Oksana Selendeeva

Rising Star

Spain

CODDY programming school for kids and teens

Hi,

My name is Oksana Selendeeva and I’m a founder and CEO of CODDY - International school of programming and design for kids and teenagers.

I started it in 2016 and today CODDY is a leader in tech education for kids with more than 400 branches in more than 160 cities in 21 countries, and with over 60 000 children and teenagers studying every year.

CODDY is one of the first international coding and design schools for 4 to 18 year olds with the most wide range of courses available (more than 90), which has no analogues in training programs in the world.

Our charity project CODDY DONATE provides grants for children from orphanages and children with disabilities to learn programming.

Before starting CODDY I had been working on a corporate side being a marketing director for one of the largest banks in Russia and prior to that working in many marketing communication roles in different companies.

Thanks to CODDY we help our kids to build their future!

I am a member and ambassador of dozens of large women's communities in Russia (unfortunately, we do not have many of them). I am a columnist at Forbes and Forbes Women writing articles in well-known business publications as well as on my social media.

In addition, I am a regular speaker at many online and offline conferences and events on the subject of women's entrepreneurship.

If you ask me why I am doing this, I can clearly say that I support and develop women's entrepreneurship as much as possible and I want more women to be able to become more self-confident and realize their goals and dreams.

What do I consider important and what do I always adhere to in my speeches and articles? I will highlight a few of them.

1. Raising their self-esteem.
Empowered women go on to empower others, so I encourage the women around me to make them feel special and powerful. I encourage them to express their opinion so that they understand how valuable it is. So that they are never afraid to use their voice. And time after time they took more and more steps along the way to their cherished goal.

2. I am open and honest.
This is often not easy because being vulnerable is not easy. Sometimes it is difficult to share my experience with others, but it can be reflected in the soul or mind of a stranger who sees that there are no permanent victories. That in life you often meet defeats. And it is they who give new impetus to victories. That instability - as difficult to perceive as it is - but it brings progress!

It is very important for me to share my own story, and it is equally important to listen to the stories and experiences of other women. Indeed, thanks to this, each of us understands that we are not alone, and that you can always find a way out of even seemingly unsolvable problems.
Even the smallest detail can inspire women.

3. Leading by example and mentoring.
In my opinion, this is one of the most important ways to empower women. Women are greatly influenced by their role models, so I not only try to share my experience, but I always become a mentor for aspiring entrepreneurs for some time.

I commend their first steps (which tend to be the hardest and most important steps in becoming an entrepreneur) and inspire them to make their aspirations come true.

I am grateful that this activity is not unnoticed and apart from all the amazing feedback I receive, I was honored to be awarded as a winner of the “Business Women 2022” contest by Ernst & Young with the main objective of this competition being in popularizing entrepreneurial activity among women and creating equal opportunities for professional and career growth.

My other recognitions included:
- Finalist of the Entrepreneur of the Year 2019 and 2020 competition by Ernst & Young
- Winner of the "Time of Women" award of the "Domashniy Ochag" magazine in the "Own Business" nomination
- Winner of the "Best Marketer in IT and Innovation" 2020 and finalist in 2021