Disclaimer: This post is critical of open source software in the context of unpaid labor and the hiring requirements we've set up around it. It is not a criticism of open source software itself or the people who participate in it, both of which I and anyone who uses software benefits from. This is work that I - and many of us who do software for a living - also financially benefit from.
My life for the past 7 months has included near-constant travel. I've been extraordinarily lucky to have been invited to speak at conferences, businesses, and universities all over the world, something I never would have thought I'd be doing even just one year ago. At first I had a lot of anxiety around this - airports are their own special level of hell, not to mention sleeping in sanitized hotel rooms that are so eerily quiet they seem to be insomnia factories.
A journalist from Mission Local covered the Double Union event that was held in San Francisco.
“Harassment is an epidemic,” said Ashe Dryden, the first of seven speakers at the event. Dryden, a developer and advocate for diversity in the workplace, has traveled the world promoting diversity and inclusivity in tech.
Starting today I am spending a good amount of time trying to re-center myself by limiting my obligations to other people and things. I've been rather overwhelmed trying to keep up with 700 people on twitter, a couple hundred emails a day, an ever-growing instapaper reading list, and new conferences/speaking gigs.
I am still travelling full time through mid-November for speaking to meet current obligations, but have decided not to accept any more speaking invitations until at least March. Even then, I won't be traveling to the extent I am now.
There are people in tech fighting every day for the right to have access to the tech industry. They mentor people who want to start speaking. They connect marginalized people with others in the industry who can help secure them jobs or other opportunities. They work to change policy to provide access for more people and to ensure stiffer penalties to those who remove opportunity for their own gain. They work with conferences to increase diversity on stage and in seats.
I was interviewed for a new project called Gets By, which focuses on the stories of people living with various types of mental illnesses. I talked about how living with anxiety and PTSD affects me on a daily basis.
My indiegogo campaign is over and we raised $20,189! This is about 450% over what I originally asked for, which I am blown away by. Thank you so much to everyone that has supported by work. I am working hard on a few different projects, which you'll get to see soon!
Available for consulting to increase diversity and inclusion within businesses, communities, conferences, and other organizations. Find out more about consulting.
My post about the 
A journalist from Mission Local covered the 
I was interviewed for a new project called Gets By, which focuses on the stories of people living with various types of mental illnesses. I talked about how living with anxiety and PTSD affects me on a daily basis.
I was interviewed by the NerdKunde guys while I was at Eurucamp. The podcast is in a mix of both German and English.
