When a Victoria’s Secret Model Becomes an iOS Developer: Lyndsey Scott’s Story

Lyndsey Scott (born 1984) is a Victoria’s Secret supermodel who also works as a professional programmer.

Catwalk vs Code

Born in West Orange, New Jersey, she endured bullying as the only Black student in her high school, which forged a resilient personality. In 2009 she became the first African‑American model to sign an exclusive runway contract with Calvin Klein and later walked for major fashion houses such as Prada, Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Vera Wang, and Fendi.

Behind the scenes, Scott has a hidden identity as a programmer.

Early Programming Roots

Her father, a programmer, introduced her to computers at age 12, where she wrote games for a TI‑89 Titanium calculator. She later studied Java, C++, and MIPS at Amherst College and taught herself Python and Objective‑C.

Although she chose modeling as her primary career, she kept programming as a second profession.

Public Skepticism and Response

An Instagram post claiming she can code in Python, C++, Java, MIPS, and Objective‑C sparked thousands of skeptical comments, many doubting her abilities. Scott countered by sharing her Stack Overflow achievements:

I have 27,481 reputation on Stack Overflow; I am a member of the iOS teaching team at RayWenderlich.com; I am an iOS software engineer at RallyBound; I hold a dual degree in film and programming from Amherst College.

She noted that 41% of women leave programming due to hostile work environments.

Development Work

Scott has created nearly ten iOS apps, including:

Educate! – a charity‑focused app for Ugandan scholars.

IPort – a résumé‑building app for models.

Matchmaker – a social‑matching app similar to “Nearby People”.

Code Made Cool – an app that animates a girl in a dreamy scene.

Squarify – a tool to convert images or videos to square format for Instagram.

Many of these apps were built for personal use and not publicly released, yet they demonstrate her solid coding skills.

Stack Overflow Presence

Since early 2014, Scott has amassed over 27,820 reputation points and more than 38,000 profile views on Stack Overflow, becoming a top iOS answerer for a month in 2015.

She has authored several iOS tutorials for RayWenderlich.com, delivered coding lectures at Harlem and New York University, and taught girls’ coding camps in Los Angeles.

Other Model‑Programmers

Karlie Kloss, another Victoria’s Secret Angel, also transitioned from fashion to programming, enrolling at New York University and launching the KodeWithKarlie scholarship to teach 20 women coding at Flatiron School.

Conclusion

The article ends by recalling Ada Lovelace, the first person to write an algorithm for a computer, and the six women who programmed the ENIAC, emphasizing that women’s contributions to technology are indispensable.