Victoria Ono

When Victoria finished her high school’s Introduction to Computer Science course in high school, she wasn’t inspired to pursue a career in tech. She had heard computer science was the way of the future, but felt lost after being introduced to programming, functions, and binary systems. It wasn’t until the following summer, when Victoria attended a Kode With Klossy camp, that her outlook shifted. Surrounded by peers with similar backgrounds, Victoria felt encouraged and welcomed. Victoria credits her AP Computer Science teacher and her instructors at Kode With Klossy for inspiring her to continue learning.

That fall, Victoria and friends from Kode With Klossy decided to sign up for their first hackathon, ByteHacks 2018, New York City’s largest all-women hackathon. Victoria recalls having no idea how they would come up with a project idea and bring it to life in less than 24 hours, but feeling excited for the adventure. She pulled an all-nighter coding with her friends, somehow staying awake in the boggy New York humidity. It was all worth it when their project, VitSquad, won Best Health Hack, which Victoria calls one of “the rare moments I felt true pride.” In the high-pressure hackathon environment, Victoria improved her collaboration, innovation, and time management skills.

Victoria became a regular at hackathons after ByteHacks, participating at Codestellation 2020 and multiple TechTogether events, a series of hackathons from Major League Hacking dedicated to bridging the gender gap in tech. In addition to winning another award for Best Global Health Hack at Technica 2020, she worked as the chapter director for TechTogether Boston in 2021. She is also deeply involved in her campus community at Harvard, participating in the Harvard chapter of Women In Computer Science (WiCS). Through WiCS, Victoria has worked on the board of the Harvard Women Engineers Code Conference (WECode) as both a logistics director and a conference co-chair. Victoria is currently studying physics and astrophysics at Harvard, with a secondary concentration in computer science. Always balancing her passions, she also counts herself among the top 0.01% of Taylor Swift’s Spotify fans.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, as it became clear virtual work would be the new norm, Victoria adapted. During this time, she says, “I grew so much as a person when everything was virtual, and we all relied on technology to communicate. Because there were still limitations to how people could connect, I learned about the disparities among different people and communities in terms of access to technology.” In the spring of 2021, Victoria returned to Kode With Klossy to work as a Facilitator for a pilot program in Nebraska aimed at reaching underrepresented school districts. She says it was meaningful for her to share her knowledge with students who had the same passions as she did but did not have access to the same resources.

In her role as a Harvard WECode Co-Chair, Victoria worked to make the event more accessible to all attendees. Not only did she expand the scholarship initiative, but she also helped form a partnership with Rewriting the Code to sponsor several students to attend for free or at reduced prices. The most recent version of the conference, the first in-person event hosted by Harvard WECode since the pandemic, was a smashing success, attracting over 600 attendees from across the globe and another 300 virtually. Victoria says, “it was such an honor to be able to host the largest student-run conference for women in tech in the world, and to know that I helped create a space where students could feel inspired to pursue a technical field.”