Keila Banks was a keynote speaker at OSCON 2015 in Portland. Her speech was called “Undefinable Me: The story of a 13-year-old girl from the inner city who codes.”
At the beginning of her speech, Banks presents a couple ways that society labels her. She’s black, 13-years-old, a girl, and she’s from inner city Los Angeles. “There are a lot of negative labels that come with that” she says.
Then, Banks starts talking about herself and the impressive resume she’s built. She started a blog at six and taught herself to code when she was 9. She’s an international speaker, also having spoken as a kid coder at the Southern California Linux Expo SCALE in 2013. She’s a gamer, a former cheerleader, a self-taught chef, and lots more.
So, how would you define someone like me? And someone like you too, because I’m pretty sure lots of people here have a lot of qualities or labels that don’t really go together. You don’t. And that’s why I like to call myself undefinable
What you see on the outside looking at me and what I see on the outside looking at you is not what you really are. Join me in being an undefinable you.
She concludes with a nod to Shia LaBeouf’s inspirational video, exclaiming “Just do it!”
(via Business Insider)
—Please make note of The Mary Sue’s general comment policy.—
Do you follow The Mary Sue on Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, Pinterest, & Google +?
