The Allie-Roast!

Speaker 1:
Welcome to the Underrepresented in Tech podcast, hosted by Michelle Frichette and Allie Nimmons. Underrepresented in Tech is a free database built with the goal of helping people find new opportunities in WordPress and tech overall.

Michelle Frichette:
Hi, Allie!

Ali Nimmons:
Hi, Michelle, and Win and George and Chris.

Michelle Frichette:
Surprise!

Ali Nimmons:
[Inaudible 00:00:29].

Michelle Frichette:
We’re not recording the week of Christmas, so this is Allie’s second to last recording as a regular, I hope you will come back as a guest in the future, but as a regular co-host with me on Underrepresented in Tech, the podcast and the project. And so this morning when I was texting her about, what are we going to talk about, what topics do we have, she had a great topic that we will just save, because instead, I had already planned to have some people here today to celebrate Allie and the work that she has done with me and on her own, of course, too, out in the tech world, to make under representation a little more represented. So we have with us today, and I think there’s some more people that are going to be joining us as well, Allie, so they may come in as they get their tech worked out and are able to, but today joining me and Allie are Rachel Winchester, George Woodard, and Chris Ford. So welcome everybody and celebrate Allie. Allie, it’s all about you. I know that we don’t put the video out on this. We joke about the fact that we started this as a vlog instead of as a podcast, but if you could see Allie, she’s grinning ear-to-ear.

Ali Nimmons:
Yeah, I can’t stop smiling. This is so sweet. I did not know this was happening. For a second, I was scared when I came in the Zoom. I saw Win and George and Michelle’s face and I was like, oh no, did I come into your Zoom too early and you were having a meeting and I burst into your meeting? I’m so sorry. It was such a lovely surprise.

Michelle Frichette:
No, it’s all for you.

Chris Ford:
[inaudible 00:02:02] style.

Ali Nimmons:
I love it.

George Woodard:
Only thing we’re missing now is confetti.

Michelle Frichette:
Exactly.

Ali Nimmons:
[inaudible 00:02:10] confetti cannon.

Michelle Frichette:
You can send her your champagne later. DM her for her address.

George Woodard:
I actually owe you a cigar, remember? Because we said, next time we get together, we were going to have a cigar together. So I do owe you-

Ali Nimmons:
Heck yeah.

George Woodard:
Yes.

Ali Nimmons:
I’m down with that.

Michelle Frichette:
So I don’t have an actual agenda today, other than just kind of singing Allie’s praises and raising her up into her next projects and things, which we’ve talked about a little bit last week or two weeks ago, actually, about the podcast that she’s working on, and horror and all of the good stuff that she’s doing. But I did want to kind of just open up the floor and let people talk a little bit about the impact that Allie’s work on her own and through the Underrepresented in Tech project, has had on them and the way that they see the tech community evolving. So don’t all speak at once, but who’d like to go first?

George Woodard:
I’ll take it, because I’m going to have to jump off kind of quick here soon. I will say first and foremost, Allie, you are a gem of a person, period. I’m not going to attach your accolades. You and your character alone is such a gem. Our first encounter was through BlackPress. I am an HBCU grad, and through Joe, I found out about BlackPress and the pipeline that the group was trying to create to get more HBCU students into WordPress and stuff like that. So that immediately piqued my interest. I was like, heck yeah, that’s something I totally identified with. So I came into the group, I met Joe first, and then I met Allie and Destiny right after, and then Ken shortly after that. So fast forward when the WordCamp was happening, right after the pandemic is over, they’re putting out the call for speakers and the call for more diverse speakers went out and I was like, I’ll try it. I don’t know if I’ll get it, but I’ll give it a shot. So I put my name out there and I got it and I was like, oh, crap. All right, cool. So fast forward, I get to San Diego and I don’t know anyone. I’m-

Ali Nimmons:
So that was WordCamp US, what? 2022 was San Diego?

George Woodard:
Was that the… Yes.

Michelle Frichette:
Yes.

Ali Nimmons:
Yeah? Okay.

