HP and Hearst’s Seventeen partner to share the story of an inspiring girl coder

HP is teaming up with Hearst Magazines’ Seventeen to share stories about young creators and entrepreneurs who are deploying their STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) training for the greater good. The partnership kicks off today across Seventeen’s multimedia and social platforms with “Generation Impact: The Coder,” a 7-minute documentary that profiles now-16-year-old Jay Jay Patton, who with her father Antoine founded Unlock Academy, an online and in-person coding school that focuses on bringing young people into the technology field; the daughter-father team had previously collaborated on Photo Patch, a communications platform for kids with incarcerated parents. “I want to try to get 10,000 women of color into the tech world myself,” Patton says at one point in the doc. “The Coder” is paired with Seventeen’s in-depth interview with Patton as part of its Voice of Change series, which honors young people who are “making a difference in their community and the world at large.” At least two more short docs are planned for the Generation Impact/Voice of Change collaboration. The partnership is, in essence, a meeting of minds, given that HP’s Generation Impact and Seventeen’s Voice of Change have shared and overlapping missions. “HP recently accelerated its sustainable impact goals,” says Angela Matusik, head of corporate brand, content and creative at HP, “including a pledge that focuses on digital equity. Part of that work is to continuously reach out to young, diverse audiences and encourage STEM career paths. When we learned about the Seventeen audience and its Voice of Change platform, we knew our goals were aligned and they would help us reach Gen Z communities.” Seventeen, which was founded in 1944 and was once one of the largest-circulation monthly magazines in the U.S., is now a multiplatform digital brand that draws more than 5 million monthly uniques to its website and has 5.5 million Facebook followers, 3.9 million on Snapchat, 3.2 million on TikTok, 2.39 million on YouTube and 2.2 million on Instagram. “The Coder” was initially released online in mid-June by HP, but subsequent films in the series will have synchronized debuts across HP’s and Seventeen’s platforms. Kristin Koch, Seventeen’s editor-in-chief, tells Ad Age that her team has been making it an editorial priority to “celebrate young people making a difference in their communities and in the world while pursuing their dreams” through the Voice of Change franchise and the annual Voices of the Year honors. “So we are thrilled to partner with HP to continue to help tell these amazing stories.” More from Ad Age: MDC and Stagwell will finally tie the knot Nancy Berger, senior VP and publishing director at Seventeen, says she is “completely in awe” of the young creators in the HP-Seventeen spotlight. “It gives me so much hope about our future. I couldn’t be more inspired by the stories that we are sharing and I know that our audience will be inspired too.” The second film in the series, “The Inventor,” is about Easton LaChappelle, who developed True Limb, the world’s most affordable and lightweight prosthetic limb, using 3D-printing technology; it’s slated for release in the fall. Though “The Coder” and the follow-up docs are relatively long for the TikTok era, Koch notes that Seventeen, in addition to featuring them in full on its platforms, will be highlighting excerpts across social media and setting up takeovers by the documentary subjects on TikTok and Instagram Stories. “We want to give our audience an opportunity to learn more about these inspirational individuals in a more personal way,” she says. As part of the partnership, HP is providing support to Unlock Academy through the HP Foundation, HP’s philanthropic grant-making arm. “Generation Impact: The Coder” was directed by documentary filmmaker Samantha Knowles, and was executive produced by Emmy-winner and Oscar-nominee Steven Cantor and Stick Figure Productions. Entertainment marketing agency Passion Point Collective worked with HP on the creation of the docuseries. Funding was provided by The Garage by HP, a brand-journalism division that Matusik calls “the editorial voice of the company” with a focus on “storytelling that aims to inspire people about the future.” Subscribe to Ad Age now for the latest industry news and analysis.

HP and Hearst’s Seventeen partner to share the story of an inspiring girl coder

Featured Stories