Najah Smith

[nana-tech-blog]

Take Advantage of Every Opportunity

I'm a very optimistic person with a positive attitude toward everything which forces me to take advantage of every possible opportunity I get. A year ago I was the not the person I am today, spending my summer meeting new people, getting connections, participating in camps/hackathons/etc. I had a mind of a child, but after graduating from high school I became exposed to the real world. I'm still developing and maturing, but I am ready for any opportunity that is aimed my way and I am ready to LEARN! 

[nana-tech-blog]

Essence Yes We Code Hack

This past week Essence hosted its first Hackathon in New Orleans, Louisiana. The event included youth and mentors from across the country that created apps that will help their communities. Each participant was to pitch their ideas of an app; whoever had more than 10 votes were selected to have their own team with participants who had less than 10 votes. My app, which focused on restorative justice, was selected. During the creation of my app my team and I decided to change the theme of the app so that it would be much more interesting and something every person can use. We created an app named "YouMe", which focuses on teen and young adults mental health and provides crisis resources and inspirations. During the 4 days we had to develop this app, I outlined how I wanted the app to look, what the app would focus on, how the app would work, what it would include, and how it would look. At this event I was able to connect with many people in the technology industry and I gained the knowledge of knowing how to build my own app.