George Woodard:
Yeah. So, fast forward to WordCamp. Again, I absolutely know no one in the entire WordPress community, and Allie was so gracious to reach out to me, she’s like, “Hey, let’s meet up. We’ll get a chance to say hi, sit down and have a chat and dah dah dah dah.” And when I met her, it was just… Felt like I met a friend, the second I met her.

Ali Nimmons:
I remember that conversation.

George Woodard:
Sweet as pie, she is extremely gracious, extremely knowledgeable, extremely friendly, will go to bat for you, without batting an eye, so to speak. And the entire time that I was at WordCamp, I did not feel out a place at all. And then that made me understand the essence of why BlackPress was created. So the entire time that me and Allie, and then of course, working with her on the WP Wages and just overall in this WordPress community, she’s made everyone, not just myself, everyone she’s encountered, feel welcome.
I appreciate it for who you are, Allie. You, again, are a gem of a person. So wherever you go, whatever it is your next chapter is going to be, I’m sure you’re going to knock it out the park. You are always championing the cause for people to feel like who they are supposed to be, and you are always speaking up for people, specifically diversity, in not only this space but tech in general. And that is commendable because a lot of people shun that idea. And having someone that is willing to champion those type of initiatives, takes a brave soul, and you are in your space of where you’re supposed to be. So I know this next chapter that you’re going to be moving on to is going to be one of great success, and I look forward to seeing your name in the lights.

Ali Nimmons:
Thank you. This feels like a roast, but LIKE the opposite of a roast.

George Woodard:
A bake. How about that?

Michelle Frichette:
I was going to say what is… Maybe this is the cookout that I keep getting told about.

George Woodard:
This is the planning meeting of the cookout. We can go with that.

Michelle Frichette:
I don’t think I called it a… What did I call it? A picnic?

Ali Nimmons:
You called it a picnic.

Michelle Frichette:
I called it a picnic.

Ali Nimmons:
You’re invited to the picnic. And I died laughing. I thought that was so funny here.

Michelle Frichette:
Made my daughter laugh, too.

Chris Ford:
Don’t cook the potato salad with raisins.

Michelle Frichette:
I promise not to bring any white people food.

Sama:
Hello.

Michelle Frichette:
Hi, Samah.

Sama:
Hi, how are you?

Ali Nimmons:
Samah and Kathy Zant are here.

Sama:
Hello, Allie.

Michelle Frichette:
We’re recording, and we’re going around and kind of talking about, we’re just raising Allie up and talking about all the great work that she’s done and how she’s made an effect in our lives. So who would like to go next? Samah, I know it’s very late there, it’s 10 o’clock at night for you. Thank you for joining us.

Sama:
Yes. Yeah.

Ali Nimmons:
Thank you. So kind of you.

Sama:
Yeah, Allie, I’ll never miss it. You’ve been amazing. You changed WordPress dramatically to a better place, and thank you for everything, and I’m really happy to know you. I never met you in real life. I only met you through Zoom and through emails, and I wish to meet you a live version one day, and I just want to say thank you for being you. Thank you for being you. Thanks for everything.

Ali Nimmons:
Thank you, Samah. So sweet. I’m not crying. I’m trying really hard not to cry.

Michelle Frichette:
Oh, and will-

Chris Ford:
I’m totally going to ugly cry before this is over. I’m just warning everyone.

Michelle Frichette:
Ugly crying allowed, always. We do have a message from a Destiny Fox Kanno too, but she’s on the other side of the world right now, and sound asleep in Japan, so we’ll have to play that later because Zoom doesn’t really let you have headphones on and play music or words and things for other people.

Ali Nimmons:
Or at least I don’t know how to do it. There might be a way, but I’m too dumb to figure it out. So yeah, I will-

Michelle Frichette:
We’re going to blame it on Zoom.

Ali Nimmons:
I will insert it in, right here.

Destiny Fox Kanno:
Hey there, Allie. Destiny here. I just wanted to say thank you for everything that you do, especially in the WordPress community and as it pertains to BlackPress. I really enjoyed working with you with, and I know where you’re going next and what you’re doing next, you’re just going to put all that passion that I’ve seen you put out in other spaces, into that as well. So I wanted to wish you all the best, and see you around.

