Questions I need to be able to answer
I recently did a short video interview and got flummoxed by one particular question… “If I have no worries about money, who would I invite as a keynote speaker?”
Tick-tock, tick-tock… time’s a ticking and a tocking but nothing came into my hamster-driven brain. It was slightly embarrassing, I should be able to answer who inspires me, who would I like to meet, and who would I like to invite as a keynote speaker.
Of course, I have always been inspired by those closer to home, to be honest. Back in 2008, I met Martha Rotter, and my eyes certainly sparkled and wished I can do what she does as well as being so confident and smart. She started Ireland Girl Geek Dinners and was a community evangelist, and now runs her own start-up in digital publishing. Since then, I have come across many people who I admire like open-source geek and fellow animé fan, Julie Pichon, indie game dev extraordinaire and cat-crazy, Andrea Magnorsky, the current Ireland Girl Geek Dinners organiser, Christina Lynch to name a few. Come to think of it, I should have just named any one of them in the video.
There are many who helped out in the Coding Grace workshops that I run, and I can’t thank them enough for helping with mentoring, and boosting confidence of many people coming to the workshop.
Not to mention those on the Women in Technology, especially those on the exec board like Marion Palmer, Mary Carroll, Hilda Martin, Jaine Blayney, Andreea Wade, Triona O’Connell, Eithne McCabe, Laura Tobin, Maria Delaney, Marie Barrett, Julie Hogan. I am so happy to be on the board alongside them.
So to commend everyone who helped me, I would like to start a list of female geeks who inspires me on top of those mentioned above, and these are the people who volunteered to be Coding Grace mentors and helped in general with things like venues, meeting new connections and so on:
- Aisling Mathews
- Ann Lowney
- Ann O'Dea
- Charlene Putney
- Elaine O'Carroll
- Kathryn Parkes
- Rachel McBride
- Serena Fritsch
- Sorcha Bowler
- Stephanie Francis
- Suzanne Little
- Ursula Clarke Everett
There are more to the list, and I will post another one in another post. If you have someone you admire and I haven’t listed it, send it on to me via vicky@eventgeek.ie.
By the way, I know the title of this blog post is answering questions, not a question. Well, we have to start somewhere. Now to prep for other types of questions… And now you, what questions were you asked recently but you either couldn’t answer or wished you answered better?