Board of Directors Elections 2019 - Candidacy - Britt Yazel

[Britt Yazel <bwyazel gnome org>]

Hello Foundation members,

I would like to add my name to the list of candidates for the GNOME Foundation board of directors for this election cycle. If I were to be elected, this would be my first term on the board since joining the Foundation in 2018.

Though I am still fairly new to the GNOME Foundation, I have been a user and proponent of the GNOME Project since 2008, contributing in small ways to FOSS/FLOSS projects to the best of my abilities while attending University. In 2018, midway through my Doctoral degree, I was invited to attend GUADEC by Nuritzi Sanchez, and since that time I have been an active member of the Engagement team, acting primarily as the social media manager for Facebook, Twitter, and the GNOME Subreddit. In addition, I was an organizer for the 2018 Libre Application Summit, and I have been helping contribute to the planning of this year's GUADEC.

While my roles so far have been non-technical in nature, I have greatly valued the opportunity and trust the Foundation has given me to speak on its behalf on social media. Over the past year, my #1 priority has been to improve the avenues of communication between the community and our members, and to try to bring a positive voice to the project as a whole while building trust and good will within our user base.

If I were to be elected, my goals would be to continue improving the image of the GNOME Project publicly and on social media, building and strengthening the relationships between the Foundation and our downstream partners, and helping to grow the size, scope, and sustainability of the Foundation as a professional organization. Further, having lived and worked using primarily FOSS technologies in academia and in my Doctoral research over the past decade, I would like to help advocate for the unique software needs and use cases of academic, STEM disciplines, and I would like to help strengthen the ties and bring down barriers between academic institutions and free software projects.

I am now in the final year of my Doctoral degree in Neuroscience at the University of California, Davis, and while I cannot guarantee as much time as I would otherwise like to Foundation responsibilities, I do believe it is in my capacity to fulfill the role of a board member alongside my dissertation work.

Thank you very much for your time, and I look forward to any questions you may have!

Britt Yazel