I won Red Hat’s Women in Open Source Award!

At Red Hat Summit, I was presented with the first ever Women in Open Source Award.  I’m really honored to be recognized for both my technical contributions, and my efforts to make open source communities a better place.

For the past two years, I’ve worked as a coordinator for Outreachy, a program providing paid internships in open source to women (cis and trans), trans men, genderqueer people, and all participants of the Ascend Project.  I truly believe that newcomers to open source thrive when they’re provided mentorship, a supportive community, and good documentation.  When newcomers build relationships with their mentors and present their work at conferences, it leads to job opportunities working in open source.

That’s why I’m donating the $2,500 stipend for the Women in Open Source Award to Outreachy.  It may go towards internships, travel funding, or even paying consultants to advise us as we expand the program to include other underrepresented minorities.  There’s a saying in the activist community, “Nothing about us without us.”  We want to make sure that people of color are involved with the effort to expand Outreachy, and it’s unfair to ask those people to perform free labor when they’re already paid less than their white coworkers, and they may even be penalized for promoting diversity.

I urge people to donate to Outreachy, so we can get more Outreachy interns to conferences, and expand our internships to bring more underrepresented minorities into open source.  Any donation amount helps, and it’s tax deductible!

Sarah Sharp wins Women in Open Source Award!

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