Entrepreneur Bukola Somide develops Somi, an interactive science education doll designed to expose STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) careers to children of color, according to an article from NewsOne. Somide, a Nigerian-born software engineer, was reportedly inspired to create the doll based on her experience working in corporate America, where women of color make up just 3% of the tech workforce.
According to the article, parents of color who spoke with Somide indicated that a lack of representation was one factor deterring their children from pursuing technology. This absence of mentors motivated Somide to try and educate youth as a way to help diversify the industry. The Somi doll teaches children about HTML, JavaScript, artificial intelligence and binary numbers; and also addresses cyberbullying. Somide first introduced Somi in 2018 when she published a children’s book titled, “Somi, The Computer Scientist: Princess Can Code,” which follows the journey of a young black girl who learns about computer programming with the guidance of her software engineer mother, according to the article. The book also features coding exercises.
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