Where college and curls collide
MISSION
The Curly Code is a natural-hair community that teaches Black girls ages 16-24 about beauty, encouraging them to love and care for their hair and skin. We take a student-centered approach to our college and career programming, meeting students at their beauty interests, building trust and community, and creating a safe space to learn about college admissions and post-graduate career paths. The Curly Code is where Curls, College & Careers collide to provide a rigorous curriculum that brings education to life through interactive programming.
The Curly Code Curriculum:
Teaches essential maintenance and styling to equip them to care for their natural hair properly;
How to approach college admissions as a business transaction, switching the mindset of college being the next step to the most significant investment of time and money they will make, and strategically and consistently working towards a return on their investment; and
Takes a strategic approach to career exploration to match our student’s interests and build on their skills, rather than using it as a means to an end. We encourage students to be lifelong learners, constantly growing, studying, and exploring.
THE IMPORTANCE OF COLLEGE PREP
The 2013 total college enrollment rate for White 18- to 24-year-olds (42%) was higher than the rates for their Black and Hispanic peers (34% each).
Colleges have grown more competitive, restricting access. While the number of applicants to four-year colleges and universities has doubled since the early 1970s, available slots have changed little.
The “Good Hair Study” conducted by Perception Institute concluded that black women suffer more anxiety around hair issues and spend more on hair care than their white peers.
According to the Independent Educational Consultant Association, 22% of students applying to competitive colleges receive individualized counseling beyond what is offered by their high school counselors.
FOUNDER & DIRECTOR EMMANUELLA DUROSKA
A Brooklyn native attending what was then a failing high school, I was admitted to Stony Brook University through the Educational Opportunity Program (EOP), a college access program for SUNY schools. Through their 6-week summer intensive the summer before my freshman year, I started my first semester of college fully acclimated to the campus with a network of people to support me through my academic and later professional journey. Through various student leadership positions like Residential Assisting and Academic Peer Advising, I quickly realized that information and opportunity are what set successful students apart from their peers.
Upon graduation, I was on a mission to help every single black student that I could. I wanted them to have seamless integration to a collegiate space that wouldn’t put them severely in debt. Priding myself on graduating four years of college with just $11,000 in loans, I strive to teach my students how to do even better than that. I started my college access journey teaching 9th graders about the college admissions process. I moved on to teach 10th graders the nuance of college admissions with a focus on financial literacy.
My last cohort of students, 100 eleventh-graders, averaged 1100 on their first official SATs. Over the last decade of this work, I learned that the landscape is increasingly challenging but the opportunities are endless. I wanted to do more, reach more, and not be relegated to just my cohort of students. So I started The Curly Code to teach Black girls how to become informed consumers of higher education.
WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING
“Scholar investment is incredibly strong and this is a testament to how Emmanuella has helped her scholars understand the SAT’s importance. She has used narration, visualization, and drawn the connection between scholars’ academic portfolios, their SAT scores, and their college admission goals. When I spoke to scholars, they were brilliantly clear about why the SAT mattered and how practicing would help them achieve their goals.
There’s a great sense of individual pride AND community pride when Emmanuella highlights kids with strong progress—the snaps, the palpable excitement, the shouting: it was all evidence of fantastic investment. If anything, some of the kids need to work on managing their frustration when they don’t do well—it was heartwarming to see how much kids cared about getting every answer right, and Emmanuella did a great job at telling scholars to breathe and to try again.”
— T. Lim Director of SAT Achievement | Achievement First