From 699e768ae51ae3c53c5d150b6876089d3370ee0d Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Emelia Smith Date: Sat, 28 Jun 2025 00:41:56 +0200 Subject: [PATCH 01/14] Create 2025-06-28-Emelia-Smith.md Signed-off-by: Emelia Smith --- .../blog/community/2025-06-28-Emelia-Smith.md | 27 +++++++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 27 insertions(+) create mode 100644 apps/site/pages/en/blog/community/2025-06-28-Emelia-Smith.md diff --git a/apps/site/pages/en/blog/community/2025-06-28-Emelia-Smith.md b/apps/site/pages/en/blog/community/2025-06-28-Emelia-Smith.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000000000..78a59a871f6a3 --- /dev/null +++ b/apps/site/pages/en/blog/community/2025-06-28-Emelia-Smith.md @@ -0,0 +1,27 @@ +# Node.js LGBTQIA+ Stories: Emelia Smith + +_how did you come to understand who you are, and what contributions have you made to open source?_ + +[Carl](https://nodejs.org/en/blog/community/2025-pride) put it rather elegantly in the opening blog post for this series, when he said “When we were young, the rules for many of us were simple.”, and that resonates with my own experiences. I grew up in a very rural part of Australia, it was incredibly hot in the summers, and there wasn't a whole lot to do. Growing up, I knew people could be gay, but didn't know anyone who was actually gay, I knew transgender people existed but didn't know how because society wasn't as accepting then as it is now. + +I was always a little bit different, friendly with many of my peers but not truly friends with many people. I knew I had differences to my peers but could never quite place my finger on what was what. + +As there was little else to do in that part of Australia, besides play football, I ended up seeking refuge in online communities. Originally I wanted to be a graphic designer, because I loved art, that took me to DeviantART.com, where I found my way into internet chat rooms, one of which was a tech support chat — I liked computers, so why not help people with them? One thing lead to another, and I found myself doing programming and learning all about the web. + +It was 2008 when I first realized that maybe this web development stuff could be a career, when a recruiter had seen some blog posts of mine about the chat client I'd been building using XULRunner for DeviantART's chatrooms. I was 15 at the time, and couldn't quite believe it, and ultimately it didn't pan out. The chat client I'd been working on was my first taste of asynchronous network i/o, and I liked it. + +Fast-forward a year, and Node.js was announced by Ryan at JSConf.eu, once I watched the video, I immediately wanted to try to use it, it seemed so much better than the APIs I was used to working with in XULRunner for network i/o. One thing lead to another, and I began contributing to Node.js, back then, this was pretty easy as the code was still new and there were plenty of bugs to fix. I was there from pretty early on, I saw the birth of npm and package managers for JavaScript, and watched the project grow. It was an exciting time! + +My early contributions to node.js were adding the [fs.readdirSync](https://github.com/nodejs/node/commit/05d6da6c4af25fc417902ad1bbae9198e58ff37a) method, [adding chmod support](https://github.com/nodejs/node/commit/bcc032e43aac86d71739150009d8d75b5a9de26f), then implementing the [upgrade event](https://github.com/nodejs/node/commit/f990f24ad36ddaff3c378531d15ea5c052467d41) that enabled implementing Websockets in Node.js, I kept contributing regularly and learned a lot from the early community. The largest change I made to Node.js was splitting up the [documentation into multiple files and pages](https://github.com/nodejs/node/commit/e190c9616ed0b05eb66e1ae6681a8bb4a5f5f3e5), this lifted me up to be within the top ten contributors to the project due to the sheer number of lines of code changed. + +That led to me receiving a job offer just as I was finishing high school in 2010, which took me to San Francisco for a bit, where I finally met mikeal, isaacs, ry, rauchg, and polotek in person. These were people I'd previously only known from IRC chats, hence using their handles, or from the node.js podcast I hosted in 2010 with Mikeal Rogers (it was called The Noded, I have no idea if it's still online somewhere). + +I didn't realise I was queer until much later in life, after I'd moved to London. I was 24 going on 25, and had been going through some things. I started with just the question of "are men's and women's clothes really that different?", it was an odd question for someone who at the time still considered themselves straight and cisgender, but it was something I explored on my own and it was really just me trying to give myself permission to try dressing differently. I the time, I did not recognize myself in the mirror, and I needed to try something. I came out as genderqueer on New Years Eve of 2014/2015. + +I met some more wonderful queer people (thank you so much to [Jess Rose](https://mastodon.social/@jessie) for organising the meet up that first helped me get out of my closet), and that continued me on my journey. I decided London wasn't the place to be for me, so I moved to Berlin, and continued working with Node.js and building startups. After a year, I realised that I wasn't just genderqueer, but actually a transgender woman, who was also a lesbian. + +Now, I've been out and proud for a decade, I still contribute to Open Source frequently, in fact, I mostly work full time on open-source software. I'm still using Node.js, but no longer contributing, as my time is taken up with my own open-source projects and contributing to projects like [Mastodon](https://github.com/mastodon/mastodon/pulls?q=is%3Amerged+is%3Apr+author%3AThisIsMissEm+), [Hollo](https://github.com/fedify-dev/hollo/pulls?q=is%3Amerged+is%3Apr+author%3AThisIsMissEm+) and using the [Adonis.js Framework](https://adonisjs.com). Chances are, you've probably used software I've contributed to in one way or another. You've probably used code that myself and other LGBTQIA+ individuals have written. + +Node.js always has had a strong participation for LGBTQIA+ community members, and without Node.js, I doubt I'd have had the experiences I've had, met the wonderful people I have, nor gotten out of that dusty small town and broadened my horizons. Node.js is very much so to thank for introducing me to who I needed to become to be happy. + +You can find me on Mastodon as [@thisismissem@hachyderm.io](https://hachyderm.io/@thisismissem), and support my open-source work financially at: [https://support.thisismissem.social](https://support.thisismissem.social). I'm also on [Bluesky](https://bsky.app/profile/thisismissem.social) if that's more your thing. From 3b743887c99cc9e22da84f48775e03ecdb2bc3c3 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Emelia Smith Date: Sat, 28 Jun 2025 01:18:49 +0200 Subject: [PATCH 02/14] Apply suggestions from code review Co-authored-by: Aviv Keller Signed-off-by: Emelia Smith --- .../pages/en/blog/community/2025-06-28-Emelia-Smith.md | 9 ++++++++- 1 file changed, 8 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-) diff --git a/apps/site/pages/en/blog/community/2025-06-28-Emelia-Smith.md b/apps/site/pages/en/blog/community/2025-06-28-Emelia-Smith.md index 78a59a871f6a3..268fdf1dbe28c 100644 --- a/apps/site/pages/en/blog/community/2025-06-28-Emelia-Smith.md +++ b/apps/site/pages/en/blog/community/2025-06-28-Emelia-Smith.md @@ -1,6 +1,13 @@ +--- +date: '2025-06-28T13:00:00.000Z' +category: community +title: Node.js LGBTQIA+ Stories: Emelia Smith +layout: blog-post +author: Emelia Smith +--- + # Node.js LGBTQIA+ Stories: Emelia Smith -_how did you come to understand who you are, and what contributions have you made to open source?