The underrepresented don't want to solve the gender gap, the inequality gap, the hushed sexism and racism in side conversations, comments and "jokes". We don't want to worry about how someone will interpret our outfit, our hair, always choosing a careful set of words to be met with disrespect anyway.

We want to be wholly in our jobs, in our work, and have peace at the end of the day that we put our best forward and made a difference in someway. We want to be equally supported by our managers, by our team, and feel like we belong here.

The truth is, I've made it my personal vendetta, erm, mission since 2014, and burnt out so bad it took almost three years to heal. I addressed everything within my control for every excuse that was ever given of why underrepresented people can't thrive/survive in tech. I've watched my fellow women coworkers go above and beyond to be taken seriously, my Black and Brown friends get called some horrid things in the office. I've also had some pretty disgusting sexism shared right to my face, and all of this within my first two years in tech (and of course on ward as well).

They said people weren't in the interview pipelines, I worked on creating blog posts for fixing interviews from both sides of the table. They said people weren't negotiating well, through my meetup LaDev, we had a negotiation and financial wellness session. For every excuse, I had at minimum a blog to address it. At most, I had a session through LaDev, and in some cases even presented at meetups or conferences sharing my knowledge.

While I'll acknowledge the majority of my impact was local, I wasn't the only one pushing forward. Through conferences I met so many wonderful individuals with my same passion for improving things.

Fast forward to 2024, I'm now in a leadership role where I can provide equal opportunities to my team, ensure my interview process is fair, and hope for a ripple effect as other people take note and ask for my input in improving their own. It's not lost on me that my team is an anomaly. I want to keep moving things forward, but I've learned an important lesson.

It's going to take more. This is systematic change we're trying to push for. While things are better, they are not equal or fair. We need leaders who care, and new leaders to help others rise and thrive in tech.

So here's my challenge to the tech world: do better.
Be better than you were yesterday, push your leaders to be better than they were yesterday, and don't settle. The road is long, sometimes difficult, unbearable at times, definitely lonely, but anything worth doing is.

Let us code, for we are freaking tired. <3