Ali Nimmons:
And then we can all go, “Aw, that was so nice! Thank you, Destiny! Wow!”

Michelle Frichette:
I love it.

Ali Nimmons:
I’ll cry to it on my own when I listen to it after this.

Michelle Frichette:
When I did reach out to her, she was like, oh, it’s three o’clock in the morning for me, but I want to record something, if that works, and I said, absolutely, we’ll make it work, for sure.

Ali Nimmons:
That’s so sweet of her. Yeah.

Michelle Frichette:
Yeah. Yeah.
Win, you have a good story. You were telling me before Allie actually joined us. Tell us about how you met Allie, and your opinions and impression of her.

Rachel Winchester:
Yeah, I met Allie at my first WordCamp, WordCamp New York, 2019, I believe.

Ali Nimmons:
’19. ’19, yeah.

Rachel Winchester:
It was my first WordCamp and you were speaking, and I volunteered for that event, so I got to go everywhere and take photos for them to put on social media. So I have a bunch of photos of you. Don’t even know if I knew you at that point, but I’ve got a bunch of photos of you in my-

Ali Nimmons:
Oh my gosh, please send me those.

Rachel Winchester:
And I don’t know if you remember this, but they were doing this fun networking thing at that WordCamp, everyone had a little WAPU image on their lanyard or on their ID card, and you had to find the other person at the event that had the matching WAPU.

Ali Nimmons:
Yeah, I remember that.

Rachel Winchester:
Yeah. And we matched!

Ali Nimmons:
That is so cool. I do vaguely remember that. That was such a whirlwind event because New York is my hometown, so I was back in my hometown and I was just flooded with happy feelings and endorphins and stuff. But yeah, I do remember the matching… Oh my gosh! Win is showing us pictures from the event.

Rachel Winchester:
I couldn’t find the photo of our matching lanyards, but these are the photos I have of you speaking.

Ali Nimmons:
Oh my God, they put me on a little crate because I was too short to stand behind the podium. That’s incredible. I forgot about that. Oh, I forgot.

Michelle Frichette:
Oh, that’s funny.

Ali Nimmons:
Little crate.

Rachel Winchester:
There you are.

Michelle Frichette:
Oh, that’s awesome.

Ali Nimmons:
Oh, these are great. I’d never seen these before.

Michelle Frichette:
We’ll have to share these in the show notes.

George Woodard:
I don’t know if you’ve ever, decide to want to embrace this, but in this picture, the position of CEO looks good on you. It looks like you’re standing in front of a crowd, giving a corporate town hall presentation before the board of directors.

Ali Nimmons:
I got my power stance on, my feet shoulder width length part. Probably, I was afraid of falling off that box, so I was just trying to stabilize myself.

Michelle Frichette:
I would’ve been.

Chris Ford:
Allie is literally standing on her soap box.

Ali Nimmons:
Yeah, right?

Michelle Frichette:
That’s true.

Ali Nimmons:
Talking about maintenance packages or something.

Michelle Frichette:
Oh, how fun.

Rachel Winchester:
So what I realized when I was remembering how I met you, I realized something about, just my whole perspective. Because this was my first WordCamp, and a lot of your work and Michelle’s work is about underrepresented people. There’s so many straight cisgendered white guys in tech, and events, not like WordCamp, but other tech events that aren’t like WordCamp, are really overwhelmed with those type of people. So it’s like, maybe because my first WordCamp was in New York and you were speaking and I met you, I didn’t have such an apprehensive feeling about the tech world and tech events. It’s not like my first WordCamp was in Portland or Phoenix. It was New York and then there was you being who you are. So yeah, I feel like maybe you are one of the reasons why I felt so welcomed into the WordPress community in general, and I didn’t even realize that.

Ali Nimmons:
I’m so glad.

Michelle Frichette:
That tracks.