_ [Carl](https://nodejs.org/en/blog/community/2025-pride) put it rather elegantly in the opening blog post for this series, when he said “When we were young, the rules for many of us were simple.”, and that resonates with my own experiences. I grew up in a very rural part of Australia, it was incredibly hot in the summers, and there wasn't a whole lot to do. Growing up, I knew people could be gay, but didn't know anyone who was actually gay, I knew transgender people existed but didn't know how because society wasn't as accepting then as it is now. From 76ca8f0307e873412c0f49842403895993238ad0 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Emelia Smith Date: Sat, 28 Jun 2025 01:19:43 +0200 Subject: [PATCH 03/14] Apply suggestions from code review Co-authored-by: Aviv Keller Signed-off-by: Emelia Smith --- apps/site/pages/en/blog/community/2025-06-28-Emelia-Smith.md | 2 +- 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-) diff --git a/apps/site/pages/en/blog/community/2025-06-28-Emelia-Smith.md b/apps/site/pages/en/blog/community/2025-06-28-Emelia-Smith.md index 268fdf1dbe28c..3b106f5b26cb4 100644 --- a/apps/site/pages/en/blog/community/2025-06-28-Emelia-Smith.md +++ b/apps/site/pages/en/blog/community/2025-06-28-Emelia-Smith.md @@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ It was 2008 when I first realized that maybe this web development stuff could be Fast-forward a year, and Node.js was announced by Ryan at JSConf.eu, once I watched the video, I immediately wanted to try to use it, it seemed so much better than the APIs I was used to working with in XULRunner for network i/o. One thing lead to another, and I began contributing to Node.js, back then, this was pretty easy as the code was still new and there were plenty of bugs to fix. I was there from pretty early on, I saw the birth of npm and package managers for JavaScript, and watched the project grow. It was an exciting time! -My early contributions to node.js were adding the [fs.readdirSync](https://github.com/nodejs/node/commit/05d6da6c4af25fc417902ad1bbae9198e58ff37a) method, [adding chmod support](https://github.com/nodejs/node/commit/bcc032e43aac86d71739150009d8d75b5a9de26f), then implementing the [upgrade event](https://github.com/nodejs/node/commit/f990f24ad36ddaff3c378531d15ea5c052467d41) that enabled implementing Websockets in Node.js, I kept contributing regularly and learned a lot from the early community. The largest change I made to Node.js was splitting up the [documentation into multiple files and pages](https://github.com/nodejs/node/commit/e190c9616ed0b05eb66e1ae6681a8bb4a5f5f3e5), this lifted me up to be within the top ten contributors to the project due to the sheer number of lines of code changed. +My early contributions to Node.js were adding the [fs.readdirSync](https://github.com/nodejs/node/commit/05d6da6c4af25fc417902ad1bbae9198e58ff37a) method, [adding chmod support](https://github.com/nodejs/node/commit/bcc032e43aac86d71739150009d8d75b5a9de26f), then implementing the [upgrade event](https://github.com/nodejs/node/commit/f990f24ad36ddaff3c378531d15ea5c052467d41) that enabled implementing Websockets in Node.js, I kept contributing regularly and learned a lot from the early community. The largest change I made to Node.js was splitting up the [documentation into multiple files and pages](https://github.com/nodejs/node/commit/e190c9616ed0b05eb66e1ae6681a8bb4a5f5f3e5), this lifted me up to be within the top ten contributors to the project due to the sheer number of lines of code changed. That led to me receiving a job offer just as I was finishing high school in 2010, which took me to San Francisco for a bit, where I finally met mikeal, isaacs, ry, rauchg, and polotek in person. These were people I'd previously only known from IRC chats, hence using their handles, or from the node.js podcast I hosted in 2010 with Mikeal Rogers (it was called The Noded, I have no idea if it's still online somewhere). From c6d1a7ce66865485dfa0f9734b55b27d87cc640f Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Emelia Smith Date: Sat, 28 Jun 2025 01:20:13 +0200 Subject: [PATCH 04/14] Apply suggestions from code review Signed-off-by: Emelia Smith --- apps/site/pages/en/blog/community/2025-06-28-Emelia-Smith.md | 2 +- 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-) diff --git a/apps/site/pages/en/blog/community/2025-06-28-Emelia-Smith.md b/apps/site/pages/en/blog/community/2025-06-28-Emelia-Smith.md index 3b106f5b26cb4..3b2e0fc77c2cc 100644 --- a/apps/site/pages/en/blog/community/2025-06-28-Emelia-Smith.md +++ b/apps/site/pages/en/blog/community/2025-06-28-Emelia-Smith.md @@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ Fast-forward a year, and Node.js was announced by Ryan at JSConf.eu, once I watc My early contributions to Node.js were adding the [fs.readdirSync](https://github.com/nodejs/node/commit/05d6da6c4af25fc417902ad1bbae9198e58ff37a) method, [adding chmod support](https://github.com/nodejs/node/commit/bcc032e43aac86d71739150009d8d75b5a9de26f), then implementing the [upgrade event](https://github.com/nodejs/node/commit/f990f24ad36ddaff3c378531d15ea5c052467d41) that enabled implementing Websockets in Node.js, I kept contributing regularly and learned a lot from the early community. The largest change I made to Node.js was splitting up the [documentation into multiple files and pages](https://github.com/nodejs/node/commit/e190c9616ed0b05eb66e1ae6681a8bb4a5f5f3e5), this lifted me up to be within the top ten contributors to the project due to the sheer number of lines of code changed. -That led to me receiving a job offer just as I was finishing high school in 2010, which took me to San Francisco for a bit, where I finally met mikeal, isaacs, ry, rauchg, and polotek in person. These were people I'd previously only known from IRC chats, hence using their handles, or from the node.js podcast I hosted in 2010 with Mikeal Rogers (it was called The Noded, I have no idea if it's still online somewhere). +That led to me receiving a job offer just as I was finishing high school in 2010, which took me to San Francisco for a bit, where I finally met mikeal, isaacs, ry, rauchg, and polotek in person. These were people I'd previously only known from IRC chats, hence using their handles, or from the Node.js podcast I hosted in 2010 with Mikeal Rogers (it was called The Noded, I have no idea if it's still online somewhere). I didn't realise I was queer until much later in life, after I'd moved to London. I was 24 going on 25, and had been going through some things. I started with just the question of "are men's and women's clothes really that different?", it was an odd question for someone who at the time still considered themselves straight and cisgender, but it was something I explored on my own and it was really just me trying to give myself permission to try dressing differently. I the time, I did not recognize myself in the mirror, and I needed to try something. I came out as genderqueer on New Years Eve of 2014/2015. From d3992fe96ca11e54254efbfec07df0a79aa36270 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Emelia Smith Date: Sat, 28 Jun 2025 01:43:14 +0200 Subject: [PATCH 05/14] Run format --- apps/site/pages/en/blog/community/2025-06-28-Emelia-Smith.md | 3 +-- 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 2 deletions(-) diff --git a/apps/site/pages/en/blog/community/2025-06-28-Emelia-Smith.md b/apps/site/pages/en/blog/community/2025-06-28-Emelia-Smith.md index 3b2e0fc77c2cc..cd75324e10efd 100644 --- a/apps/site/pages/en/blog/community/2025-06-28-Emelia-Smith.md +++ b/apps/site/pages/en/blog/community/2025-06-28-Emelia-Smith.md @@ -8,14 +8,13 @@ author: