Month: April 2014
Kim Hamper, Girl Develop It Chapter Leader
Our latest Statement Maker, Kim Hamper, is the Columbus, Ohio chapter leader of Girl Develop It. Girl Develop It is one of few dedicated organizations who’s mission it is to diversify the computer science industry by encouraging and educating women and girls interested in website development and design.
Read below for what Kim has to say about Girl Develop It and how she personally entered the world of software development!
What is Girl Develop It?
Girl Develop It provides affordable and accessible events and classes to women who want to learn programming skills.
How many GDI chapters are there? Are there any overseas?
The number of chapters keeps on growing! Currently, we have 25 chapters across the United States and Canada with more new chapter applications being processed for cities in North America and beyond. It’s amazing to see how much Girl Develop It has grown since it was founded in 2010.
Were you always interested in website/software development and coding?
Many times I considered trying out coding. During one phase of college, I was sure I was going to minor in computer science (this was somewhere in between the Film Studies and French Language stages), but I never took a single computer science course! It wasn’t until 2011, after I received Build Your Own Website the Right Way as a present, that I finally got started.
How did you get started coding?
So, as I mentioned, I started learning HTML and CSS from the book Build Your Own Website the Right Way. I built a terrible/awesome website in bright orange with cats, and I was totally hooked. I put my tax return towards an online course on programming in PHP next, and just a few months later I started working towards a master’s degree in software engineering.
Was coding your first career path?
Nope! I eventually settled on biology for my college major, but still had a wide range of interests and no idea what I wanted to do after I graduated. I interned at a human rights non-profit and worked as a Quality Control Engineer (basically lots of analysis and statistics) post-graduation before moving back to Ohio and discovering software development.
What about website/software development keeps you interested? Why have you decided to do it for a living?
The main reason: it’s exciting to make something tangible and immediately useful to other people. You also never stop learning as a developer, which keeps things interesting. There’s so much that goes into creating applications and websites. Even if I’m having a more creative, less analytical day, I can focus on the design of an application, or I can nerd out on marketing concepts and improving the usability of an app. There are a lot of different roles you can jump into under the “developer” umbrella.
How did you get involved with GDI?
I had just moved to Columbus in 2011 and joined the Meetup group for Girl Develop It Columbus (GDIC). Jen Myers (our chapter founder) sent out a message that she was looking for an Assistant Organizer. I hadn’t been to a single GDIC event yet and I hadn’t coded anything except my fabulous bright orange website, but I thought, why not? To my surprise, Jen gave me the position!
How long have you been the Columbus, Ohio GDI Chapter Leader?
I’ve been the chapter leader since early 2013, so a little over a year now.
Why is it important that we have organizations, like GDI, that encourage women to enter the world of web design and development?
The ratio of women-to-men in computer science and developer positions has been decreasing since the 1980s (when, according to Wikipedia, it was 38%). Diversity in general in the technology field is incredibly low. Organizations like GDI are working to increase diversity and open the technology field to new people with a variety of backgrounds. Many of the women involved with GDIC either didn’t have access to formal computer science education or didn’t realize that computer science was an option for them in school.
How can someone interested in learning coding get involved with GDI? Who can sign up for GDI
classes?
Come drop by an event and say hi! We have a Hack Night once a month which is a great starting point for learning about coding and Girl Develop It. We also have other events like regular Code and Coffees, as well as our classes. Our events are generally beginner-friendly and open to all levels. Our next coding class is an introductory programming class (in Ruby) slated for June, and any adult can sign up for a GDI class. We are targeted at women, but men who are passionate about our mission statement are always welcome. We have scholarships available to women for classes if cost (usually $80 for a four-week, eight-hour class) is a barrier, and we can usually find an extra laptop if a student needs to borrow one.
Finally, we’re also looking for a co-chapter leader, and have a slew of other volunteer/teacher positions open. If someone reading is interested in getting involved, send me an email (kim@girldevelopit.com). Even if you’ve only made a really terrible/awesome bright orange website, I would love to hear from you.
Find us here:
Meetup (for upcoming classes and events): http://www.meetup.com/girldevelopitcbus
GDIC Twitter
GDIC Facebook
Website: Girl Develop It
Label Rebel: Custom Cheerleading Sweatshirts
This month’s Label Rebel customized cheerleading sweatshirts for her new cheer squad. Happy with the quality of Customized Girl’s printing the previous year, Amanda chose to have another year’s sweatshirts printed with us again!
“We were really happy with our items! We had a small glitch in one of the bags but with a quick picture and explanation of the broken zipper your team quickly shipped off a replacement personalized bag. It was amazing!
We are a new Cheer team in Fort Mcmurray, Alberta and received your personalized sweaters last year so we went with your company again! We have sponsors now so our sweaters have more detail but they were done really well.”
We get a lot of orders for custom cheerleading shirts and apparel and we’re always happy to print them!
