Fireside Chat, Interview
Karlie Kloss, Model and Founder of Kode With Klossy
- Karlie Kloss began modeling at age 13 after being scouted at a St. Louis mall, transitioning from a childhood interest in science and medicine to a career that saw her debut at New York Fashion Week for Calvin Klein at age 15.
- During high school, she maintained a "double life" similar to the character Hannah Montana, balancing normal teenage activities with high-fashion work including four years of Couture Fashion Week in Paris and collaborations with Vogue.
- Kloss has appeared on the cover of Vogue 42 times, a record the magazine's former fashion director Tania Goodman credited to her "generous ambition" and understanding of the power of success.
- At age 21, feeling unfulfilled despite achieving professional milestones in modeling, Kloss applied to NYU and attended a coding boot camp at the Flatiron School to challenge herself and understand a skill set she felt excluded from.
- In 2015, Kloss launched "Code with Klossy," a scholarship program that initially underwrote 20 student spots but grew into a national movement teaching girls aged 13 to 18 to code.
- As of the interview, Code with Klossy operates in 25 cities across the United States and has served over 2,500 students, with plans to expand globally and add robust curriculum components like financial literacy.
- Kloss identifies barriers to entry in the tech industry as a lack of access to learning opportunities and an absence of women in leadership positions, noting that her own public school education in the Midwest did not offer coding programs.
- She views her role as a mentor not as a position reserved for the accomplished, but as a practice of sharing vulnerabilities and learnings to inspire young women.
- Kloss describes her personal brand evolution as a shift from being a "canvas" for designers to becoming an authentic voice on social media, a transition accelerated by the rise of platforms like Instagram, where she now has 8.5 million followers.
- She hosts and executive produces Project Runway on Bravo, leveraging her 12 years of industry experience to guide designers and demystify the creative process of garment creation.
- Her approach to social media is a "love-hate" relationship; she utilizes the platforms for authentic, unfiltered content and global travel documentation while navigating the fatigue of constant public scrutiny.
- Kloss cites her grandmother as the woman she most admires and her father, an ER doctor, as the source of her most impactful advice: the habit of asking, "What did you learn today?" to maintain lifelong curiosity.
- Her key career advice for others is the question, "What would you do if you weren't afraid?", a strategy originally shared by Natalie Massonet (founder of Net-a-Porter) to bypass the paralyzing effects of fear of failure.
- Kloss's favorite Instagram follows include Bob Iger and Jennifer Aniston, while she follows Beyoncé as her favorite celebrity account.