Ali Nimmons:
I’m so glad. I’m so happy that you felt that way, and that is really literally why I was so excited when George was coming to speak in San Diego, and why I wanted to make that a positive experience for you, George, and I wanted you to feel confident and I wanted you to do well. Because I knew that there was going to be someone else who was going to see you talk and feel that same exact way, because that’s just how it works. I don’t count myself as special for causing that sort of reaction or inventing that. That’s just literally how these sorts of things work. We see people like us, and it clicks something inside of us, and that happens all over the place. And so if I can bring other people into being that for other people, that feels really good to me. So I’m super happy you felt that way, and I really hope one day, George, someone comes up to you and says that same exact thing, because I’m sure it’s going to happen.

George Woodard:
Oh. The trickle effect has already happened. So to add on to that, that was actually my first ever WordCamp WordPress meetup, any WordPress event I’ve ever attended. And I ended up speaking at it, the first go around. So I’m like, you have completely and utterly lost your mind if you want to step on the stage and give a presentation.

Ali Nimmons:
Zero to 100.

George Woodard:
Yes. And for Allie to show up in the way that she did, and kind of just reassure and talk me through it, so to speak, and now fast forward, we do the panel next year, well, this past year, and I really don’t tell a lot of people this, but I grew up speaking a lot because of my mom, particularly, but my parents both forced me to speak, and it becomes a lot more comfortable, and I have a business degree, so I’m used to giving presentations. But before anytime I do anything like that, I have the nerves of whatever, I’m nervous as hell, and this one particularly, to your point when you talk about the cis straight male, I just, in my mind, I grew up in Alabama, so to give you an idea of that, and thinking about what I’ve had to endure, growing up in the South, I’m like, okay, I’m about to get in front of this crowd of people, I don’t know how this is going to go, we’re making this statement and anything could happen.
And I’m like, okay, just take a breath, slow down, get up here, present yourself, be as articulate as possible, and just keep your composure if someone decides to step out of line. And thankfully, nothing happened. But to your point, Allie, so many people after that, we had a lot of people come up to us to join BlackPress. We had a lot of people, I’ve had people reach out even to this day, either LinkedIn, Facebook, have found me that way. I’m in a bunch of different Facebook groups as well, and I try to be kind of vocal there, and a lot of them like, “Oh yeah, man, I remember you from that panel you guys did,” and to who you are, Allie, those type of things for me, would not have happened if I didn’t have someone when I showed up to the first WordCamp, that was so welcoming, that encouraged me to now step out and just be more present within this community so it gives people a space to want to come, that look like me, to say, “Hey, okay, I have an inlet into the group.”
Even when we were at the museum after WordCamp, we’ve had a couple of them come up and say the same exact thing. It was like, we’re so glad that you guys did that panel, because I came here not knowing anybody, and I didn’t feel that comfortable. And now that I feel like I have a crew that I can come hang around and be in these circles, it feels a whole lot better to join. I didn’t want to go on this so much, but thank you.

Michelle Frichette:
It’s like pebbles in a pond. You drop that one pebble and the ripple effect just continues to go. I know that Samah has to leave, so I want to let her chime in.

Sama:
Yeah, I’m really sorry I have to go. It’s 10:30 PM. And Allie, I wish you all of the best. I wish I could grab a coffee with you, hopefully to do that one day live…

Ali Nimmons:
One day, definitely.

Sama:
But I would love also… And let’s keep in touch. Please reach out. And you’re an amazing person. I’m sending you a virtual hug. You’re doing amazing job, and the other presenters of the group in WordPress and IT and everything, and please keep rocking. Because you’re amazing. Yeah. Okay.
Sorry, everyone. I wish you a lovely afternoon and I hope to see you soon.

Ali Nimmons:
Bye…

Michelle Frichette:
Thank you, Samah.

Ali Nimmons:
Thank you so much for being here.

Sama:
Goodbye. Bye, bye, bye.

Ali Nimmons:
Bye.

George Woodard:
And I also have to jump off, because I have a client meeting to go to.

Michelle Frichette:
That’s fine.

George Woodard:
I echo the same sentiments, Allie. Thank you for being who you are. Continue rocking it out. If you need anything, I’m always here to help you.

