Leslie Hawthorn, who will be giving the Sunday keynote on "Checking Your Privilege," took a few minutes to talk to the SCALE Team about her talk at 10 a.m on Sunday in the LaJolla Room.
Q: Could you please introduce yourself and tell us a little about your background?
A: I'm Leslie Hawthorn and I currently work at Elasticsearch as their Community Manager. I've been working in the open source world for the past 8 years. In that time, I've been fortunate to work with some of the most amazing human beings all over planet Earth. Some of the notable projects I've been involved with include creating Google Code In and managing the Summer of Code program.
Q: You're giving a keynote on Checking Your Privilege. Without tipping your hand on the actual talk, can you give us an idea of what we might expect?
A: The purpose of this talk is to create a judgement free space to explore the concept of privilege, how it works, why it's a good thing to examine one's privilege and how to use that self-awareness to be a better collaborator. I invite everyone to ask whatever "dumb" questions they have about privilege at the conclusion of the keynote so we can all learn from one another about how to be the kind of people we most want to work with.
Q: Is this your first visit to SCALE? If so, what are your expectations? If not, can you give us your impressions of the event?
A: This is my second SCALE - my first was SCALE 7x - and I am blown away by how much the conference has grown! Day one has been astonishing for me. So much energy, passion and excitement. Really looking forward to Lessig's keynote address tonight.
Q: Is there anything else you'd like to add?
A: I am recent emigre to Amsterdam, The Netherlands. If you're ever visiting the area, let me know. I love meeting more FLOSS folk and introducing them to my new local community.
[SCALE Team interview by Larry Cafiero]