{UAH} A beauty, and a geek: Supermodel can code

Scott's first iOS app was a charity-based project aimed at helping young scholars in Uganda. The app, Educate!, finds sponsors for Ugandan students and guides them toward becoming leaders and entrepreneurs.

"I learned about Educate! in college. It was an organization founded by two Amherst students. When I found out that Uganda has the youngest population in the world and the highest youth poverty rate, I wanted to get involved," she said.

"It was rejected (by Apple) a few times. I had a big battle with Apple, going back and forth, so it was a huge relief when it finally passed."

At Amherst College, Scott learned coding languages Java, C++ and MIPS while majoring in theater and computer science. But instead of pursuing a programming career, she plunged into modeling.

She got her big modeling break in 2009 when she became the first African-American to land an exclusive contract with Calvin Klein for New York Fashion Week.

"It happened at a time when there was no interest in me as a model," she said. "I always dreamed of it, but I wasn't expecting it at all. I was beyond surprised."

That same year Scott was chosen for one of the year's most coveted fashion shows: Victoria's Secret. She said she was "shocked and honored" to join a lineup of supermodels including Heidi Klum, Miranda Kerr and Alessandra Ambrosio.

Meanwhile, she continued challenging expectations by teaching herself how to program Python and Objective-C.

"I think a lot of models thought I was strange having a computer on my lap in the middle of a casting line," Scott said. "I never really talked about programming in the modeling business. I kept the worlds very divided."

http://edition.cnn.com/2014/01/20/tech/web/lyndsey-scott-model-coder/index.html?c=&page=1

Brian M. Kwesiga

President and CEO,

Ugandan North American Association - UNAA

972.415.6372 | www.unaa.org | "United We Stand"