Generation Impact: HP's Docuseries Launches with Jay Jay, "The Coder"

amp160Jay Jay Patton is a wunderkind At the age of 10 she learned to code at 13 she became the junior director of Photo Patch an app she created in collaboration with Antoine her father who taught himself how to code while in prison Jay Jay and Antoine are pictured at top and belowamp160quotWe were apart for many years He wanted me to become a better person amp8230 He built the first prototype which allows children to send letters to their incarcerated parents He drew from his own experience his separation his hurt and turned it into something positivequot Jay Jay saidAntoine surprised Jay Jay and joined the virtual panel With teary eyes and evident pride he told her quotThank you for representing our family and our business You make us want to do more and be betterquot His guidance has been an incredible light propelling his daughter down a purposeful path and her momentum hasn39t slowed since those first lines of code were writtenIn a clip from the film Jay Jay appears on a daytime talk show where host Steve Harvey inquires about the coding class she39s quottakingquot She quickly corrects Harvey quotI39m actually giving a coding class so I39m teaching kids online how to do codingquot Since Jay Jay and her dad launched Unlock Academy in 2018 15000 students have signed up That39s real impactWhat was the impetus for HP to create the Generation Impact documentary series shining a light on inspiring people like this fatherdaughter duoquotHP39s commitment isn39t just to storytellingquot said Lesley Slaton Brown Chief Diversity Officer at HP referring to Sam Knowles the Director of The Coder quotIt extends to the people behind the camera the filmmakers the directors the producers It39s as important for us to tell Jay Jay and Antoine39s story as it is for us to create jobs for the Samanthas of the worldquotSamantha is our voice to our customer She is our brand She sets the tone Where we are as a company with an 80year history of investing we wanted to amplify and give greater visibility to those artistsquotFor Knowles pictured left a Brooklynbased filmmaker the authenticity of the subjects attracted her from the start quotIt was a Black family paying it forward by bringing others into the fold It39s an inspiring positive story All the things that excited me aligned with my work people of color Black people in industries where they39ve been marginalized It makes the mission even strongerquotDirecting a film remotely during the pandemic wasn39t without its challenges quotInnovation has been keyquot said Knowles who used Facetime and multiple laptops to see what the shots looked like quotSafety was our priority and I39m so grateful toamp160Jay Jay for being so open and vulnerable even though we were talking through screensquotThe pandemic proved how reliant we are on technology Jay Jay pointed out how important it is quotto teach the marginalized and bring them into the tech world If people are not being taught about these things it39s putting them at a disadvantage We need to make everyone feel comfortable to be in this spacequotToday less than 1 of computing jobs in the US are held by Black women How can companies find out more about supporting programs like thisquotFor HP it39s about the hardware the connectivity the quality encapsulating all those things togetherquot Slaton Brown said quotPartnership matters No single company can solve this alone It takes partnerships to achieve great thingsquotWe want to be the most authentic company and brand we can bequot she continued quotWe39re very intentional about the work we39re doing because we39ve communicated some ambitious goals These include HP39s pledge to accelerate digital equity for 150 million people by 2030 Although the COVID19 pandemic didn39t create the digital divide it certainly exacerbated it During COVID19 onethird of the world39s schoolage children or 463 million students could not access remote learningHP believes digital equity is a human right It has invested in HP LIFE a free IT and business skills training program offered by the HP Foundation and supports and partners with organizations including Girl Rising MIT Solve and NABU to tackle this challenge Find out more hereWhat does the future look like to Jay Jay quotI39d like to see more diversity more people getting chances and not being judged by what they look likequot she said quotI39m trying to make an impact myself and inspire other peoplequot That she has certainly doneShe added with wisdom beyond her years quotTime can change in a matter of seconds in a matter of minutes Treat everyone with respect come together and see everyone as the samequotWatch the HP short film series Generation ImpactClick the social buttons to share this story with colleagues and friendsThe opinions expressed here are the author39s views and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNetamp160

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Generation Impact: HP's Docuseries Launches with Jay Jay, "The Coder"

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