Ali Nimmons:
Thank you.

George Woodard:
Everyone else, you take care. Have a good rest of your day.

Ali Nimmons:
Bye.

Michelle Frichette:
Bye, George. Thanks for being here. But before I have Kathy and Chris take the mic, if you will, I want to say that when I think about, I tell people that don’t know us or don’t know about our project, I sometimes preface it by saying, “An old disabled woman and a young black queer woman start a podcast,” and it sounds like you’re doing a joke, right? But the truth is, the punch line is, you make a lot of good stuff happen in the world, which is pretty cool.
Chris, over to you.

Chris Ford:
Okay, here’s where the ugly crying starts. Allie, thank you for being my fellow Twitter warrior and always being willing to speak up. I had the hardest year of my life a couple of years ago, and Allie and I got on Slack and she helped me get through it. Having someone as compassionate and just a good friend, you have no idea how you helped me get through that. I honestly don’t even remember how we met. It kind of feels like I just always knew you. It was probably on Twitter because we both were-

Ali Nimmons:
It was pretty definitely on Twitter. I know that we definitely got closer when we were on the WordCamp US organizing team together, we had more opportunity to talk to each other, but we knew each other even before then. I think it was just natural Twitter interactions, which happens all the time in this community. And I love that.

Chris Ford:
My Twitter stalking. That’s how 90% of my good WordPress friendships have started. And I think that’s what’s so special, is you meet someone on Zoom or on Twitter, and when you finally do meet them in person at a WordCamp, it’s like one of those friends that you’ve known for years that you just drop back into being friends. It just feels so natural and so comfortable. WordCamp US, San Diego, was so much fun.

Ali Nimmons:
We got matching tattoos. Or I got a tattoo that was a tattoo that you had. So now we have matching tattoos. We didn’t get them together, but you’re one of the few people that I have-

Chris Ford:
Well, it was only a day apart, and we were there.

Ali Nimmons:
Oh, yeah, that’s true. You’re one of the few people, Michelle and Taylor and you, I’m pretty sure that’s it, are the only people who I intentionally got a tattoo to match with, because you’re my queer punk fairy godmother. That is exactly how I think of you, at all times.

Michelle Frichette:
I love it.
Kathy, the mic is yours.

Kathy Zant:
I’m so sorry I was late. I undid all of my calendar stuff and then, oh yeah, go ahead, use that old calendar, Michelle, and I undid it. And so I didn’t get an alert. But Allie, I wanted to make sure I was here to just… Tech is hard. I thought it was better. I’ve been in tech a really long time and I’m like, oh, this WordPress, everybody’s so focused on lifting everybody up and making sure that everyone has a seat at the table. Then I was like, oh my gosh, no, they’re not. What’s going on? And so it really takes voices like yours to just identify, Hey, there’s an issue here. And I know it hasn’t always been comfortable and welcoming, but you’ve made people who were scared of coming into this space, feel like they have an ally. And that is so critically important. I really thought things were better than they were in the 1990s when somebody told me, “Oh, you’re just the marketing lady. What do you know?” Actually, marketing girl. I was the marketing girl, back then, and I literally walked out of the office and drove away in my car and just like, “I’m never going back there again,” and then I learned how to hack the guy, and then I got… So I turned it around, a little bit.

Ali Nimmons:
Oh my gosh.

Kathy Zant:
Yeah. And then I went away from tech for a while and I came back and I thought this community would be different. And it is. It is, but it is different because of people like you. It’s because of people like you, Michelle, people who… Chris, Win. You guys show up and you raise your voice and you say no, and you set effective boundaries. And I know everything that you’re going to do next, you’re going to… Don’t stop being you. Please, ever. This world needs you. This world needs your voice. There are so many people who don’t think they can, and you show them by being you, that yes, yes, you can. And just your example in this space is so important. So I know that there’s a new journey for you, but I think your impact, you’ve had such an amazing impact and I just hope and pray that you continue to be you, because just by showing up and saying, “Hi, I’m Allie,” you make things happen, and you make things happen for other people and make the world a better place. And that’s what we’re all hopefully here to do. So I have just been so grateful to get to know you.
You were just such a fixture in WordPress. I feel like I never really had a chance to hang out with you and just sit down and get to know you until recently and post-Covid. And so it was just like, “Oh, there’s Allie. Hi.” It was always in passing with you before all the lockdowns and everything, so I never got a chance to really spend as much time with you, and I am sad about that, but you’re in Texas and I’m in Texas, so hey, I know it’s a big city-

Ali Nimmons:
Wait, where are you in Texas?