Emelia Smith # Node.js LGBTQIA+ Stories: Emelia Smith - [Carl](https://nodejs.org/en/blog/community/2025-pride) put it rather elegantly in the opening blog post for this series, when he said “When we were young, the rules for many of us were simple.”, and that resonates with my own experiences. I grew up in a very rural part of Australia, it was incredibly hot in the summers, and there wasn't a whole lot to do. Growing up, I knew people could be gay, but didn't know anyone who was actually gay, I knew transgender people existed but didn't know how because society wasn't as accepting then as it is now. I was always a little bit different, friendly with many of my peers but not truly friends with many people. I knew I had differences to my peers but could never quite place my finger on what was what. As there was little else to do in that part of Australia, besides play football, I ended up seeking refuge in online communities. Originally I wanted to be a graphic designer, because I loved art, that took me to DeviantART.com, where I found my way into internet chat rooms, one of which was a tech support chat — I liked computers, so why not help people with them? One thing lead to another, and I found myself doing programming and learning all about the web. -It was 2008 when I first realized that maybe this web development stuff could be a career, when a recruiter had seen some blog posts of mine about the chat client I'd been building using XULRunner for DeviantART's chatrooms. I was 15 at the time, and couldn't quite believe it, and ultimately it didn't pan out. The chat client I'd been working on was my first taste of asynchronous network i/o, and I liked it. +It was 2008 when I first realized that maybe this web development stuff could be a career, when a recruiter had seen some blog posts of mine about the chat client I'd been building using XULRunner for DeviantART's chatrooms. I was 15 at the time, and couldn't quite believe it, and ultimately it didn't pan out. The chat client I'd been working on was my first taste of asynchronous network i/o, and I liked it. Fast-forward a year, and Node.js was announced by Ryan at JSConf.eu, once I watched the video, I immediately wanted to try to use it, it seemed so much better than the APIs I was used to working with in XULRunner for network i/o. One thing lead to another, and I began contributing to Node.js, back then, this was pretty easy as the code was still new and there were plenty of bugs to fix. I was there from pretty early on, I saw the birth of npm and package managers for JavaScript, and watched the project grow. It was an exciting time! From 119cd936d8e1bd78feaf0acfb3653b27eff91731 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Emelia Smith Date: Sat, 28 Jun 2025 01:45:26 +0200 Subject: [PATCH 06/14] Fix test failure due to colon in title of frontmatter --- apps/site/pages/en/blog/community/2025-06-28-Emelia-Smith.md | 2 +- 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-) diff --git a/apps/site/pages/en/blog/community/2025-06-28-Emelia-Smith.md b/apps/site/pages/en/blog/community/2025-06-28-Emelia-Smith.md index cd75324e10efd..5129389b1ce8e 100644 --- a/apps/site/pages/en/blog/community/2025-06-28-Emelia-Smith.md +++ b/apps/site/pages/en/blog/community/2025-06-28-Emelia-Smith.md @@ -1,7 +1,7 @@ --- date: '2025-06-28T13:00:00.000Z' category: community -title: Node.js LGBTQIA+ Stories: Emelia Smith +title: 'Node.js LGBTQIA+ Stories: Emelia Smith' layout: blog-post author: Emelia Smith --- From 6f3d06c5bf9f367bb82e740914fbc0ae650d5fbd Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Emelia Smith Date: Sat, 28 Jun 2025 13:58:14 +0200 Subject: [PATCH 07/14] Reworking a few paragraphs a little --- .../site/pages/en/blog/community/2025-06-28-Emelia-Smith.md | 6 ++++-- 1 file changed, 4 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-) diff --git a/apps/site/pages/en/blog/community/2025-06-28-Emelia-Smith.md b/apps/site/pages/en/blog/community/2025-06-28-Emelia-Smith.md index 5129389b1ce8e..ad849903df7a4 100644 --- a/apps/site/pages/en/blog/community/2025-06-28-Emelia-Smith.md +++ b/apps/site/pages/en/blog/community/2025-06-28-Emelia-Smith.md @@ -18,9 +18,11 @@ It was 2008 when I first realized that maybe this web development stuff could be Fast-forward a year, and Node.js was announced by Ryan at JSConf.eu, once I watched the video, I immediately wanted to try to use it, it seemed so much better than the APIs I was used to working with in XULRunner for network i/o. One thing lead to another, and I began contributing to Node.js, back then, this was pretty easy as the code was still new and there were plenty of bugs to fix. I was there from pretty early on, I saw the birth of npm and package managers for JavaScript, and watched the project grow. It was an exciting time! -My early contributions to Node.js were adding the [fs.readdirSync](https://github.com/nodejs/node/commit/05d6da6c4af25fc417902ad1bbae9198e58ff37a) method, [adding chmod support](https://github.com/nodejs/node/commit/bcc032e43aac86d71739150009d8d75b5a9de26f), then implementing the [upgrade event](https://github.com/nodejs/node/commit/f990f24ad36ddaff3c378531d15ea5c052467d41) that enabled implementing Websockets in Node.js, I kept contributing regularly and learned a lot from the early community. The largest change I made to Node.js was splitting up the [documentation into multiple files and pages](https://github.com/nodejs/node/commit/e190c9616ed0b05eb66e1ae6681a8bb4a5f5f3e5), this lifted me up to be within the top ten contributors to the project due to the sheer number of lines of code changed. +My early contributions to Node.js were adding the [`fs.readdirSync`](https://github.com/nodejs/node/commit/05d6da6c4af25fc417902ad1bbae9198e58ff37a) method, [adding `fs.chmod` support](https://github.com/nodejs/node/commit/bcc032e43aac86d71739150009d8d75b5a9de26f), then implementing the [`'upgrade'` event](https://github.com/nodejs/node/commit/f990f24ad36ddaff3c378531d15ea5c052467d41) that enabled implementing WebSockets in Node.js (I maintained one of the first node.js websocket servers). I kept contributing regularly and learned a lot from the early community. -That led to me receiving a job offer just as I was finishing high school in 2010, which took me to San Francisco for a bit, where I finally met mikeal, isaacs, ry, rauchg, and polotek in person. These were people I'd previously only known from IRC chats, hence using their handles, or from the Node.js podcast I hosted in 2010 with Mikeal Rogers (it was called The Noded, I have no idea if it's still online somewhere). +The largest change I made to Node.js was splitting up the [documentation into multiple files and pages](https://github.com/nodejs/node/commit/e190c9616ed0b05eb66e1ae6681a8bb4a5f5f3e5), prior to this change all the documentation was on a single page only. This change lifted me up to be within the top ten contributors to the project due to the sheer number of lines of code changed. Following on from that I worked a fair bit on documentation tooling. + +It wasn't until I was in my mid-20s that I realised I was queer. I remember being on a bus to the office, and pondering the question "are men's and women's clothes really that different?", it was an odd question for someone who at the time still considered themselves straight and cisgender, but it was something I explored mentally before concluding that "no, they're all just clothes". That moment was really just me trying to give myself permission to try dressing differently, telling myself it wasn't taboo to try something different. Around the same time, I was having issues where I did not recognize myself in the mirror, which lead me to realising that I wasn't the