phearts:

Donna Emerson: I wanted to thank you guys for coming out tonight…. “You guys.” See what we’re up against? When I graduated from Berkeley in ‘75 with a degree in computer science, nobody batted an eye. That’s probably because back then, coders were like secretaries and engineers, meaning little solder soldiers on the assembly lines, were kind of invisible. And we’re used to that. But somewhere along the line, these jobs became important. And don’t get me wrong, I’m happy to hang out with “you guys” any time and eat good food, but I hope that by the time my daughters are my age that they don’t have to have gatherings like this anymore to remind themselves that they’re actually here.

I’ve been in tech for 18 years. I’ve won. And I’ve lost. I am a woman who voted her female partner out of her own company, the company she founded. I am a woman who lost a marriage to, among other things, this line of work. I can’t sleep at night sometimes worrying if I’m seeing my kids enough or if I’ve been there enough for them or if it’s already too late.

But… I’ve done things. That always comes with a price, but I did them. One of the many things I’ve learned is that no matter what you do, somebody is around the next corner with a better version of it, and if that person is a man, it might not even be better. It just might get more attention. And sometimes, that person is you. The you that’s never satisfied with what you just did because you’re obsessed with whatever is next. The one constant is this.