Kathy Zant:
I’m in Denton, so I’m almost Oklahoma, but…

Ali Nimmons:
Oh, so you’re north-

Kathy Zant:
North of Dallas.

Ali Nimmons:
Okay.

Kathy Zant:
I’m way north.

Ali Nimmons:
We’ll figure it out. Because yeah, I was literally thinking the same about you, where I was just like, I don’t remember the first time I met you or the first time we interacted, but you feel like one of the people to me that has just always been there, one of just the WordPress people in my brain who, I know who you are, I know what you do, I know what your specialty is, I know what your vibe is, and it’s just… Kathy Zant has always, always been there. And I even just looked up, I think I probably first became aware of you, WordCamp Miami, 2019. That was my third WordCamp. I’d only ever been to WordCamp Miami ’15, ’17, and then ’19.

Kathy Zant:
Oh, wow.

Ali Nimmons:
And yeah, I think that’s the earliest that I could find you when I Googled you. But yeah, you’ve always just been a constant, which is so… I think a lot of times in this community, people come and they go and they go through changes and blah blah blah. And it’s really nice to know that there are people who are just sort of a constant, and there are times when I’m like, who’s somebody that can do XYZ or knows XYZ? And it’s really great to be like, “Kathy, I can go to Kathy, and Kathy will help me,” and she did, and she does, and it’s fantastic. And I really appreciate that about you. You’re always really, really willing to help, and that’s really fantastic.

Kathy Zant:
Well, thank you. And you as well. And it’s just been a joy to get to know you and to see all of the things that you’ve done, the very high bar you set for yourself of, I’m going to make this big thing happen. You really set the bar high, I think, and I appreciate that so much about you, because then it uplifts everyone because you set such high targets for yourself, other people are like, well, to keep up, I need to set high targets for myself, too. And you’re just such an inspiration and I can’t wait to see… Just because you’re not doing this anymore, I’m still going to watch you. I’m still going to stalk you and see what you’re doing. I can’t wait to see what’s next.

Ali Nimmons:
Thank you. That’s so nice. I’m all blubbery.

Michelle Frichette:
And I do remember the first time we met, because it was as you entered the Zoom room to record my very first episode ever of WP Coffee Talk. And I sucked as a podcast host. I go back to that first episode and I’m like, every other word was “Um,” and I was trying to read my questions, and the questions that evolved from that, if you go back and listen to that first episode, some of the questions I ask consistently since then, weren’t even in that first episode because I was like, what the hell am I even doing? And you knew it was the first episode because I literally tweeted about it on Friday, and by Monday, I had all these people signed up to, or maybe a week or whatever, to be on the show. And Allie was the first ever guest. And I asked her all the questions and got to know her right away, and feel like she made me feel comfortable as a podcaster, doing my first podcast.
And I’ll never forget, I don’t remember exactly how you said it, but I ask everybody on every episode, tell us or show us about a hidden secret about yourself or hidden, I can’t remember exactly… A hidden talent that you have, that the WordPress community might not know about. And Allie’s answer made me wonder if I should keep asking that question to people in the future, because she’s like-

Ali Nimmons:
What’d I say?

Michelle Frichette:
You said that you know how to make grocery lists, and about how much things are going to cost when you make your grocery list in your head. And I was like, that is the most boring answer I’ve ever heard, to that question.

Ali Nimmons:
And I can’t do that anymore, because I feel like prices have fluxed and changed and risen since Covid. And so now I’m really… So I don’t even have that skill anymore. But yeah, I used to be able to look at a grocery cart and be like, price is right, I know exactly how much money that is. And yeah, I thought that-

Chris Ford:
Did you ever see Supermarket Sweep?

