On Thursday, July 27, 2017, ColoHouse hosted a very special group of girls at our Miami data center.
Over the last three years, our Vice President of Marketing, Nicole Rossato, has had the distinct pleasure of working with CODeLLA in various capacities. After transitioning to to ColoHouse, it was her mission to continue to help this unique organization grow their partnerships and see how ColoHouse can be part of the CODeLLA network of businesses in the community.
CODeLLA is first-in-the-nation, 8-week Tech Entrepreneurship + Coding Immersion Program for under-represented Latina girls from the ages 8-12. They provide a girls–only environment, just a few miles away from our data center, built for learning and exploring the fundamentals of Computer Science, Digital Literacy, and Leadership Development.
CODeLLA’s mission is to make sure that middle school age, Latina girls attain new competencies and skills not offered in most US schools as well as helping them to create pathways towards success in STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics) fields.
Once through security, the girls and their chaperones were introduced to the ColoHouse team. Our Vice President of Engineering and Sales, Richard Duman, then gave a very colorful explanation about what a data center is and how it works. He went over the ins and outs of the importance of power, cooling, and why Miami is so important from a connectivity perspective to our customers and prospects.
Later, each one of our data center technicians and our VP of Engineering and Sales took small groups of girls around the data centers. The girls learned: why our Power Distribution Unit is so important, why there is hot air coming from the cabinets and why cooling them is crucial for system performance, what is under the floors (which is just A LOT OF PIPES AND CABLES). They even got to meet one of our customers, Angel Rivera from IP-COM, who answered their questions.
“After learning about CODeLLA and its mission, it’s something we absolutely needed to be part of, especially with having their main campus just a few miles down the road. We are looking to continue the partnership for many summers to come.” ColoHouse CEO, Paul Bint spent time getting to know the girls over the course of the day. “Our doors will always be open to them for any resources they might need in the future.”
To wrap up the day, the girls and our team bonded and shared some pizza. The girls were able ask more personal questions to the women at ColoHouse. Questions varied from, “Who inspired you?”, “How did you end up with a job at ColoHouse?”, to “How old are you?” and “What is your favorite dessert?”
Over half of ColoHouse’s employees are of Hispanic backgrounds and 55% of our employees are female. Additionally, half of our executive and leadership team is also female and 33% are Hispanic. “ColoHouse is a trailblazer, in regard to their hiring practices,” says Executive Director of CODeLLA, Josie Goytisolo. “They are making it common place in technology to have not only strong women in leadership positions but also Hispanic women throughout the organization. They are truly role models for our girls.”
ColoHouse will be in attendance and sponsor the CODeLLA awards, which are held at their end of camp graduation on August 4, 2017. ColoHouse is donating 2 iPads to the winners of the summer camp’s app contest.
To learn more about CODeLLA, please visit www.CODeLLA.org