Have you used Customized Girl for your team’s new sweats, tees, or uniforms? Send us your photos to customizedgirl@eretailing.com or share them with us on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram!
More Label Rebels:
Label Rebels – Chicks Crushing Cancer
Label Rebels – Hot Mess Express
Label Rebels – You Can’t Rave with Us
Label Rebels – Isabella Rose Taylor
Label Rebels – Bowling Party Shirts
Label Rebel- Marathon Runners Designing Custom Running Shirts
Look Book: Talk Nerdy To Me
$470 – jades24.com
$76 – newlook.com
neimanmarcus.com
bodycentral.com
customizedgirl.com
neimanmarcus.com
Custom Water Bottles and Tote Bags for Earth Day
Happy Earth Day!
Earth Day is recognized on April 22 every year in countries all around the world. Today is the day that we make a little extra effort to reduce, reuse, and recycle and think consciously about our planet and the natural resources we use from it.
We encourage you to use today to make the planet a little greener! Plant a tree. Pick up trash in a nearby park or along your street. Finally get those extra bins and start recycling!
Customized Girl can help you make greener decisions every day with our water bottles and canvas tote bags!
Customize a water bottle and reduce your use of plastic cups and bottles. Plastic, disposable water bottles are harmful for the environment because of the resources used to make the plastic and the oil burned in the miles and miles of transportation that carry the bottles from production to your hand. These water bottles come close to never decomposing, instead sitting in piles of waste for years. Using a refillable, washable, customized water bottle to cut down on your use of plastic is an easy and responsible way to help keep our Earth clean!
Design a canvas tote bag for your groceries and more! Toting your own reusable grocery bag is another simple way to cut back on your use of plastic. Much like plastic water bottles, plastic grocery bags use a lot of natural resources to produce and transport. Make a difference every time you shop by bringing your own reusable and customized tote bag!
Custom Home State Shirts!
Texas At Heart, Ohio Bred, Cali Girl.
Tees that rep your home state have always been a go-to for girls who love their hometown. Here at Customized Girl we love the premise of the home state shirts! Wear something characteristic of you on your favorite, comfy tee? Just our style! Now you can create your own Home State Shirt in our design center.
We’ve featured just a few, but we have art for all 50 states! Alaska, Nebraska, and Kansas? Yep. Wisconsin and Louisiana? Of course. M-i-s-s-i-s-s-i-p-p-i? Y-e-s. Whichever united state you hail from, you can now design your own customized home state shirt. So grab your laptop and get customizing, home girl.
Kentucky Derby Party Shirts
Sound the trumpets and mix the Juleps, the Kentucky Derby is almost here!
May brings more than just flowers to Louisville, Kentucky. Kentucky Derby fans from all over dress up and get ready to watch the famous horse race the first weekend of May every year. The spirit of this Southern tradition carries itself as well as the Southern Belles in attendance.
The Kentucky Derby and its traditions have inspired fans from all over to recreate the atmosphere of the race at their own Kentucky Derby themed parties. The popularity of these parties has spread in recent years thanks to the fun, over-the-top dress code and savoriness of southern dishes and Mint Juleps.
Throw your own Kentucky Derby themed party this year with all the fixin’s! Customize a Kentucky Derby shirt with Customized Girl, grab the brightest, biggest hat you can find, find a recipe for those Mint Juleps, and it’ll be just like sittin’ in the stands at the Downs!
Look Book: Mint Perfection
dorothyperkins.com
2020ave.com
overstock.com
forever21.com
$275 – asos.com
shopzerouv.com
$17 – nelly.com
Take 15% Off Your Tax Day Order!
It’s April 15th and it’s Tax Day. We want to help make the day a little brighter by offering you a special discount of 15% off your order of custom apparel!
Use coupon code CGTAX at checkout and get 15% off your order! Offer expires 4/15/2014 at 11:59PM EST.
START CUSTOMIZING
April Social Roundup
We have gathered a list of our designs that you’ve shared, liked, pinned, and reblogged the most! Here are the internet’s favorite Customized Girl designs:
The Relationship Status of our Facebook fans? It would seem a lot of you are dating a baseball player. You loved our Baseball Girlfriend designs!
Check it out on Facebook!
Tumblr
Our Tumblr followers were all about our St. Patrick’s Day designs last month. Don’t forget to send us any photos of your Customized Girl St. Patrick’s Day shirts to CustomizedGirl@eretailng.com!
PS- get ready for the next party with a custom Cinco de Mayo shirt!
Check it out on Tumblr!
Our Pinterest followers must love to run- and have some fun with it! Our custom color run tank top was a hit across fitspo boards!
Check it out on Pinterest!
Polyvore
Our fashion forward Polyvore followers were all about the Dope Crop Top featuring our trendy cartoon glove hand designs. We love the sets you’ve created with this top!
Check it out on Polyvore!