A Riddle and Welcome!

A Riddle and Welcome!

Heres a puzzle: What do professional actors, yoga teachers, scholarly researchers, and software developers share in common? At first glance, nothing! But stick with me - heres the story of how I came to be DEVs newest employee, an Operations Associate, supporting our company expansion and Forem rollout.

For me, community - and specifically, unifying niche professional communities - is a passionate albeit entirely unanticipated career theme. Ill spare a few of the zigzags, but I first came to community organizing through the Screen Actors Guild, the U.S. labor union for professional film and television actors, with a mission to collectively bargain for wages and working conditions, and augment professional training. After more than ten years here (and lots of courage to leave my career nest), I transitioned to communications/marketing for Kripalu Center of Yoga and Health, helping hone their educational outreach and professional yoga teachers association (Fun fact: yoga, literally translated from Sanskrit, means union. Hmmm..)

After bearing a few brutal winters in Western Massachusetts (how many people can say theyve endured May snowstorms?), it was time to fly as a digital nomad, which is how I came to support the executive team for ORCID, a remote-based, open-source tech startup, with a global initiative (via use of a persistant identifier to connect research with researchers.

The pattern emerges! With DEV, Ive arrived at the consummate social network and community. As someone who started outside of the tech industry, Im fascinated by the kindred creative spirits of artists and developers, and inspired by DEVs evolutionary and revolutionary commitment to fostering an inclusive and expansive space for connection. Its amazing to consider that with Forems trajectory, all of the diverse communities Ive gathered along my career path could now create nuanced social networks and professional connections conceived from DEVs utopian model.

As DEV expands, one of my responsibilities will be to help support recruitment and onboarding. Please keep connected and stay tuned for announcements. I also look forward to sharing this new journey with all of you and with that, Ill close with a favorite quote that seems relative to DEVs guiding values: We are all just walking each other home (Ram Dass).

(photo notes: Mural in Minneapolis, MN, USA, courtesy of Redeemer Lutheran Church)