Aaaaand so ends the 4.5 years I spent at @girldevelopit. Lost access to my GDI email and Slack today (as planned) and I keep vacillating between excitement for the chance to apply myself to better causes and immense heartbreak, as this is not the way envisioned the end. A thread.
I'm super torn because a.) I've been stewing on this day a longggg time b.) I've recognized that my persistence doesn't always help c.) I'd rather pour my energy into positive, productive things instead. But there's unfinished business and I want to keep poking a bit longer.
The #gdistrike lives on in my eyes because it's possible to hold an org accountable from the outside and I'd like to maintain as much transparency as possible on the inner workings and failures. Members (and potentially future members) deserve to know the risks.
Plus, this whole ordeal has highlighted my own privilege (something I try hard to keep in check) and blind spots in this effort -- how much benefit of doubt did I give this org? How many people did I harm by biting my tongue? What opportunities and people did I miss in Rochester?
Worse, who joined our events and left feeling uninspired or excluded? Did we even accomplish our mission? It's easy to get heartbroken over these thoughts/biases, but I find myself fueled to acknowledge the failures (and anyone hurt by them), scrap the prototype, and do better.
And "do better" does not mean start a new chapter. Hell no! I opted to resign half a year ago and I'm sticking by that. Instead, I am very much looking forward to taking a back seat, listening, and offering my privilege as support while navigating our members to better causes.
Folks like me, privileged white women, need to sit back until we recognize and design for our biases and blind spots. Otherwise, you get to exactly what you see today: frustrated and harmed women; a failed the mission.
I maintain the extremely proud moments I've had with the local community. I saw the goodness and I still smile when thinking of the things we accomplished. Shoutout to the @ImageOut project a couple years back 💙. But those moments cannot overshadow the work to be done.
So here's to the ongoing journey and the anticipation for the next causes that are already spinning up from the ashes. Causes with wonderful missions led by wonderful people that Get It. Want to join an existing cause? Check out @540wmain -- take the classes and/or volunteer!
Local tech-related networks off the top of my head: @RocDevOrg, @rocgamedev, Lesbians Who Tech (I'm working with the local leaders on future events/ideas), and whatever @gdiroc will become 😃 (we're still together in slack! slack.gdiroc.com)
With that, PLEASE use this thread as a means to tag more groups/causes/nonprofits here in #Rochester, as I know how collaborative this city is and the heart it shows (when not frozen in the snow). Thank you for giving me a chance and I vow to level up from here. 💙 /thread
::reopens thread:: It's impressive how I can check my tweets and STILL miss typos/words. 🤦♀️ My bad. /thread
