Code? “It was suggested to me from a friend, and former co-worker and I thought it would be interesting.”

Jordan Sparks (@SuperSparkplugs | http://Sparkcomic.com)
Research Assistant at the CIM2 Multimedia Lab at Ryerson University – My responsibilities include working with a team of programmers and the direction and production of video and visual assets for the laboratory, including demo videos, 3D Models, and 2D Art.
I also work with a student radio show called Just Rights Radio on CIUT. I mostly edit the audio of interviews before they go to air, but I sometimes participate in the actual interviews themselves.

What are you passionate about? “I am passionate about everything I do. When I commit to something I am 100% into what I’m doing and never back down on my promises. I am also very dedicated to helping out people wherever and however I can if I am able. If I can help people get into video editing, it would mean a lot to me.
As for topics, I’m very passionate about art, gaming, learning, helping out others, and video & audio production.”

Why did you get involved with Ladies Learning Code? “I heard about the call for editing mentors from my friend (and Ladies Learning Code’s current intern), Carly Chalmers. It sounded interesting and a chance to get involved in something, so I jumped at the opportunity.”

Cindy Lemus (@EEALS)
I am a media professional with experience that spans across the fields of film, television, writing, editing, web and design and have worked in Toronto, Los Angeles and Hamburg. Currently I work as a production coordinator in the Children’s Media department at TVO, among managing our video content across multiple platforms I also work on production and web related projects. I also work as a freelance web producer and film researcher because clearly I like keeping busy ! haha.

What are you passionate about? “experimental film, sailboats, mastering the german language, good design, interactive installations, trying to ride bicycles in los angeles.”

Why did you get involved with Ladies Learning Code? “Earlier this year I had briefly heard about LLC and then one of the interns Carly mentioned it again to me and finally a couple of weeks ago I took the 3D course. I enjoy how accesible LLC makes learning programming and coding among other things, so I thought it would be great to get involved in some way. It seems like such a great opportunity to learn and meet like minded indivudals. Personally, I’ve had some pretty great learning opportunities over the years and being able to pass on any knowledge or advice to someone seems incredibly worthwhile to me!”

Maria-Saroja Ponnambalam (@ThePandiStory | http://www.thepandistory.com)
Community Media Production Co-ordinator/Research/Assistant Editor at HIGHRISE_National Film Board of Canada
· Provide development, research and post-production assistance on web documentary OUT MY WINDOW and HIGHRISE ­ Winner of International Digital Emmy Award (2011)
· Coordinate and facilitate a participatory photo-voice workshop, post-production assistance on web documentaries 1000th, 2000th Tower and 1 Millionth Tower
. Researcher/Assistant Editor on the Digitial Citizenship project

What are you passionate about? “Collaborative media making and community building, inclusive arts, art is for everybody!; making technology accessible to everyone, telling good stories and getting them heard, social justice, documentary filmmaking, multiplatform documentaries, & music composition.”

Why did you get involved with Ladies Learning Code? “I am a community media production co-ordinator with the HIGHRISE team who has been working with residents at the Kipling highrises for over two years, where we are now hosting some Ladies Learning Code workshops.”

Michael Cumming (@BreadalbaneMike | http://michaelcumming.com)
Founder and content production at Ambitious City

What are you passionate about? “Architecture, urban design and satire.”

Why did you get involved with Ladies Learning Code? “Seems very interesting and dynamic. Basic idea of getting women to learn code seems like a very good idea.”

Michelle Bouzide (http://photoplays.ca)
Co-founder and owner of Photoplays. We specialize in 8mm and 16mm film to digital transfer.
The bulk of our work is transferring old home movies to Dvd – this involves editing, colour correction, encoding and Dvd authoring.

What are you passionate about? “Ontario produce, politics and understanding the world around us.”

Why did you get involved with Ladies Learning Code? “I’ve been hearing about Ladies Learning Code for a while as I also do web design. Very interested in learning more about what you do and becoming involved.”

Jason Kattides (@jasonlovesvideo)
Freelance Videographer and Editor – Film stuff, and edit stuff.

What are you passionate about? “Becoming better than I was the day before at all the things I do.”

Why did you get involved with Ladies Learning Code? “I was taught at a very young age to never stop learning. While I may not be on the receiving end of the workshop – I expect to network with lots of new people and I hope to learn as much as I can.”

Ted Ghanime (@tedinframe | http://bizmedia.com)
Executive Producer and Director at BizMedia. – My responsibilities typically include managing client relations, developing video concepts and treatments with a team of creatives, and producing and overseeing all logistics pertaining to production.

What are you passionate about? “I love the collaborative process of film. I love writing and developing script and creative treatments. I love the process of putting together an exceptional team that can translate the creative treatment to video. I love to see all the talent that gets pooled in to achieve one collective goal — from directing and shooting to editing and sound mixing. I love working with and learning from others.”