cisgender guy I thought I was. On New Year's Eve of 2014/2015, I came out as genderqueer, and began experimenting with gender presentation. I didn't realise I was queer until much later in life, after I'd moved to London. I was 24 going on 25, and had been going through some things. I started with just the question of "are men's and women's clothes really that different?", it was an odd question for someone who at the time still considered themselves straight and cisgender, but it was something I explored on my own and it was really just me trying to give myself permission to try dressing differently. I the time, I did not recognize myself in the mirror, and I needed to try something. I came out as genderqueer on New Years Eve of 2014/2015. From 51f01b8116e8e47ffa06a9c48c4245b859173797 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Emelia Smith Date: Sat, 28 Jun 2025 14:12:03 +0200 Subject: [PATCH 08/14] Adopting more review and adjusting language to read easier --- .../blog/community/2025-06-28-Emelia-Smith.md | 22 +++++++++---------- 1 file changed, 11 insertions(+), 11 deletions(-) diff --git a/apps/site/pages/en/blog/community/2025-06-28-Emelia-Smith.md b/apps/site/pages/en/blog/community/2025-06-28-Emelia-Smith.md index ad849903df7a4..77b178aa843b6 100644 --- a/apps/site/pages/en/blog/community/2025-06-28-Emelia-Smith.md +++ b/apps/site/pages/en/blog/community/2025-06-28-Emelia-Smith.md @@ -8,28 +8,28 @@ author: Emelia Smith # Node.js LGBTQIA+ Stories: Emelia Smith -[Carl](https://nodejs.org/en/blog/community/2025-pride) put it rather elegantly in the opening blog post for this series, when he said “When we were young, the rules for many of us were simple.”, and that resonates with my own experiences. I grew up in a very rural part of Australia, it was incredibly hot in the summers, and there wasn't a whole lot to do. Growing up, I knew people could be gay, but didn't know anyone who was actually gay, I knew transgender people existed but didn't know how because society wasn't as accepting then as it is now. +[Carl](https://nodejs.org/en/blog/community/2025-pride) put it rather elegantly in the opening blog post for this series, when he said “When we were young, the rules for many of us were simple.”, and that resonates with my own experiences. -I was always a little bit different, friendly with many of my peers but not truly friends with many people. I knew I had differences to my peers but could never quite place my finger on what was what. +I grew up in a very rural part of Australia, in a very small country town, it was incredibly hot in the summers, and there wasn't a whole lot to do. Growing up, I knew people could be gay, but didn't know anyone who was actually gay, I knew transgender people existed but didn't understand someone like me could be transgender. Society just wasn't as accepting of LGBTQIA+ identities then as it is today. -As there was little else to do in that part of Australia, besides play football, I ended up seeking refuge in online communities. Originally I wanted to be a graphic designer, because I loved art, that took me to DeviantART.com, where I found my way into internet chat rooms, one of which was a tech support chat — I liked computers, so why not help people with them? One thing lead to another, and I found myself doing programming and learning all about the web. +As there was little else to do in that part of Australia, besides play football or go swimming, I ended up seeking refuge in online communities. Originally I wanted to be a graphic designer, because I loved art, that took me to DeviantART.com, where I found my way into internet chat rooms. One of those chat rooms was a tech support room: I liked computers, so why not help people with them? One thing lead to another, and I found myself doing programming and learning all about web development. -It was 2008 when I first realized that maybe this web development stuff could be a career, when a recruiter had seen some blog posts of mine about the chat client I'd been building using XULRunner for DeviantART's chatrooms. I was 15 at the time, and couldn't quite believe it, and ultimately it didn't pan out. The chat client I'd been working on was my first taste of asynchronous network i/o, and I liked it. +It was 2008 when I first realized that maybe this web development stuff could be a career, when a recruiter had seen some blog posts of mine about the client for DeviantART's chat rooms that I'd been building using XULRunner. I was 15 at the time, and couldn't quite believe it, ultimately it didn't pan out but it did show me that there was value in what I was learning and that I could find future employment from doing things on my computer. The chat client I'd been working on was my first taste of asynchronous network I/O, and I liked it. -Fast-forward a year, and Node.js was announced by Ryan at JSConf.eu, once I watched the video, I immediately wanted to try to use it, it seemed so much better than the APIs I was used to working with in XULRunner for network i/o. One thing lead to another, and I began contributing to Node.js, back then, this was pretty easy as the code was still new and there were plenty of bugs to fix. I was there from pretty early on, I saw the birth of npm and package managers for JavaScript, and watched the project grow. It was an exciting time! +Fast-forward a year, when Node.js was announced by Ryan at JSConf.eu, once I watched the video, I immediately wanted to try to use it. It seemed so much better than the APIs I was used to working with in XULRunner for network I/O. One thing lead to another, and I began contributing to Node.js. Back then, this was pretty easy as the code was still new and there were plenty of bugs to fix and features to add. I was there from pretty early on, I saw the birth of npm and package managers for JavaScript, I saw the first versions of connect and express, and watched the project grow. It was an exciting time! -My early contributions to Node.js were adding the [`fs.readdirSync`](https://github.com/nodejs/node/commit/05d6da6c4af25fc417902ad1bbae9198e58ff37a) method, [adding `fs.chmod` support](https://github.com/nodejs/node/commit/bcc032e43aac86d71739150009d8d75b5a9de26f), then implementing the [`'upgrade'` event](https://github.com/nodejs/node/commit/f990f24ad36ddaff3c378531d15ea5c052467d41) that enabled implementing WebSockets in Node.js (I maintained one of the first node.js websocket servers). I kept contributing regularly and learned a lot from the early community. +My early contributions to Node.js were adding the [`fs.readdirSync`](https://github.com/nodejs/node/commit/05d6da6c4af25fc417902ad1bbae9198e58ff37a) method, [adding `fs.chmod` support](https://github.com/nodejs/node/commit/bcc032e43aac86d71739150009d8d75b5a9de26f), then implementing the [`'upgrade'` event](https://github.com/nodejs/node/commit/f990f24ad36ddaff3c378531d15ea5c052467d41) that enabled implementing WebSockets in Node.js (I maintained one of the first node.js WebSocket servers for Node.js). I kept contributing regularly and learned a lot from the early community. -The largest change I made to Node.js was splitting up the [documentation into multiple files and pages](https://github.com/nodejs/node/commit/e190c9616ed0b05eb66e1ae6681a8bb4a5f5f3e5), prior to this change all the documentation was on a single page only. This change lifted me up to be within the top ten contributors to the project due to the sheer number of lines of code changed. Following on from that I worked a fair bit on documentation tooling. +The largest change I made to Node.js was splitting up the [documentation into multiple files and pages](https://github.com/nodejs/node/commit/e190c9616ed0b05eb66e1ae6681a8bb4a5f5f3e5), prior