Announcing Fedora's Diversity Adviser

This post was originally shared on the Announce mailing list.

Fedorans,

As some of you may recall, Fedora added a new seat to the Fedora Council for a Diversity Adviser.

It is with great pleasure that we do hereby announce, that this seat has been filled by long-time Fedora contributor María “tatica” Leandro!

What is the Diversity Adviser?

The Fedora Diversity Adviser acts as a source of support and information for all contributors and users, especially those from underrepresented populations, so that issues of inclusion and equity can be discussed and addressed with planning and strategy.

The Fedora Diversity Adviser will lead initiatives to assess and promote equality and inclusion within the Fedora contributor and user communities, and will develop project strategy on diversity issues. The Diversity Adviser will also be the point of contact for Fedora’s participation in third-party outreach programs and events.

Interview with María, Fedora’s Diversity Adviser

To help communicate the responsibilities of the position, we asked María a few questions about being the Diversity Adviser and any goals she had as she begins her new position on the Fedora Community Blog. Here is an excerpt.

Q: How would you describe your position as Diversity Adviser in relation to the current situation in Fedora?

A: “Since this is the first time Fedora set a position like this, I see my role more as an informative one. Fedora is a quite diverse community despite what most people think. We have contributors all around the world who gather every day to create fantastic software and spread knowledge; breaking gender, language and distance barriers on a daily basis.

I also want to serve as a mediator, and let our contributors know that Fedora has ears for everyone. It’s no secret that being different is great, but sometimes that puts you on a vulnerable position (as a Latin American, Spanish Speaker and Female contributor, I can relate to some), and we want to make sure everyone feels comfortable with the
Fedora family.”

Q: What are some of your goals or vision as Fedora’s Diversity Adviser?

A: “I will start kicking a small survey to know how diverse our community is, as it’s important to me to understand the reach of our contributors, their experiences, needs and culture prior to start any project. It is no secret that to know our future actions we need to know our numbers, and because we are such a worldwide community, sometimes we have a huge lack of information about those who constantly help us be what we are. These actions will allow us to have a yearly report that will show us more in detail how our progress on diversity have worked out. This is not a life-time position, so my main goal is to leave all the needed information ready and available for those who will follow. Everything in Fedora is a team work, and the Diversity Adviser position is no different from others.

As we start to learn more from our contributors we will also be able to create programs to help each minority group. I would like this to be the second stage of the diversity action plan for 2016. Either gather once a week to practice English for about half an hour with some volunteers, to make monthly meetings where one of our contributors enlighten us with something about their culture; the idea is to spread knowledge beyond just technology.

Also having a monthly short meeting to discuss those topics that might need help (revisions on our politics, codes of conduct, an anti-harassment paper, etc.) or just someone that wants to tell their experiences. I’m interested into people knowing that Fedora has an insane cultural background and maybe in a near future, this will open the eyes of those who think that everything in Fedora is plain blue.”