Why did you get involved with Ladies Learning Code? “There are so many stories that can be shared and film is an excellent medium of doing so. The trouble with it, however, is that there are technological hurdles that must be overcome before being able to communicate your ideas. When I discovered that LLC was branching out to include video development, I jumped at the opportunity to share my insight and to hopefully assist in overcoming those obstacles and to begin sharing their stories.”

Alex Chesser
Application developer (web & iOS) at Klick.com – I program in PHP, C#, Objective-C, Javascript, Node.JS, SQL, “NO-SQL” (mongodb). I also have a background as a high school teacher.

What are you passionate about? “Lots! Seriously… Technology, fitness, nutrition, business & entrepreneurship, entertainment & media…”

Why did you get involved with Ladies Learning Code? “I like the social aspect, I miss teaching but can’t do it full time, helping with LLC seems a nice way to get the best of both worlds.”

Aliyyah Fazil
Freelance Videographer and Editor – Film stuff, and edit stuff.

What are you passionate about? “Filmmaking, storytelling, photography.”

Why did you get involved with Ladies Learning Code? “I heard about it from a friend. I mentored for Hot Docs doc camp for two years as well & enjoyed the expereince.”

Amy Gottung
Freelance Producer/Videographer/Editor
General Manager for VIVA! Youth Singers of Toronto, a youth choral and music education program

What are you passionate about? “Curation of culture, culture of curation.”

Why did you get involved with Ladies Learning Code? “I dig what you do!”

Mark Cohen (@Mark_0620)
Manager, Multimedia Solutions at TD Bank Group. – I run a small creative services team responsible for video production, graphic design, web content.

What are you passionate about? “Movies, music, art — high impact visual communications.”

Why did you get involved with Ladies Learning Code? “My girlfriend attended a session on Python programming and was impressed by LLC. She saw this Premiere session and suggested that I contribute as a mentor. Looking at the LLC blog, it looks like a fun opportunity to share some knowledge and meet other mentors.”

Quiet on set! We’re about to have an awesome workshop thanks to these wonderful mentors!

For more info about Ladies Learning Code, follow us on Twitter or check out our Facebook Page. If you’d like to join our email list, click here or to volunteer as a Mentor, join our developer email list.

Girls Learning Code Camp – Day 1 and 2

3…2…1… let the games begin! Monday kicked off the first day of our Girls Learning Code summer camp located in downtown Toronto at Mozilla’s beautiful community space. This week 40 lucky girls get to spend each day with these 20 amazing women. This 2:1 ratio is just one of the things we are doing to try to make this summer camp the very best experience possible.

The 40 campers have been put into eight groups for the week. Keeping with the game design theme,  each team is named after a video game character: Team Mario, Team Sonic, Team Peach, Team Pikachu, team Zelda, Team Kirby, Team Yoshi, and Team Luigi. Each team has created a unique logo which we’ve ironed onto t-shirts that the girls get to wear and keep!

On Monday, after a couple fin ice breakers, we got into our first lesson, led by Miriam Verburg. The girls learned all about game mechanics and components (obstacles, setting, character, rule, actions, and goals), through a fun scavenger hunt activity. Groups then worked to brainstorm ideas to design their very own game! They will be working on their games in their teams throughout the week.

At the end of each day, the eight groups will be presenting their game’s progress! The girls have certainly come up with some crazy and creative games: one features a monkey trying to save her boyfriend from an evil parrot, another is about a popsicle looking for free(ze)dom. Other game topics include a runaway breakfast, and another is about Justin Bieber saving Jennifer Lopez (camp wouldn’t be the same without Justin).

The tool we are using throughout the week to create these games is called Stencyl. It comes with great built-in presets that allow users to easily create obstacles, characters, actions, and more! The girls received an awesome crash course in Stencyl from Cecily Carver before diving in and creating their very first games.

Lunch in the park and brainstorming sessions on the gorgeous roof of 401 Richmond makes for a week full of variety and stimulation.

Of course, Girls Learning Code is about more than just code! We’re playing a lot of fun games to get to know each other. For example, on the first day, pencil cases were distributed, each with 40 of the same colour marker or crayon. Campers then had to mingle around the room and trade with each other to get a full rainbow set. The catch? Before a trade can be made, you had to say your name and a fact about yourself.

Armed with new markers and crayons, laptops provided by Planet Geek, amazing leaders and bright, inspirational venues, the teams are working hard to build their very own games for the first time. Yesterday we started creating characters and backgrounds for our games and in the coming days we’ll be adding behaviours and sounds. To see the final result, stay tuned for our blog post at the end of the week!

And don’t forget, follow along with all the Girls Learning Code fun follow our hashtag on Twitter – #girlslearningcode.

Ladies Learning Code’s One-Year Anniversary!