Ali Nimmons:
Yes.

Michelle Frichette:
Yes.

Ali Nimmons:
Yeah. See, I would’ve won that.

Chris Ford:
You should have gone on that before Covid. That would’ve been awesome.

Michelle Frichette:
And of course, I joke, it wasn’t boring. You were perfectly delightful. And out of getting to know you on that one episode, all of the things that we have worked together on over the years have come about as a result of that, including this project, the Underrepresented in Tech project, which I don’t think either one of us understood the life it would take on when we first started talking about having a spreadsheet with people on it to recommend as speakers at events, and that it would turn into what it has turned into. So I want to thank you, from the bottom of my heart, and so grateful that you took the chance on me on my podcast back in 2019 to get this whole thing going, and the opportunities that you and I have had to meet each other again and again and again in person over the years, as well as texting and calling and just all of the things. So while I am sad that you won’t be part of UIT going forward in the new year, I also am just so excited to see all the wonderful things you’re going to do, and I’m grateful that you entrust me with the keys to the kingdom, as it were, to know that the project isn’t stopping and that we’ll continue moving it forward, and that you helped create something that has the momentum to keep moving forward. So, thank you.

Ali Nimmons:
Thank you. I don’t even know what to say. I was not expecting this to happen today. I don’t even know what to say, but I really appreciate all of you. And yeah, not to be melodramatic, but I felt like this was a very significant thing for me and Michelle to have made this change. But I was also very much kind of like, I don’t really think anybody else cares. We’ll talk about it on the podcast and we’ll cry and virtually hug and stuff, but I was like, I don’t really think anybody else is going to care all that much. So it does feel super good to have that be challenged, and feel a little bit validated in that I did help people and then I made people happy, and that’s all I really ever wanted to do, is just make other people feel confident. Because the first WordCamps that I went to, those first three really, in Miami, even for it being Miami, they were not very diverse places.
I saw maybe a few women of color, a handful between all three of those events. I don’t remember seeing any men of color speaking. And I just sort of felt like the goal of this, and the spirit behind it, is too welcoming and too wonderful, for it not to be a diverse space. And that didn’t click to me, and that didn’t make sense to me. And so I think getting pulled into this area of things, and this kind of work, happened very naturally because it was something that I felt very strongly about, personally. And I figure, I very much think that if you feel something very strongly, you’re not alone, you’re never alone, and that other people are feeling and thinking that too, even if they’re not talking about it. So yeah, thank you guys for saying nice stuff about me. It’s really sweet.

Michelle Frichette:
You’re welcome.

Chris Ford:
You are so loved and respected, and you leaving leaves such a huge hole in this community.

Ali Nimmons:
Other people will fill it. I’m confident of that. I think I’m leaving the thing better than how I found it.

Chris Ford:
You’re irreplaceable, girl. You are one of a kind.

Ali Nimmons:
I hope I’m leaving things better than how I found them, and that that will create more space for more people to come in and do this kind of stuff.

Michelle Frichette:
Absolutely. Well, I want to thank everybody who joined us today. I know George and Samah had to leave early for other meetings and things. And again, I think of things way too late, and so the fact that we could have so many people join us based on a DM that I sent them at seven o’clock last night is freaking amazing. So thank you all for being here, Win, for being here. Chris, Kathy, so grateful to have you here to help me celebrate my partner in crime, Allie Nimmons. And I will see you, Allie, on the next episode of Underrepresented in Tech.

Ali Nimmons:
Yeah, see you next week.

Michelle Frichette:
That’s the last time I’ll say that for a while. So we’ll see you then.

Speaker 1:
This episode was sponsored by the following companies. The Blogsmith. The Blogsmith is a holistic content marketing agency for B2B technology brands, that creates data-driven content with a great reader experience. Visit Theblogsmith.com to learn more. Thank you so much to our sponsors for this episode. If you’re interested in sponsoring an episode, using our database, or just want to say hi, go to Underrepresentedintech.com. See you next week.