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I'm Kelsey (she/her), and I am a software engineer.
My latest interests include learning how to advance diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts in both technology and education.
Learning about diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) 🤝 §
I am not a DEI expert, but I've been trying to learn as much as I can about making tech more inclusive. What's great is that you don't need to have "DEI" in your job title to make a difference! By recognizing our own privileges, we can help empower other people by ensuring that everyone feels welcome in tech and that the products we create are inclusive and accessible to everyone.
These are some things I've worked on at my current company, Coda:
- On International Non-Binary People's Day, I pitched the idea to add an optional pronoun field to Coda Maker Profiles. We shipped the feature soon after!
- After learning more about the experiences of transgender and non-binary people, I led discussions on how to make our women's group more inclusive to other people with marginalized genders. We also updated our mission statement as a commitment to prioritizing intersectionality since gender is only one aspect of people's identities. Read more about Gender Equity at Coda.
- A few years ago, my teammates and I created an accessibility audit template for unofficial audits. Since then, one of my side projects has been championing accessibility best practices at the company and gradually integrating them into our product development processes.
- I'm keeping a running list of DEI articles that I've found helpful. Let me know if you have any suggestions!
My favorite teaching experiences 👩🏫 §
Reading Savage Inequalities by Jonathan Kozol opened my eyes to the inequities built into the American educational system. I may not have the knowledge or power to change the system at large, but I can do my part to promote equal access to computer science education.
Here are a few of my favorite teaching stints:
- I spent three years teaching middle school girls and non-binary students how to program. Learn more about MIT CodeIt.
- I taught computer science to Israeli and Palestinian high school students in Jerusalem and Nazareth. Learn more about Middle East Entrepreneurs of Tomorrow or check out my MEET teaching blog.
- I taught a STEM workshop in South Korea at Yeomyung School, a school for North Korean defectors. Check out my Yeomyung teaching blog.
- I taught workshops at a hackathon for women and non-binary people. Check out my intro to web development and intro to Python workshop guides and let me know what you think!
Web accessibility 🌐 §
I first learned about accessibility through a college class on assistive technology in 2015. A few years later, I spent my internship at Khan Academy fixing accessibility issues based on the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). Since then, I've taken the W3C Intro to Web Accessibility Course on edX and attended several web accessibility virtual conferences to continue learning how to achieve organizational success with accessibility.
Here are a few things I've done to make sure this website is accessible:
- Make sure colors satisfy the color contrast ratio for WCAG 2.1 Level AA.
- Provide alternative text where applicable for images.
- Ensure that all functionality is accessible via keyboard and that focus indicators are clearly visible.
- Use automated accessibility testers like Firefox Accessibility Inspector and axe DevTools to detect issues.