to this change, all the documentation had been on a single large page only. This change lifted me up to be within the top ten contributors to the project due to the sheer number of lines of code changed. Following on from that I worked on documentation tooling for the project. It wasn't until I was in my mid-20s that I realised I was queer. I remember being on a bus to the office, and pondering the question "are men's and women's clothes really that different?", it was an odd question for someone who at the time still considered themselves straight and cisgender, but it was something I explored mentally before concluding that "no, they're all just clothes". That moment was really just me trying to give myself permission to try dressing differently, telling myself it wasn't taboo to try something different. Around the same time, I was having issues where I did not recognize myself in the mirror, which lead me to realising that I wasn't the cisgender guy I thought I was. On New Year's Eve of 2014/2015, I came out as genderqueer, and began experimenting with gender presentation. I didn't realise I was queer until much later in life, after I'd moved to London. I was 24 going on 25, and had been going through some things. I started with just the question of "are men's and women's clothes really that different?", it was an odd question for someone who at the time still considered themselves straight and cisgender, but it was something I explored on my own and it was really just me trying to give myself permission to try dressing differently. I the time, I did not recognize myself in the mirror, and I needed to try something. I came out as genderqueer on New Years Eve of 2014/2015. -I met some more wonderful queer people (thank you so much to [Jess Rose](https://mastodon.social/@jessie) for organising the meet up that first helped me get out of my closet), and that continued me on my journey. I decided London wasn't the place to be for me, so I moved to Berlin, and continued working with Node.js and building startups. After a year, I realised that I wasn't just genderqueer, but actually a transgender woman, who was also a lesbian. +Around the time I was figuring things out, I met some more wonderful queer people (thank you so much to [Jessie](https://mastodon.social/@jessie) for organising the meet up that first helped me get out of the closet), and that continued my journey. I decided London wasn't the place to be for me, so I moved to Berlin, and continued working with Node.js and building startups. After a year, I realised that I wasn't just genderqueer, but actually a transgender woman, who was also a lesbian. -Now, I've been out and proud for a decade, I still contribute to Open Source frequently, in fact, I mostly work full time on open-source software. I'm still using Node.js, but no longer contributing, as my time is taken up with my own open-source projects and contributing to projects like [Mastodon](https://github.com/mastodon/mastodon/pulls?q=is%3Amerged+is%3Apr+author%3AThisIsMissEm+), [Hollo](https://github.com/fedify-dev/hollo/pulls?q=is%3Amerged+is%3Apr+author%3AThisIsMissEm+) and using the [Adonis.js Framework](https://adonisjs.com). Chances are, you've probably used software I've contributed to in one way or another. You've probably used code that myself and other LGBTQIA+ individuals have written. +Now, I've been out and proud for a decade, I still contribute to Open Source frequently, in fact, a large percent of my work is on Open Source software. I still use Node.js regularly, and contribute to various packages, but not to the core project anymore. My time now is taken up with my own Open Source projects and contributing to [Mastodon](https://github.com/mastodon/mastodon/pulls?q=is%3Amerged+is%3Apr+author%3AThisIsMissEm+), [Hollo](https://github.com/fedify-dev/hollo/pulls?q=is%3Amerged+is%3Apr+author%3AThisIsMissEm+) and helping people with the [Adonis.js Framework](https://adonisjs.com). Chances are, you've probably used software I've contributed to in one way or another. You've almost certainly used code or patterns that LGBTQIA+ individuals have created. -Node.js always has had a strong participation for LGBTQIA+ community members, and without Node.js, I doubt I'd have had the experiences I've had, met the wonderful people I have, nor gotten out of that dusty small town and broadened my horizons. Node.js is very much so to thank for introducing me to who I needed to become to be happy. +Node.js always has had a strong participation from LGBTQIA+ community members, and without Node.js, I doubt I'd have had the experiences I have had, met half the wonderful people I've met, nor gotten out of that dusty small country town, broadened my horizons and changed to be happy. Node.js is very much so to thank for who I am today. -You can find me on Mastodon as [@thisismissem@hachyderm.io](https://hachyderm.io/@thisismissem), and support my open-source work financially at: [https://support.thisismissem.social](https://support.thisismissem.social). I'm also on [Bluesky](https://bsky.app/profile/thisismissem.social) if that's more your thing. +You can find me on Mastodon as [@thisismissem@hachyderm.io](https://hachyderm.io/@thisismissem), and support my Open Source work financially at: [https://support.thisismissem.social](https://support.thisismissem.social). From e7aeec5ec4d462b870ea6c9586fd2ead9ff865df Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Emelia Smith Date: Sat, 28 Jun 2025 14:29:47 +0200 Subject: [PATCH 09/14] Adjust the last paragraph because it didn't feel right --- .../site/pages/en/blog/community/2025-06-28-Emelia-Smith.md | 6 +++++- 1 file changed, 5 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-) diff --git a/apps/site/pages/en/blog/community/2025-06-28-Emelia-Smith.md b/apps/site/pages/en/blog/community/2025-06-28-Emelia-Smith.md index 77b178aa843b6..315c26bfc0b15 100644 --- a/apps/site/pages/en/blog/community/2025-06-28-Emelia-Smith.md +++ b/apps/site/pages/en/blog/community/2025-06-28-Emelia-Smith.md @@ -30,6 +30,10 @@ Around the time I was figuring things out, I met some more wonderful queer peopl Now, I've been out and proud for a decade, I still contribute to Open Source frequently, in fact, a large percent of my work is on Open Source software. I still use Node.js regularly, and contribute to various packages, but not to the core project anymore. My time now is taken up with my own Open Source projects and contributing to [Mastodon](https://github.com/mastodon/mastodon/pulls?q=is%3Amerged+is%3Apr+author%3AThisIsMissEm+), [Hollo](https://github.com/fedify-dev/hollo/pulls?q=is%3Amerged+is%3Apr+author%3AThisIsMissEm+) and helping people with the [Adonis.js Framework](https://adonisjs.com). Chances are, you've probably used software I've contributed to in one way or another. You've almost certainly used code or patterns that LGBTQIA+ individuals have created. -Node.js always has had a strong participation from LGBTQIA+ community members, and without Node.js, I doubt I'd have had the experiences I have had, met half the wonderful people I've met, nor gotten out of that dusty small country town, broadened my horizons and changed to be happy. Node.js is very much so to thank for who I am today. +Node.js always has had a strong participation from LGBTQIA+ community members. For me, Node.js and DeviantART communities were a refuge for me, when I was living in a world I didn't quite fit into. Without Node.js, I wouldn't have had the experiences I have, I wouldn't have met the wonderful people I have met, nor would I have gotten out of that dusty small country town, broadened my horizons, changed, and found my happiness. + +Node.js is very much so to thank for