“OkCupid is a dope org that is doing more than just hooking up people.”
Tags: Coding, Data Science, Women In Tech

“OkCupid is a dope org that is doing more than just hooking up people.” BUILTBYGIRLS Follow Apr 1, 2016 · 3 min read

#BUILTBYGIRLS fell in love on Valentine’s Day — with data science. Ok, we admit, we already liked it a lot, but the second event in our Hashtag Series, this time hosted by OkCupid, showed our girls all that’s possible with curiosity, technology and brilliant mentors.

The Hashtag is a monthly #BUILTBYGIRLS event series designed to highlight how trending companies use tech and expose high school girls to the incredible careers and experiences that technology can unlock for them.

To help us better understand February’s event theme — Tech of Love & Communication, we started with a panel of experts from different fields:

Mike Maxim, GM & CTO, OkCupid

Amanda Bradford, Founder, The League

Alexandra Martell, Online Managing Editor of Cosmopolitan

fred benenson, VP of Data, Kickstarter (and the mastermind behind the emoji translation of Moby Dick)

Patrycja Slawuta, Social Psychologist

Moderator Samantha Steinberg, Amanda Bradford, Alexandra Martell, Fred Benenson, Patrycja Slawuta

In the beautiful IAC building in New York City, our rockstar 16-year-old moderator and coder extraordinaire Samantha Steinberg led a discussion about how tech is changing the way we communicate, while 25 high school girls listened in. The panelists shared how they use data to better understand human interactions, discussed how tech can help us feel simultaneously connected and lonely, and debated how to be your true self in a digital-driven world. They left us with a lot to think about, and a list of their favorite emojis: side-eye-smiley-face for the win!

A dream team of OkCupid data scientists took over next, and software engineer Dale Markowitz shared some of their amazing research into human nature. The #BBG audience had a ton of questions (no, they can’t use the app until they are 18!) but we left time for pizza and #BUILTBYGIRLS M&Ms, and then put the girls to work in small teams.

We asked each team to brainstorm a new product that solves a problem using data science, with the help of the OkCupid gurus. And let us tell you, they delivered — in 15 short minutes. One team developed a cyberbullying add-on that warns you before you view explicit or offensive content. Another thought up an app to connect environmental factors with cancer diagnoses. Newcomers from our partner Girls Write Now helped brainstorm an app to crowdsource safety on college campuses.

As always, the girls blew us away; we tried to bargain for equity in these amazing ideas, but no dice. Maybe we’ll have better luck next time.

Besides realizing that OkCupid is a “dope org that is doing more than hooking people up,” the girls left our IAC with a determination to further explore data science — 94% agreed that this event opened their eyes to the possibilities of technology and data science that they were unaware of and now say they “understand how algorithms can be used to develop theories about societies decisions.”

Here’s to the next generation of killer female data scientists.