{
Meet
Goldie K.
]
Meet Goldie — a 2x KWK scholar and campus facilitator
Letter to my Past Self
Dear Younger Goldie,
Hello! I hope high school is treating you well. I hope you received the ACT score you wanted, that your college applications have been submitted, and that you feel hopeful about your future.
Spoiler alert + special surprise! I’m about to tell you where we are today.
You’re currently sitting in your office space on Broadway. Yes! The same street you grew up walking up and down, past all the unique shops, your favorite restaurants, and the hotel that reminds you of all your best adventures in New York as a kid. You’re a Brand Partnerships Manager for a top e-commerce company, launching and growing brands like L’Oréal on TikTok. You run daily team check-ins and manage around 25 people. You fly to LA for work in the Culver City studio and get to visit family and friends while you’re there. Today, after work, you’ll go back home to a beautiful apartment in the East Village with two girls you met on Facebook, who end up becoming some of your closest friends in the city, or you’ll take the subway to your brother’s house in Brooklyn, where your mom is staying during her visit.
I assume you have plenty of questions, so I’ll fill you in:
Did we end up at NYU or Columbia?
No, we ended up going to U.C. Davis. Remember when Karlie gave you that great advice to go to a more low-key city for school, study Computer Science, and then move to New York? Well, that’s the best advice you could have received, so look at you now. You went to U.C. Davis and started as a Computer Science major before switching to Cognitive Science with a Computational emphasis, focusing your studies on machine learning, artificial intelligence, and psychology. You went abroad to Amsterdam and actually worked for Wix throughout school, thanks to an introduction from the one and only Kode with Klossy.
We worked for Wix? The same website development company where you made your first website as a middle schooler, trying to sell jewelry and hand-painted flannels to kids in your neighborhood?
Yes, we did! After Kode with Klossy, you stayed in touch with the program as a recurring student and college alum. One day, while you were on vacation in Aruba during a global pandemic, you received an email inviting you to help with Wix’s Playground Academy, an initiative to help brands in New York that did not have websites at the time. This ends up being your favorite job ever. Once the pandemic became more controlled, you got the opportunity to spend the summer in New York—a dream come true. For a month, you lived in an apartment in Chelsea, down the street from the Wix office, right across from the world-renowned museum, the Whitney. You received an offer as a website development associate to help amateur design students bring their portfolios and art to life.
Did we end up working for Wix post-grad?
Unfortunately, no. The program gradually scaled down, but you’ll maintain a close relationship with all your coworkers and stay in touch professionally over the years. However, you do end up getting a great full-time role as a Product Manager for a startup, where you'll leverage the tech and coding skills you acquired from Kode with Klossy and school. You’ll manage a team of engineers and lead the launch of your company’s product on Apple’s Vision Pro in their NYC labs.
VR? We ended up learning virtual reality?
Oh, you bet! Remember that workshop from Kode with Klossy on VR? You fell in love with the world of virtual reality and coding programs on VR, to the point that you kicked off a partnership with a group empowering women to develop leadership skills in their professional and personal lives through a series of virtual reality workshops at your high school.
Do we keep in touch with Karlie and alumni?
Indeed, we do! To your surprise, we ended up on a billboard in SoHo, New York. You’re featured in this campaign with Karlie and other alumni as the “VR Maven,” discussing your experience with Kode with Klossy and your perspective on women in the tech world. Also, at age 23, you’ll receive direct messages from alumni you met at age 13, inviting you to their housewarming parties in New York or to grab coffee in London.
One piece of advice for me?
Have faith in the process. Things won’t immediately or exactly turn out the way you plan, but you’ll end up exactly where you’ve always wanted to be. Trust that the world has a funny way of being on your side and working out in your favor. Make those connections, follow the path, and believe that things will work out exactly as they’re meant to!
Cheers,
Goldie
