TrueStar Staff 
What’s up y’all? It’s ya boi Supreme Freshman, AKA Brian Yates. Recently I got a chance to chop it up with Ian Michael Brock, Co-Founder of Dream Hustle Code, an organization created to encourage Black and Brown youth to enter the field of coding. The 17-year-old entrepreneur had a lot to say about the field of coding and life in general. The Chicago native attended Skinner North for his early education. When his schedule became busy with speaking engagements all across the nation, homeschooling turned out to be a good fit for him.
Brock wasn’t always into computer science. From a young age, all he wanted to do was play basketball. Like many of his peers, he had dreams of going into the NBA. But the reason why he had a change of mind is that he realized that most of the richest people in the world got rich through the tech world and media. A YouTube video featuring NBA champ Chris Bosch talking about his love for computer science was the thing that gave Brock a change of heart. It wasn’t long after that he started with coding and Dream Hustle Code was born.
Recently Brock hosted his online event Teen Tech Live 2.0 that reached more than 15,000 young people virtually. “Teen Tech Live is an event that, number one is suppose to show kids the possibilities of computer science and tech for them; not only by having people who look like them share their experience but also, it’s supposed to be fun and engaging,” said Brock. “We brought music, we brought sports, we brought gaming all together.”
One of the major partners that teamed up with Dream Hustle Code for this event was McDonald’s. “They’ve really done a good job at supporting us in terms of pushing that mission, getting more minorities, Black and Brown kids, into the tech space,” said Brock. “Without them we wouldn’t have been able to have such an amazing event last Friday.”
In addition to coding, Brock sells some cool merch that can be found on his website dreamhustlecode.com. One of the phrases that he has on his hoodies and tees is “New Nerd.” When asked what the saying means to him, Brock said, “When you think of a nerd, the first thing that comes to mind is something negative. What we wanted to do with New Nerd was to shift that thinking and to show that it’s cool to be smart.”
I had a really great time talking to Brock and I look forward to speaking to him again. To check out the full interview, follow us at True.chi on Instagram and click on the video.
By Brian Yates, Junior, Northwest Rankin High School
Instagram: @ Supremefreshman
