Melenie Schatynski

For Melenie Schatynski, co-founder of My Code Kit, a huge benefit of being part of the Innovate UK Women in Innovation ‘Award is the alignment of its values with those of her company.

She says: “We want to increase diversity and inclusion within coding – our number one priority and mission has always been accessibility. Coding and the benefits of being able to code should be accessible to everyone regardless of background, social mobility, gender or race.”

As someone who is dyslexic and from a working-class background, with no formal education beyond GCSEs until she was 27, Melenie knows more than most about inclusion. Despite all this, she has well and truly broken the glass ceiling of the coding arena dominated by men.

Now she wants to make a change for all: “Only 3% of GCSE students complete a Computer Science course – despite 51% of UK schools offering it as an option, and within those classrooms there is a real lack of diversity. We wanted to create an application which would demystify coding for young people, creating a future generation of coders that actually reflect the society we live in.”

That application is Ocobox, a unique coding-tool that uses AI and machine learning to help learners explore and make mistakes, providing friendly feedback to improve confidence and resilience. Looking forward, Melenie’s vision is to create a range of accessible and learner-first educational products that promote equality.