who I am today. + +--- You can find me on Mastodon as [@thisismissem@hachyderm.io](https://hachyderm.io/@thisismissem), and support my Open Source work financially at: [https://support.thisismissem.social](https://support.thisismissem.social). From 695e076341512daad80248189f3e90758cd98c2e Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Emelia Smith Date: Sat, 28 Jun 2025 15:43:41 +0200 Subject: [PATCH 10/14] Update apps/site/pages/en/blog/community/2025-06-28-Emelia-Smith.md Co-authored-by: Antoine du Hamel Signed-off-by: Emelia Smith --- apps/site/pages/en/blog/community/2025-06-28-Emelia-Smith.md | 2 +- 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-) diff --git a/apps/site/pages/en/blog/community/2025-06-28-Emelia-Smith.md b/apps/site/pages/en/blog/community/2025-06-28-Emelia-Smith.md index 315c26bfc0b15..71ddcbea0a6be 100644 --- a/apps/site/pages/en/blog/community/2025-06-28-Emelia-Smith.md +++ b/apps/site/pages/en/blog/community/2025-06-28-Emelia-Smith.md @@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ Fast-forward a year, when Node.js was announced by Ryan at JSConf.eu, once I wat My early contributions to Node.js were adding the [`fs.readdirSync`](https://github.com/nodejs/node/commit/05d6da6c4af25fc417902ad1bbae9198e58ff37a) method, [adding `fs.chmod` support](https://github.com/nodejs/node/commit/bcc032e43aac86d71739150009d8d75b5a9de26f), then implementing the [`'upgrade'` event](https://github.com/nodejs/node/commit/f990f24ad36ddaff3c378531d15ea5c052467d41) that enabled implementing WebSockets in Node.js (I maintained one of the first node.js WebSocket servers for Node.js). I kept contributing regularly and learned a lot from the early community. -The largest change I made to Node.js was splitting up the [documentation into multiple files and pages](https://github.com/nodejs/node/commit/e190c9616ed0b05eb66e1ae6681a8bb4a5f5f3e5), prior to this change, all the documentation had been on a single large page only. This change lifted me up to be within the top ten contributors to the project due to the sheer number of lines of code changed. Following on from that I worked on documentation tooling for the project. +The largest change I made to Node.js was splitting up the [documentation into multiple files and pages](https://github.com/nodejs/node/commit/e190c9616ed0b05eb66e1ae6681a8bb4a5f5f3e5), prior to this change, all the documentation had been on a single large page only. This change lifted me up to be within the top ten contributors to the project at the time due to the sheer number of lines of code changed. Following on from that I worked on documentation tooling for the project. It wasn't until I was in my mid-20s that I realised I was queer. I remember being on a bus to the office, and pondering the question "are men's and women's clothes really that different?", it was an odd question for someone who at the time still considered themselves straight and cisgender, but it was something I explored mentally before concluding that "no, they're all just clothes". That moment was really just me trying to give myself permission to try dressing differently, telling myself it wasn't taboo to try something different. Around the same time, I was having issues where I did not recognize myself in the mirror, which lead me to realising that I wasn't the cisgender guy I thought I was. On New Year's Eve of 2014/2015, I came out as genderqueer, and began experimenting with gender presentation. From 4f7eaf5038317a3d5c4d50402cc82f88e28f68cf Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Emelia Smith Date: Sat, 28 Jun 2025 15:51:09 +0200 Subject: [PATCH 11/14] Hopefully final adjustments --- apps/site/pages/en/blog/community/2025-06-28-Emelia-Smith.md | 4 ++-- 1 file changed, 2 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-) diff --git a/apps/site/pages/en/blog/community/2025-06-28-Emelia-Smith.md b/apps/site/pages/en/blog/community/2025-06-28-Emelia-Smith.md index 71ddcbea0a6be..fc9dcff025aa2 100644 --- a/apps/site/pages/en/blog/community/2025-06-28-Emelia-Smith.md +++ b/apps/site/pages/en/blog/community/2025-06-28-Emelia-Smith.md @@ -18,9 +18,9 @@ It was 2008 when I first realized that maybe this web development stuff could be Fast-forward a year, when Node.js was announced by Ryan at JSConf.eu, once I watched the video, I immediately wanted to try to use it. It seemed so much better than the APIs I was used to working with in XULRunner for network I/O. One thing lead to another, and I began contributing to Node.js. Back then, this was pretty easy as the code was still new and there were plenty of bugs to fix and features to add. I was there from pretty early on, I saw the birth of npm and package managers for JavaScript, I saw the first versions of connect and express, and watched the project grow. It was an exciting time! -My early contributions to Node.js were adding the [`fs.readdirSync`](https://github.com/nodejs/node/commit/05d6da6c4af25fc417902ad1bbae9198e58ff37a) method, [adding `fs.chmod` support](https://github.com/nodejs/node/commit/bcc032e43aac86d71739150009d8d75b5a9de26f), then implementing the [`'upgrade'` event](https://github.com/nodejs/node/commit/f990f24ad36ddaff3c378531d15ea5c052467d41) that enabled implementing WebSockets in Node.js (I maintained one of the first node.js WebSocket servers for Node.js). I kept contributing regularly and learned a lot from the early community. +My early contributions to Node.js were adding the [`fs.readdirSync`](https://github.com/nodejs/node/commit/05d6da6c4af25fc417902ad1bbae9198e58ff37a) method, added [`fs.chmod`](https://github.com/nodejs/node/commit/bcc032e43aac86d71739150009d8d75b5a9de26f), and implementing the [`'upgrade'` event](https://github.com/nodejs/node/commit/f990f24ad36ddaff3c378531d15ea5c052467d41) that enabled implementing WebSockets in Node.js (I maintained one of the first WebSocket server packages). I kept contributing regularly and learned a lot from the early community. -The largest change I made to Node.js was splitting up the [documentation into multiple files and pages](https://github.com/nodejs/node/commit/e190c9616ed0b05eb66e1ae6681a8bb4a5f5f3e5), prior to this change, all the documentation had been on a single large page only. This change lifted me up to be within the top ten contributors to the project at the time due to the sheer number of lines of code changed. Following on from that I worked on documentation tooling for the project. +The largest change I made to Node.js was splitting up the [documentation into multiple files and pages](https://github.com/nodejs/node/commit/e190c9616ed0b05eb66e1ae6681a8bb4a5f5f3e5), prior to this change, all the documentation had been on a single large page only. This change lifted me up to be within the top ten contributors to the project, at the time, due to the sheer number of lines of code changed. This was the contribution that lead to me getting a job with a company in San Francisco, which allowed me to meet many of the community members I'd interacted with on IRC. I also ran one of the first Node.js podcasts with Mikeal Rogers called The Noded, and there's still some unreleased interviews from key people in the project from 2010. It wasn't until I was in my mid-20s that I realised I was queer. I remember being on a bus to the office, and pondering the question "are men's and women's clothes really that different?", it was an odd question for someone who at the time still considered themselves straight and cisgender, but it was something I explored mentally before concluding that "no, they're all just clothes". That moment was really just me trying to give myself permission to try dressing differently, telling myself it wasn't taboo to try something different. Around