Talks and Podcasts

Why keeping a Python environment working costs so many spoons. Spoiler: it's the ecosystem, not you.

I host Anaconda's livestream about the Python data ecosystem.

Talking with the Togo Python community about the Python ecosystem, local-first AI and building diverse communities.

Paul and I talk about Python, AI and developer communities.

Building with Python while AI changes how we write software.

Upgrading a Wagtail site live on stream.

How the Python Software Foundation is funded and governed, including the decision to turn down an NSF grant.

How a notebook project's environment has to change as it grows from exploration toward production.

Django turned 20. We looked back at its history and governance, and talked about what's next.

What the PSF is working on, how to get involved, and plans for 2026.

Transformed from humble beginnings into a catalyst for breakthrough science—decoding cosmic mysteries, healing human diseases, predicting planetary futures—our hero joins millions of computational explorers pushing the boundaries of human understanding. Every scientific revolution starts with a single spark of code. What epic will you write? In this keynote we'll take a narrative approach to the evolution of scientific experimentation, the daunting challenges that await and how we as the protagonists can find refuge with each other in the Python ecosystem.

Why Django developers lean on Postgres, plus Djangonaut Space and open source culture.

How we handled 3D and XR files in a Wagtail project.

Reproducible Python development environments with VS Code and dev containers, for Django projects.

All of the most successful fundraising campaigns come from three categories: services rendered, shared identity, or urgency; and are driven by thousands of small actions and follow up to create opportunities, clarity and collaboration. Getting the right people to care is a behemoth task. Large corporations that are expected to write a check and fill the gap of a worthwhile initiative don't show up like we expect; why does money never seem to flow to the right place at the right time?

Through this presentation I'll discuss ways grassroots campaigns strike a chord with their audience to get over the fundraising finish line, with some common gotchas:
• The audience you thought would care, doesn't.
• Who has the bank account?
• How much is a handshake worth?
• Getting Western donations to African initiatives.
• Reduce the "I'm going to get yelled at" factor when asking corporations for contributions.
• Creating the next wave of financially and fiscally aware in Open Source.

Embark on a voyage through Djangonaut Space, a one-of-a-kind mentorship initiative within the Django community. With a focus on collaborative learning, sustainability, and long-term growth, we invite aspiring Djangonauts to join our 8-week group mentoring program. Here, participants work at their own pace in a structured learning environment, setting the stage for future contributions and potential leadership roles within the Django community.

The mission is crystal clear: to nurture Django's next generation of leaders, boost community sustainability, and create a more diverse and inclusive contributor base.

But does this program truly deliver on its promises? Can its unique approach effectively achieve its ambitious goals? Is it the transformative experience it professes to be? In short, will these Djangonauts reach the stars?

With the conclusion of our Pilot Program, we invite you to join us in reflecting on its inception, achievements, and its potential impact on the broader Django universe going forward. Don't miss this opportunity to be part of the discussion and our mission to shape the future of Django together.

A coding brontosaurus teams up with other Open Source dinosaurs and unite as a community to advance their project. From The Apprentice-Rex to the Ptero-Python-Party-o-Dactyl, this rag tag group of friends' unique approaches work together to make our journeys better and our communities sustainable. This keynote, inspired by the playful characters of the classic children's film A Land Before Time (1988) brings a fun approach to how persona marketing applies to the participants in Open Source. We compare project ecosystems, talk friction reducing activities tending to your community, and how iterative product and developer experience design through empathy is essential to project adoption.

PSF membership, ethical source licensing and running communities.

Building reproducible Python development environments with VS Code and dev containers.

A monthly livestream I hosted from 2023 to 2025 on Python in VS Code, with guests from the Python, data science and developer tools communities.

Having a blast with the Sad Python Girls Club as the Python Community Product Manager at Microsoft, PSF director, DjangoCon organizer and Wagtail CMS core team member. "I feel like it's people, who are the solution to all of the world's woes, and code is but a tool." We talk about the evolution of Django and DjangoCon, shaping codes of conduct while being mindful of ethical questions, and a few thoughts and avenues on how to make communities more welcoming.

The state of the Django codebase and community, including newcomers and diversity.

Async remote work, productivity tools and contributing to open source.

Identity; coming out and finding my labels; finding my love for tech; my experience as a queer woman of color in tech; anti-racist coding and why an anti-racist license matters; barriers for LGBTQ+ people entering tech; and advice for LGBTQ+ people interested in STEAM.

Ethical open source engineering, farm-to-table open source, practicing anti-racism in open source, fostering innovation through psychological safety, the next generation of open source contributors, and responsible open source development.

Had a wonderful time on the first Django Girls Podcast episode with Aisha and Leona about my journey to Django, starting with Django Girls. I also got a chance to talk about new initiatives with At The Root.

Exploring if a GatsbyJS progressive web app generator frontend with a headless Wagtail backend could be a solution for small-sized clients and personal projects when I want to "whip something up" quickly without sacrificing design, performance/hosting costs, user or site editor experience (can I have it all?). Gatsby is an open source framework based on React. Wagtail is a Django CMS with lots of cool features for content creators, and "plays nicely with everything else in your tech stack" because it's built on and easily integrates with all uses of Python.

I am a JavaScript and Python consultant and used this stack to host a project near to my heart: At The Root: The AntiRacist Ethical Source License. In this talk I dive into a little code, a lot of cool features, and some important ways Open Source Engineers can contribute to the accessibility and accountability of their communities.

Learn about: static site generators, progressive web apps, Python for the web, React, content management systems, ethical licenses for open code, GraphQL and "headless" backends.

I had the absolute privilege of being Kim Crayton's final guest on her podcast #CauseAScene. We waxed philosophical about whether or not we use Black Girl Magic, whether colonialism and capitalism are inextricably linked to tech, who leads the movement and why the answer is US!

Super fun episode with Carlton Gibson and William Vincent where I discuss my journey to consulting, being a "community taught" engineer, my work in React and Gatsby, and the Antiracist Ethical Source License.

The developer-experience version of my Gatsby + Wagtail talk: a GatsbyJS front end with a headless Wagtail back end, built for At The Root.

A headless Wagtail back end with a Gatsby front end, deployed on Netlify.

Open Source Dinosaur Classification: A New Adventure Is Born. This talk has taken a few forms over the years. Its first form began as an introduction to how different "dinosaurs" can learn Wagtail. Borrowing from the fun and playful characters in A Land Before Time (1988), it looks at the archetypes and "personalities" of people who participate in the Open Source community and how they seek to interact at large.

This talk is for projects that would like to grow from dozens of users to hundreds, a handful of contributors to dozens, and provide friction-reducing methods for learning and sharing in Open Source. We look at the ecosystems of React / ECMAScript PWA communities, Wagtail and other Python projects, and Ruby on Rails comparatively, and how they reduce the friction for adoption and contribution through starter tutorials, fun incentive programs, intuitive documentation, assistive tools, and partnerships. A healthy community is empathetic, welcoming and diverse. Have fun with the Apprentice-Rex, the Fail-Fast-adon and other dinosaur friends, as we learn how they navigate new engineering projects on the way to seek the oasis known as the Great Valley.