HI Everyone, <br><br>I&#39;m Sandy Ordonez. I am so excited this group was started!! I don&#39;t like writing long emails, but I&#39;m thought i can introduce myself and share my experience with Wiki on my first email :) <br>
<br> I feel into Wikipedia in an untraditional way - I worked for them for a short time. I had moved to Florida, and they were the only New York-like website and nonprofit in the area that I had fallen in love with b/c of how much easier my online life was because of them, so I was like a bee to honey. <br>
<br>When I started the job, i expected it to be very similar to any other web production or communication job I had. Imagine my surprise. lol. I ilterally had to learn the wiki ethos and culture BY FIRE in a very short time. Needles to say, there were things I found very challenging. <br>
<br>Ironically, I remember this one night in the very beginning that I had reached my breaking point, and this female Wikipedian reached out to me. I hadn&#39;t share what i was feeling with anyone, but she knew exactly what I was going through. Her message was:   You might be going through a, b, c, d  but hang in there,..I know certain aspects suck, but the bigger picture is beautiful.&quot; For some strange reason, being able to realize that it wasn&#39;t just me, made handling the aspects I found challenging easier. <br>
<br>I have no idea if my experiences were gender based or not. However, I do have to say that finding other women in the project that I vibed with made things a lot  more comfortable. I do feel as though the challenges in gender gap are more reflective of technology in general, but b/c Wikipedia is a big part of knowledge creation and sharing worldwide, it is kinda a big deal to improve this area..  I also do think that its the only culture worldwide to be able to honestly look at a problem like this, and come up with some freakin cool solutions...so for me, its also a learning experience to see how I can improve representations in the many worlds I encounter. <br>
<br>I&#39;m looking forward towards whatever I can to help out. By no means am I hardcore Wikipedian. I am the first to admit that I don&#39;t edit very often - its not my strength or something i would just do for fun. However, I do feel that I am very passionate about what the projects represent, and hope my particular skill set might help in whatever way it can!! <br>
<br>Enough rambling. lol Warm vibes!!   <br><br>best :) <br><br>Sandy <br>