the same time, I was having issues where I did not recognize myself in the mirror, which lead me to realising that I wasn't the cisgender guy I thought I was. On New Year's Eve of 2014/2015, I came out as genderqueer, and began experimenting with gender presentation. From ba1af9bcb72c2ffcb58b1401d05c04abab5bb242 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Emelia Smith Date: Sat, 28 Jun 2025 16:37:03 +0200 Subject: [PATCH 12/14] Add emelia to authors --- apps/site/authors.json | 5 +++++ 1 file changed, 5 insertions(+) diff --git a/apps/site/authors.json b/apps/site/authors.json index cecd925a3ab7f..646f4d2be3b06 100644 --- a/apps/site/authors.json +++ b/apps/site/authors.json @@ -83,6 +83,11 @@ "name": "Domenic Denicola", "website": "https://github.com/domenic" }, + "Emelia Smith": { + "id": "thisismissem", + "name": "Emelia Smith", + "website": "https://github.com/thisismissem" + }, "Emily Rose": { "id": "emilyrose", "name": "Emily Rose", From 0914d6f773f10983681e8d595604fa20384840e1 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Emelia Smith Date: Sun, 29 Jun 2025 18:10:13 +0200 Subject: [PATCH 13/14] Re-review and fix the double paragraph and awkward language issues --- .../blog/community/2025-06-28-Emelia-Smith.md | 22 +++++++++---------- 1 file changed, 10 insertions(+), 12 deletions(-) diff --git a/apps/site/pages/en/blog/community/2025-06-28-Emelia-Smith.md b/apps/site/pages/en/blog/community/2025-06-28-Emelia-Smith.md index fc9dcff025aa2..381ae41445259 100644 --- a/apps/site/pages/en/blog/community/2025-06-28-Emelia-Smith.md +++ b/apps/site/pages/en/blog/community/2025-06-28-Emelia-Smith.md @@ -8,29 +8,27 @@ author: Emelia Smith # Node.js LGBTQIA+ Stories: Emelia Smith -[Carl](https://nodejs.org/en/blog/community/2025-pride) put it rather elegantly in the opening blog post for this series, when he said “When we were young, the rules for many of us were simple.”, and that resonates with my own experiences. +[Carl](https://nodejs.org/en/blog/community/2025-pride) put it rather elegantly in the opening blog post for this series, when he said “When we were young, the rules for many of us were simple. Boys like girls, and vice-versa. A mommy meets a daddy and if they love each other enough, baby comes!”, and that resonates with my own experiences. -I grew up in a very rural part of Australia, in a very small country town, it was incredibly hot in the summers, and there wasn't a whole lot to do. Growing up, I knew people could be gay, but didn't know anyone who was actually gay, I knew transgender people existed but didn't understand someone like me could be transgender. Society just wasn't as accepting of LGBTQIA+ identities then as it is today. +I grew up in a very rural part of Australia, in a small country town. It was incredibly hot in the summers, and there wasn't a whole lot to do. Growing up, I knew people could be gay, but didn't know anyone who was actually gay, I knew transgender people existed but didn't understand someone like me could be transgender. Society just wasn't as accepting of LGBTQIA+ identities then as it is today. I always felt like I didn't quite fit in with the society I lived in. As there was little else to do in that part of Australia, besides play football or go swimming, I ended up seeking refuge in online communities. Originally I wanted to be a graphic designer, because I loved art, that took me to DeviantART.com, where I found my way into internet chat rooms. One of those chat rooms was a tech support room: I liked computers, so why not help people with them? One thing lead to another, and I found myself doing programming and learning all about web development. -It was 2008 when I first realized that maybe this web development stuff could be a career, when a recruiter had seen some blog posts of mine about the client for DeviantART's chat rooms that I'd been building using XULRunner. I was 15 at the time, and couldn't quite believe it, ultimately it didn't pan out but it did show me that there was value in what I was learning and that I could find future employment from doing things on my computer. The chat client I'd been working on was my first taste of asynchronous network I/O, and I liked it. +It was 2008 when I first realized that maybe this web development stuff could be a career, when a recruiter had seen some blog posts of mine about the client for DeviantART's chat rooms that I'd been building using XULRunner. I was 15 at the time, and couldn't quite believe it, ultimately it didn't pan out, but it did show me that there was value in what I was learning and that I could find future employment from doing things on my computer. Things were different back in 2008. The chat client I'd been working on was my first taste of asynchronous network I/O, and I liked it. -Fast-forward a year, when Node.js was announced by Ryan at JSConf.eu, once I watched the video, I immediately wanted to try to use it. It seemed so much better than the APIs I was used to working with in XULRunner for network I/O. One thing lead to another, and I began contributing to Node.js. Back then, this was pretty easy as the code was still new and there were plenty of bugs to fix and features to add. I was there from pretty early on, I saw the birth of npm and package managers for JavaScript, I saw the first versions of connect and express, and watched the project grow. It was an exciting time! +Fast-forward a year, when Node.js was [announced by Ryan at JSConf.eu](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EeYvFl7li9E), once I watched the video, I immediately wanted to try to use it. It seemed so much better than what I was used to working with in XULRunner for network I/O. One thing lead to another, and I began contributing to Node.js. Back then, this was pretty easy as the code was still new and there were plenty of bugs to fix and features to add. I was there from pretty early on, I saw the birth of npm and package managers for JavaScript, I saw the first versions of connect and express, and watched the project grow. It was an exciting time! -My early contributions to Node.js were adding the [`fs.readdirSync`](https://github.com/nodejs/node/commit/05d6da6c4af25fc417902ad1bbae9198e58ff37a) method, added [`fs.chmod`](https://github.com/nodejs/node/commit/bcc032e43aac86d71739150009d8d75b5a9de26f), and implementing the [`'upgrade'` event](https://github.com/nodejs/node/commit/f990f24ad36ddaff3c378531d15ea5c052467d41) that enabled implementing WebSockets in Node.js (I maintained one of the first WebSocket server packages). I kept contributing regularly and learned a lot from the early community. +My early contributions to Node.js were adding the [`fs.readdirSync`](https://github.com/nodejs/node/commit/05d6da6c4af25fc417902ad1bbae9198e58ff37a) method, adding [`fs.chmod`](https://github.com/nodejs/node/commit/bcc032e43aac86d71739150009d8d75b5a9de26f), and implementing the [`'upgrade'` event](https://github.com/nodejs/node/commit/f990f24ad36ddaff3c378531d15ea5c052467d41) that enabled implementing WebSockets in Node.js (I maintained one of the first [WebSocket server packages](https://www.npmjs.com/package/node-websocket-server)). I kept contributing regularly and learned a lot from the early community. -The largest change I made to Node.js was splitting up the [documentation into multiple files and pages](https://github.com/nodejs/node/commit/e190c9616ed0b05eb66e1ae6681a8bb4a5f5f3e5), prior to this change, all the documentation had been on a single large page only. This change lifted me up to be within the top ten contributors to the project, at the time, due to the sheer number of lines of code changed. This was the contribution that lead to me getting a job with a company