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It’s Christmas Eve and this blog post is a substitute for my usual holiday letter.  A true indication that this year, my 65th in this Earth suit, has been amazing, blessed, challenging, sometimes overwhelming, but strewn with the seeds of a better yet to be. My extreme gratitude is with all of you that have been a part of my life; for each and every one of you have had an impact in your own special way.

This year’s high points begin with my courageous Golden State Warriors. Some of you know that I was a season ticket holder with my friend, Victoria Hunter, since 1985 until 2008 when the recession hit and I could no longer afford it. But being the being the wonderful friend she is, Victoria, who held on the seats, knew how special it would be for 40 year year fan to see the Dubs’ fabulous run to the championship. The picture below was taken at the last NBA Finals game at Roaracle!

Thank you, Victoria!

Thank you, Victoria!

 

June brought a new career milestone when the Mid-Pacific ICT Center (MPICT) allowed me to pilot a workshop for community college faculty on how to engage under-represented minority students with cultural fluency and perspective taking. This training is a culmination of my life’s work and study and has now become the basis of work underway to bring it to corporate work environments to improve diversity and inclusion in tech.

My work with MPICT for the last four years came to an end in August when the National Science Foundation grant funding the 7-year program ended. I’m indebted to Pierre Thiry, Principal Investigator, and James Jones, Executive Director, for trusting in me enough to let me interject my passions into our work. In addition to supporting the development of the workshop, I got to lead the San Francisco ICT Pathways Project, a 3-year project to get more SFUSD students on ICT career pathways through CCSF programs. With that experience, I was invited to join the Career Ladders Project to continue similar work in San Francisco and the East Bay,

Thank you, MPICT!

Thank you, MPICT!

 

Also in August was the launch of Women Sharing Wisdom Institute, the nonprofit I formed to support the work I’ve been doing in collaboration with my friend and colleague, Kirsti Tcherkoyan, to train women entrepreneurs buy adobe photoshop cs6. Our “Friendraiser” raised over $7000 and has allowed us to hire a grant writer to seek funds to bring our programs to underserved communities in the Bay Area. For more about what WSWI did in 2015, click here and check out the recent blog posts.

 

Speaking at the WSWI Friendraiser

Speaking at the WSWI Friendraiser

 

October WSWI Workshop in Mathare, Kenya

October WSWI Workshop in Mathare, Kenya

 

 

Every time I travel to East Africa, I make a point to go someplace I’ve never been. This year’s trip began with joining Jesse and his best friend, Ed Valeau, on the southern half of their tour of Ethiopia. For six days, we toured the region of the country that includes the northern end of the Rift Valley and borders on Kenya. In rural southern Ethiopia, the only signs that time hasn’t stood still are the roads south, the power lines that paralleled them, and the big multi-national farm and agricultural projects. It was a beautiful country and, to me, Ethiopian people are even with India’s as the most beautiful, literally, in the world. We visited the villages of five tribes; the Konso, Dorze, Hamar, Karo, and the Mursi.

 

Hamar Woman

Hamar Woman

 

So, if you’ve persevered and read this entire post, you see it’s been a very full year and there’s so much more I wish I could share. But I hope it give you an idea of how full and blessed my life has been. I’m working hard to keep that in the forefront of my mind as I deal with a debilitating back injury that happened the beginning of December (at the gym – thinking I could lift what I used to at 40!). Please send your prayers and meditations for healing my way!

 

Merry, Happy Everything!

Love,

Olivia