Personal Statement prepared for STLP 2013

sayings and quotes

August 2013

STLP Graduation

STLP Graduation

I graduated from Latvian University in Riga with degree in quantum physics, got married at 19 and moved to US when I was 25 with two kids, my wonderful husband and parents.

While working on organizing one of physics conferences, I realized that my gift is with people, and for the first five years in US I worked in social services in Sacramento doing vocational counseling and placing new emigrants in jobs. Then I moved with my family to Silicon valley to work in satellite communications, Globalstar telephony network was one of my first projects.

After having 3rd child in 2001 I decided that I have served my term in project management and at the same time I discovered WWW and its’ power to connect people.  My first website was for our mountaineering club, and with that club I climbed Whitney, Rainier and Shasta in 2000 (did not make it to the top of Shasta, though).  Since then my time and heart goes into building websites that support building communities and to my family – my very own community .  [My daughter also got married at 19, and last December got PhD from Berkeley doing research in photosynthesis as source for alternative energy.]

I currently work as a web developer and teach Drupal and WordPress with ITS Training.  I am also humble, but  proud member of Stanford Open Source Lab, where freedom and collaboration come together.