in San Francisco, which allowed me to meet many of the community members I'd interacted with on IRC. I also ran one of the first Node.js podcasts with Mikeal Rogers called The Noded, and there's still some unreleased interviews from key people in the project from 2010. +The largest change I made to Node.js was splitting up the [documentation into multiple files and pages](https://github.com/nodejs/node/commit/e190c9616ed0b05eb66e1ae6681a8bb4a5f5f3e5), prior to this change, all the documentation had been on a single large page only. This change lifted me up to be within the top ten contributors to the project at the time, due to the sheer number of lines of code changed. This was the contribution that lead to me getting a job straight out of high school with a company in San Francisco, which allowed me to meet many of the community members I'd interacted with on IRC. I also ran one of the first Node.js podcasts with Mikeal Rogers called The Noded, and there's still some unreleased interviews from key people in the project from 2010 (maybe one day I'll edit and release these?). -It wasn't until I was in my mid-20s that I realised I was queer. I remember being on a bus to the office, and pondering the question "are men's and women's clothes really that different?", it was an odd question for someone who at the time still considered themselves straight and cisgender, but it was something I explored mentally before concluding that "no, they're all just clothes". That moment was really just me trying to give myself permission to try dressing differently, telling myself it wasn't taboo to try something different. Around the same time, I was having issues where I did not recognize myself in the mirror, which lead me to realising that I wasn't the cisgender guy I thought I was. On New Year's Eve of 2014/2015, I came out as genderqueer, and began experimenting with gender presentation. +It wasn't until I was in my mid-20s that I realised I was queer. I remember being on a bus to the office, and pondering the question "are men's and women's clothes really that different?", it was an odd question for someone who at the time still considered themselves straight and cisgender, but it was something I explored mentally before concluding that "no, they're all just clothes, they're not that different". That moment was really just me trying to give myself permission to try dressing differently, telling myself it wasn't taboo to try something different. Around the same time, I was having issues where I did not recognize myself in the mirror, which lead me to realising that I wasn't the cisgender guy I thought I was. On New Year's Eve of 2014/2015, I came out as genderqueer, and began experimenting with my gender presentation. -I didn't realise I was queer until much later in life, after I'd moved to London. I was 24 going on 25, and had been going through some things. I started with just the question of "are men's and women's clothes really that different?", it was an odd question for someone who at the time still considered themselves straight and cisgender, but it was something I explored on my own and it was really just me trying to give myself permission to try dressing differently. I the time, I did not recognize myself in the mirror, and I needed to try something. I came out as genderqueer on New Years Eve of 2014/2015. +Around the time I was figuring things out, I met some more wonderful queer people (thank you so much to [Jessie](https://mastodon.social/@jessie) for organising the meet up that helped me initially get out of the closet). I decided London wasn't the place for me to be, so I moved to Berlin, and continued working with Node.js and building startups. After about a year, I realised that I wasn't just genderqueer, but actually a transgender woman, who is also a lesbian. -Around the time I was figuring things out, I met some more wonderful queer people (thank you so much to [Jessie](https://mastodon.social/@jessie) for organising the meet up that first helped me get out of the closet), and that continued my journey. I decided London wasn't the place to be for me, so I moved to Berlin, and continued working with Node.js and building startups. After a year, I realised that I wasn't just genderqueer, but actually a transgender woman, who was also a lesbian. +Now, I've been out and proud for a decade, I still contribute to Open Source frequently, in fact, a large percentage of my work today is on Open Source software. I still use Node.js regularly, and contribute to various packages, but not to the core project anymore. My time now is taken up with my own Open Source projects and contributing to [Mastodon](https://github.com/mastodon/mastodon/pulls?q=is%3Amerged+is%3Apr+author%3AThisIsMissEm+), [Hollo](https://github.com/fedify-dev/hollo/pulls?q=is%3Amerged+is%3Apr+author%3AThisIsMissEm+) and helping people with the [Adonis.js Framework](https://adonisjs.com). Chances are, you've probably used software I've contributed to in one way or another. You've almost certainly used code or patterns that LGBTQIA+ individuals have created. -Now, I've been out and proud for a decade, I still contribute to Open Source frequently, in fact, a large percent of my work is on Open Source software. I still use Node.js regularly, and contribute to various packages, but not to the core project anymore. My time now is taken up with my own Open Source projects and contributing to [Mastodon](https://github.com/mastodon/mastodon/pulls?q=is%3Amerged+is%3Apr+author%3AThisIsMissEm+), [Hollo](https://github.com/fedify-dev/hollo/pulls?q=is%3Amerged+is%3Apr+author%3AThisIsMissEm+) and helping people with the [Adonis.js Framework](https://adonisjs.com). Chances are, you've probably used software I've contributed to in one way or another. You've almost certainly used code or patterns that LGBTQIA+ individuals have created. - -Node.js always has had a strong participation from LGBTQIA+ community members. For me, Node.js and DeviantART communities were a refuge for me, when I was living in a world I didn't quite fit into. Without Node.js, I wouldn't have had the experiences I have, I wouldn't have met the wonderful people I have met, nor would I have gotten out of that dusty small country town, broadened my horizons, changed, and found my happiness. +Node.js has always had strong participation and representation from the LGBTQIA+ community. For me, Node.js and DeviantART communities were a refuge for me, when I was living in a world I didn't quite fit into, I found safety. Without Node.js, I wouldn't have had the experiences I have, I wouldn't have met the wonderful people I have met, nor would I have gotten out of that dusty small country town, broadened my horizons, changed, and found my happiness. Node.js is very much so to thank for who I am today. From 9bb1173ff1c026c6e36b624116f534ae05af311f Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Emelia Smith Date: Mon, 30 Jun 2025 10:26:35 +0200 Subject: [PATCH 14/14] Update apps/site/pages/en/blog/community/2025-06-28-Emelia-Smith.md Co-authored-by: Antoine du Hamel Signed-off-by: Emelia Smith --- apps/site/pages/en/blog/community/2025-06-28-Emelia-Smith.md | 2 +- 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-) diff --git a/apps/site/pages/en/blog/community/2025-06-28-Emelia-Smith.md b/apps/site/pages/en/blog/community/2025-06-28-Emelia-Smith.md index 381ae41445259..7d2b78a34c1b6 100644 --- a/apps/site/pages/en/blog/community/2025-06-28-Emelia-Smith.md +++ b/apps/site/pages/en/blog/community/2025-06-28-Emelia-Smith.md @@ -1,5 +1,5 @@ --- -date: '2025-06-28T13:00:00.000Z' +date: '2025-06-30T16:00:00.000Z' category: community title: 'Node.js LGBTQIA+ Stories: Emelia Smith' layout: blog-post