Rapper and entrepreneur YG donated $150,000 to startup company GirlCodeLA to help usher in a generation of Los Angeles girl coders. YG is setting out to create more opportunities for future female entrepreneurs and that can be attributed to his close relationship with business partner Karen Civil.
Though YG is readying the release of his hotly anticipated album, Stay Dangerous, the West Coast MC has still found time to uplift his community.
“Gender bias plays a role in the amount of exposure students receive in regards to technology and coding, says YG. He adds, “This leads to influence future decisions within their field, creating smaller opportunities for diversity. With my donation, I hope they’ll be able to expand their reach of future female coders and programmers.”
GirlCodeLA is an organization that is aimed to develop and continue to expose young women to computer science, business, and software engineering. All participants have the opportunity to learn, understand, and execute a plan to develop a career through classes, seminars, and hands-on training. The organization was founded by entrepreneur Dez White who turned her interests toward technology and application development into a success story when she launched Invisible Text, which turned into Invisible Social, Invisible Email, and Invisible Call in 2014.
YG presented all the young coders with new Beats by Dre headphones and held a mentoring session with the girls to discuss the importance of exploring non-traditional career paths. “I want to make sure I’m doing my part. I have a daughter and I respect the G (GirlCodeLA) Code.”
The young MC has a history of giving back to his community especially in the area of education. Beyond music, YG honors his mission to enhance the lives of disadvantaged youth who are a part of the foster care/group home system by providing growth and development in the areas of science, technology, education, and math (STEM).