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Nominee for 2022 Python Software Foundation Board Election

Dawn Wages

  • Previous Board Service: New board member
  • Employer: Wharton at The University of Pennsylvania
  • Other Affiliations: Wagtail Core Team, DjangoCon 2022
  • Nominee Statement:

      Abstract:

      • Helped organize 7 Python conferences and 3 Django Girls Events.
      • Wagtail CMS Core Team Member since 2019.
      • Open Source contributor for 4 years.
      • Sponsor Chair for DjangoCon US 2021, 2022.
      • Sponsor Co-Chair DjangoCon US 2019.
      • Sponsor Team Volunteer for DjangoCon EU 2019.
      • Django Girls Organizer 2019 (Copenhagen), 2021 (Philadelphia), 2022 (San Diego).
      • Wagtail and Google Summer of Code mentor and organizer 2021 and 2022.
      • Founder of At The Root, The organization that produced the first Anti-Racist Ethical Source License and developing the Anti-Racist Python SDK.
      • Volunteer with Organization for Ethical Source, An organization dedicated to Ethical Source Licenses and creators of the Hippocratic License.

      Conference Talks:

      Podcast Appearances:

      I am a community-taught developer and Python engineer of 7 years.

      Doing justice to my entire software journey, it started back around 2005. I treasured my time on MySpace — adding media players and backgrounds affects to profile. I began learning in the open and never stopped. Years later, after realizing the world of finance wasn’t my road, I came back to tech as a SQL Analyst then Marketing Analyst, Project Manager, Python and Django Consultant, Open Source Core Team member and Research Analyst — never straying far from my desire to learn and share in the open.

      I learn and mentor in the open with Open Source.

      I am a proud product of the DjangoCon community, the annual Django Conference, and have devoted my time to DjangoCon US and EU in various roles since 2018 — mostly on Sponsor teams — through which I’ve been an active participant in the day-to-day ways individuals and organizations invest back into our larger Python body as well as reckoning with the practicalities of funding the budget of a software community. Django Girls and mentoring has remained close to my heart. I’ve held several more Django Girls events including the Django Girls coming to DjangoCon 2022, since my first Django Girls as an attendee in 2016.

      I am a steward of my communities and contribute to tools that help members feel seen and safe.

      I am a Python tool-maker with and for Python tool-makers. Many code and no-code solutions have revolved around improving the developer experience of Python software contribution. Specifically with the Wagtail CMS organizing team, I am one to raise my hand when there is work to be done. I have helped organize Wagtail Space since 2018 — the conference for the Django-based Python CMS called Wagtail, given conference talks, participate in working groups and mentored in formal and informal settings. I try to make coding fun and approachable. I do similar work to a greater extent in some respects for the Organization for Ethical Source and At The Root — two groups dedicated to Ethical Source Licenses, Django Girls, and DjangoCon.

      I am thrilled to continue helping with the day-to-day responsibilities in the Python community.

      Doing “the work” comes in the form of hundreds of emails, dozens of PRs and comments, core team votes, press releases and hundreds of contracts over the years. I’m focused on work that keeps the “trains running on time” and provides new modes of transportation (to extend the metaphor) with the Python community.

      Goals

      • Create ways for Black, Brown, Indigenous, gender-marginalized, disabled and queer people to participate in the open source community using existing patterns that have already proven successful including, but not limited to: apprenticeships, hack-a-thons, formal mentoring, video stream events tailored to safe communities, first-time contributor series, documentation, etc. For each intersection, future Pythonistas require representation and space show up fully.
      • Generate sustainable models for Python Software Foundation workgroups to push the initiatives forward.
      • Increase Python Working Group engagement.
      • Increase the number of Python Sprint events.
      • Create thoughtful, sustainable solutions for PSF’s financial security.

      It would be a great privilege to give back to the community that has already given so much to me.

  • Nomination Statements:
    • Nomination by: Sarah Abderemane

      She will be a great board member, and already has a good impact on the community with her implication in multiple projects.

    • Nomination by: Jeff Triplett

      I am happy to nominate Dawn Wages for election to the PSF Board. I have worked with Dawn over the last five years on DjangoCon US, where she Chaired and Co-Chaired our sponsorship and fundraising efforts, along with providing valuable ideas, insights, and feedback. As a sitting PSF Director and Treasurer, the foundation would benefit from more directors who understand fundraising and have strong technical skills (Wagtail Core Team) along with a history of community organizing, including DjangoCon US and Europe, and Wagtail Space. Dawn's community organizing spans countries and continents, which brings a broader insight while aligning with the PSF's mission to the global Python community.

    • Nomination by:

      I’ve had the pleasure of working with Dawn since 2018 in various forms. Through the years I’ve seen the way that she has participated in the Python and Django community actively, remained curious and thoughtful about her role and gravitated toward improving systems that could use her help and human power. She leads with empathy and strives toward excellence in programming and with people in mind.

      I am happy to nominate her for the PSF board and look forward to the impact she can make on the Python community at-large.

    • Nomination by: Ee Durbin

      I am excited to submit this statement of support in the nomination of Dawn Wages to the Python Software Foundation board. Dawn has an extensive track record organizing in the Django community including mentorship to help the communities she serves grow in robust ways.

      I am delighted that Dawn is interested in willing to share in the responsibility of steering the PSF by bringing critical, overlooked, and ambitious goals along with her experience to support and serve the Python community.

    • Nomination by: Nina Zakharenko

      I’m proud to support Dawn Wages in her bid to join the Board of Directors of the Python Software Foundation. Dawn has shown her commitment to the Python community as an organizer of DjangoCon, DjangoGirls, and as a contributor to the Wagtail CMS project. Dawn is driven and organized but also kind and compassionate— exactly what we need to help guide our community in the future.