Lyndsey Scott

Lyndsey Scott is an American fashion model and iOS software developer. Born in 1984, she is known for her successful career in high fashion as well as her work as a computer programmer. She achieved widespread recognition as the first African American model to sign an exclusive runway contract with Calvin Klein, and she has been credited with challenging common stereotypes surrounding models and software developers.

Scott grew up in West Orange, New Jersey, as the eldest of four children. Her father was a former programmer for the National Security Agency who later founded a home healthcare business. As a child, she began practicing martial arts at age nine and earned a black belt in Taekwondo. During her high school years at Newark Academy, she faced intense bullying. She later attended Amherst College, where she competed in track and field, earning All-America status for the 400-meter dash. In 2006, she graduated with a joint degree in theatre and computer science.

After college, Scott pursued acting in New York City while seeking modeling opportunities. Despite early rejections, she signed with Click Model Management in 2008 after posting her picture on Models.com. In February 2009, she achieved her major breakthrough when she signed an exclusive runway contract with Calvin Klein during New York Fashion Week. Following this achievement, Scott walked in major fashion shows and worked with brands such as Gucci, Prada, Fendi, Louis Vuitton, Vera Wang, DKNY, and Victoria's Secret. Style.com listed her as a top 10 newcomer, and in 2010 she was the only Black model on the runway for Prada.

Alongside her modeling career, Scott has developed several iOS mobile applications. She began coding at age 12 by creating games on a graphing calculator and self-taught Objective C and Python. In 2011, she founded Standable, Inc., releasing apps such as Educate! for a Ugandan education non-profit, iPort for digital model portfolios, and Code Made Cool for teaching programming to girls. She later served as the lead iOS software engineer at the NGO fundraiser Rallybound, developing fundraising applications for non-profit entities.

Scott is also dedicated to educating and mentoring young women in programming. She has mentored with Girls Who Code, presented for Code.org, spoken at Harvard University, and served as a top-ranked user on the programming Q&A platform Stack Overflow. In 2022, she launched the Lyndsey Scott Coding+ Scholarship to support computer science students who are women, LGBTQIA+, or BIPOC.