The Secret Society of Happiness
DACHFest opening keynote announcement!
Today we are incredibly excited to make our very first speaker announcement: Sasha Romijn is coming to DACHFest to deliver the opening keynote, The Secret Society of Happiness!
Happiness and our own search for it have deep impacts on our entire lives. But important as it is, it’s also incredibly complicated. We each carry our own baggage, and the things that make us happy are not constants. However, we can learn so much from each other in a community, and can have a tremendous impact on each other’s happiness — though not always in the most obvious ways.
Many of the barriers to our happiness are actually created by ourselves, and those can be the hardest the overcome. But by being our authentic selves and facing up to our fears, we can gain the confidence to do what is needed. And growing in this process ourselves, we gain so many skills in helping others in their journeys as well. Embracing those journeys and skills in our community will make it a happier space for all.
I recently put literally every aspect of my life upside down in my own search for happiness, and will share from my personal story and stories of others about the lessons learned, in a way that many of us will recognise. We’ll talk about how each of us in a community has opportunities to bring happiness to others, which in the end will contribute to our own happiness too. Lastly, I’ll show you how helping yourself can help you gain near-superpowers in guiding others as well.
Sasha’s bio, in her own words:
Sasha is the co-founder and CTO of a Django development company in Amsterdam. She is deeply involved in the community around Django, a popular Python web framework, being a Django team member, chair of the Dutch Django Association and co-organiser of various conferences. She cares about building communities and conferences in which everyone feels welcome, valued and at home, regardless of their background. Sasha has a specific interest in well-being and ethical issues around communities and development. Some of her side projects are the Less Obvious Conference Checklist, with many less obvious suggestions for event organisers, and Happiness Packets, to spread more gratitude and kindness in open source communities.
As a speaker, inclusivity advocate, and event organizer, Sasha is making a huge difference in the tech community, and we couldn’t hope for a better speaker and a more fitting keynote! In fact, our own code of conduct and diversity scholarship policies borrow quite a lot from Sasha’s Less Obvious Conference Checklist.
Are you as excited as we are? We just can’t wait!
P.S. Have an amazing talk of your own? Our call for papers is open until September 15! Want to attend? Get a ticket or apply for a diversity scholarship!
