Karlie Kloss' Coding Program Aims to Make the Workforce 'Representative of the Diverse World We Live in'

Courtesy of Kode With Klossy

This summer, Kode With Klossy is going global.

For the first time since Karlie Kloss launched her tech initiative in 2015, the program will host the tech workshop in London in addition to its previous sites in Los Angeles, New York City and St. Louis (Kloss's hometown). Teens who identify as female, gender-nonconforming or trans are welcome to apply for the two-week camp founded by the supermodel.

"This experience has impacted so many others that I could have never imagined when I was first starting it…And it's what inspires me to keep growing it and it makes me so proud of our scholars," Kloss, 30, tells PEOPLE.

The summer camp is designed to expose young people to the fundamentals of coding, website design and data science with a series of educational and collaborative modules. By the end of the two weeks, the participants–or scholars, as they're called by Kloss–complete their own projects, building either apps or websites using their learned technical skills.

Krissy Saleh

As a champion of diversity, Kode With Klossy is dedicated to accessibility as well. The program is entirely free: all attendance is funded by a scholarship, and the organization will provide computers and cover travel costs if needed. "We really try to eliminate barriers to entry," Kloss tells PEOPLE.

While 2023 will mark the first time international Kode With Klossy scholars can attend sessions in person, the nonprofit first opened its opportunities to the global stage during the pandemic. Like most collaborative operations, the coding camp was forced to host its workshop remotely.

"It challenged us to grow in ways that maybe we wouldn't have otherwise," she says, explaining that they transitioned their curriculum into virtual classrooms. "By doing that, we've been able to have scholars…from over 100 countries Zoom into our classrooms and make friends across borders and across nationalities."

According to Kloss, many of her scholars focus their coding talents on social impact and effecting change in their communities. Kloss says one of her 12,000 alumni created an app designed to provide resources for victims of sexual assault. Another produced a way to find safe running routes around her neighborhood, solving a problem for herself and her broader community. Some of her scholars have even won Apple's Swift Student Challenge.

Krissy Saleh

"[They're] using technology to power their passions in so many other spaces," she says. "It just makes me hopeful for the future and inspired by the individual and collective power of this next generation."

Since Kloss started the program, she's already seen changes in the male-dominated industry of tech, a goal she's aspired to since starting her own engineering journey nearly a decade ago.

"I think there's this idea of if you can't see it, you can't be it," says the supermodel, who enrolled in a coding bootcamp at New York City's Flatiron School in 2014. In addition to Kode With Klossy's focus on education, Kloss says the organization makes an effort "to shine a light on incredible [female] leaders in the space."

Though Kloss and her program have taken on a now-worldwide presence in the effort to diversify technology, she says she isn't abandoning her "day job" in the fashion world. Instead, the former Project Runway judge tells PEOPLE that she's "connecting the dots" between her interests.

"I really try and align myself with partners and brands that I share a set of values with," explains Kloss, who ended her contract with Victoria's Secret in 2019. In addition to seeking brands that fit with her ethics (she told British Vogue that leaving Victoria's Secret was "a pivotal moment in me stepping into my power as a feminist"), the runway star has found ways to integrate Kode With Klossy into some of her partnerships.

Kode With Klossy

Kloss's work with Estée Lauder has been especially tied to her tech pursuits. She says the cosmetics brand has helped with "building our programs and hosting our classrooms and having scholars join their internship program." Estée Lauder's online developers have even mentored "hundreds" of Kode With Klossy participants via Zoom, showing them their work on the company's websites.

"Creative industries and these technical skills are not mutually exclusive…I think that's something that I didn't see enough of in [the] media and in the world," says Kloss. "We need to help equip, I believe, this next generation of workforce to realize the intersection of these spaces."

Kode With Klossy will run five two-week sessions from June through August. Applications for this summer close on Monday, March 20 at 11:59 p.m.