Lauren Maffeo

1287 points
Photograph of Lauren, a white woman with long brown hair, standing in front of a tree wearing a grey coat.
Washington, DC, USA

Lauren Maffeo has reported on and worked within the global technology sector. She started her career as a freelance journalist covering tech trends for The Guardian and The Next Web from London. Today, she works as a service designer for Steampunk, a human-centered design firm building civic tech solutions for government agencies. Prior to Steampunk, Lauren was an associate principal analyst at Gartner, where she covered the impact of emerging tech like AI and blockchain on small and midsize business owners.

An advocate of open access publishing, Lauren serves as a founding editor of Springer's AI and Ethics journal, the first multidisciplinary journal on this subject. She is also an area editor for the open access Data and Policy journal with Cambridge University Press. Lauren has spoken at open source events including the Open Source Summits in North America and Europe, All Things Open, DrupalCon North America, DrupalGovCon, and GitHub Universe.

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Really important, often-overlooked point re: Visas. I know several large tech conferences have had issues with denied visas for attendees and possible speakers. I also know that the global political climate has become a larger factor in event organizations' choices of host countries.(i.e. The U.S. increasingly takes a backseat to Canada due in part to concerns about visa approvals.)

Sam - I'm floored. (In the best way.) As a fellow techie/runner living with GAD, I've never explored the connection between anxiety and the need to always "do" something. I so relate to it - I'm an achievement-oriented person who defines myself by outputs. And while I'm proud of myself, I'd be dishonest if I said this isn't due at least in part to my anxiety about being "enough" - whatever that means.

When a man of your status at work is so open with his struggles, he frees those around him to share and confront their own. More leaders need to set this positive example. I look forward to reading the rest of your series, and best wishes in the meantime.