Nominee for 2021 Python Software Foundation Board Election

Who am I

Hello!

My name’s Débora Azevedo and I’m a member of the Python community in Brazil. I am the co-founder of Brazil's national network of chapters, PyLadies Brazil, which is now the biggest PyLadies chapter of the world. I’m also a PSF fellow member, one of PyLadies Brazil community builders and managers, and currently contribute with the PSF’s Diversity and Inclusion workgroup. Since 2014 I’ve been an active volunteer in the Python community, working with PyLadies, teaching Python, managing the community and organizing events.

Relevant experience with the Python community

For the past 7 years, I’ve been serving the Python community in several ways. Among the many things I did as a contribution to the community, I’d like to highlight two special events I was part of the team - and the main responsible for.

Chair of the first PyLadies Brazil conference

The first one was being the chair of the first PyLadies Brazil national conference, in 2018. In 2017, during the national Python Brazil conference, we had the first PyLadies Assembly, which is our national PyLadies Brazil gathering to make a balance of the year, in terms of actions we did during the current year and what we want to do next. To celebrate the 5 year anniversary of our national network of chapters, we had this vision of an event for women, organized by women, only women as speakers and attendees. The conference took place in the city I live, which was also the same place Python Brazil 2018 was happening. I was the chair of this conference, working from the call for papers, finding a venue, securing sponsorship, estimating budgets for meals and swag, and finally supporting and managing the small staff team we had working in the day of the conference. It’s important to highlight that this was the first PyLadies conference to ever happen. Back then, this conference gathered about 150 women, free of charge, with amazing technical and community management related content. All this volunteer-based work was inspiring to other women to continue with the conference that had its second edition in 2019.

Crowdfunding campaign “PyLadies at Python Brazil”

The second milestone in my involvement and work within PyLadies Brazil was the management of our crowdfunding campaign “PyLadies at Python Brazil”, our national Python conference, in 2018 and 2019. In this campaign, PyLadies members from all Brazilian chapters can answer a form about their involvement in the community, if they are first time goers to the conference, if they are going to present a talk or tutorial, among other information, and a committee decides how to prioritize the financial aid amongst applicants. Considering that Brazil is a continental country, it is complicated for most of our PyLadies members that are scattered all over the country to participate in this conference, due to all the costs that come with it. Since 2016, we’ve held crowdfunding campaigns and for the past two years, I’ve been working on management of the campaign, opening the application submission forms, estimating budgets for the rewards, helping the people who were contemplated with the financial aid to find the best means for transportation and lodging to participate of the conference and also making a booth to deliver the rewards in the days of the conference. The campaign is an important achievement for the community because it shows how all the community works together, both organizing everything and helping financially. The Brazilian Python community, working hand in hand with PyLadies Brazil, fosters inclusion and diversity in its largest national conference.

All of this work takes a lot of free time, which makes me believe how precious it is to do something like this. We're investing our time, our most treasured resource, to teach, advise and do outreach.

Speaking at conferences

Organizing conferences

Python Nordeste 2015
Python Brazil 2018
Python Brazil 2021 (website’s not published yet)

Python community work

PyLadies Brazil co-founder (2014)
Django Girls Natal organizer (since 2017)
First PyLadies Brazil Conf chair (2018)
Python Brazil conference co-organizer (2018 and 2021)
PyLadies at Python Brazil crowdfunding campaign chair (2018 and 2019)
Python Brazil conference keynote (2019)
PyLadies Global Interim member (2019-2020)
PSF fellow member (2020)
Diversity and Inclusion workgroup (2020 on)

Goals as a board member

As a member of the Board of Directors there are some goals I'd like to make my priority. I wish to work on actions that are aligned with the core values that emerge from the work I've been doing over the past decade with PyLadies and the broader Python community in Brazil.

Help the PSF strengthen the ties to communities by doing outreach, together with community leaders, based on the particular needs of the different communities. Communities outside the USA/Europe are the ones which grow the most. Acknowledge how these user groups and meetup organizers understand the PSF, how they use Python in their communities and how they believe the Foundation can help them is fundamental. By speaking their language and finding locals, we can have these communities receive more recognition internationally and support from the PSF..
Work on PyLadies having a smooth relation with the PSF, working directly with the PyLadies global council, as a partner to bring more PyLadies from around the world to be more involved with the PSF (with PSF’s programs and workgroups) and for the Python ecosystem in general.
Support the work that has been done in order to have more official PSF and Python content translated into other languages, also encouraging the creation of non-English content. This can be done, for example, with ideias like reaching out and finding people who can translate these documents and acknowledge the barriers and how we can overcome them, by hearing the problems people who already do this work face.

Awards

PSF Community Service Award winner (2019)
Dorneles Treméa-Jean Ferri award winner (2020)

In a nutshell..

Being part of the Python community - which is only so strong because of the active involvement of its members - has brought a lot of personal growth, and it is a different way of giving back from so much I have received. If you, like me, have felt the need for a stronger and more diverse Python community around the world, I hope you can consider me a good fit for that. To be given the opportunity to broaden my participation and involvement by holding a seat at the PSF board is a way of changing the picture we already have. It would be an honour to represent you and your community.

Where to find me

Twitter

Web