Last Friday, Shane Mac and his team at XMTP shared an initiative on Farcaster for International Women's Day: nominate a woman who inspires you, share her story, and she could receive $2,500 to help her continue making a difference.

The responses were full of stories of resilience, innovation, caregiving, and generosity - from mothers providing unwavering support, women overcoming personal and financial hardships, to builders inspiring the community with their projects.

To my surprise, the women of Shane’s team chose me, thanks to a nomination from the one and only Ivy highlighting my work building a technology consulting company, launching the GM Farcaster media network, and advocating for women in tech.

I'm grateful for the honor and recognition. And I would like to use these funds to amplify and empower even more women.

Empowering women has always been important to me. From studying engineering in the late 90s to working as a software engineer in the early 2000s, I was often the only woman in the room. As I progressed through my career into senior leadership roles, this pattern continued.

One of my early mentors shared with me the idea that as women rise, we should not just send the elevator back down but hold the door open for others and bring them up with us. I’ve taken that message to heart. I've seen firsthand how women can be excluded from STEM fields simply because they don't fit a certain mold. It's sad to me because STEM careers are incredible. They are high paying, intellectually satisfying, and fulfilling. They also offer flexibility, which is especially valuable for women, who tend to carry greater caregiving responsibilities. That’s why I've volunteered with Girls Who Code clubs, mentored women engineers and new women managers, and invested in women-led businesses.

My ultimate feminist belief is simple: women deserve equal opportunity in education, equal access to capital, and the right to choose if and when to have children.

I'm grateful for the recognition and I'd like to find a way to maximize the impact of the funds I received.

Here are a few ideas:

1. FarcastHER FarCon Travel Grants: Conferences are where some of the best learning and networking happens yet travel costs can hold people back. Providing grants for women on Farcaster to attend FarCon could remove barriers and empower them to lean further into the Farcaster scenius.

2. Community-Directed Donations: Ivy’s nomination made this possible, so why not let her choose one organization to support and have the FarcastHER community vote on additional donations?

3. Support Brad’s Mom: I was touched by Bradq's story about his mom, about her dedication to her sons, knowing how to support them especially in hard times, and how she herself started a business at age 70 which got wiped out after covid hit. Brad is supporting her and paying her mortgage. Brad has also been doing a lot of valuable curation and summarization of Farcaster happenings, notably his "29 Seconds of Facaster" Monday recaps and the post-rewards weekly recap, which have been helpful to our GM Farcaster podcast. What if I used the $2500 to fund Brad continuing doing his 29 Seconds of Farcaster, but as a GM Farcaster Network newsletter?

4. Support Women Builders: Funding could directly support builders in the FarcastHER community working on frames, bots, or companies on Farcaster. I love this idea, but there's a risk of spreading the funds too thinly; strategic, focused support might have a greater impact.

5. Reinvest in GM Farcaster: Keeping the funds to invest directly back into growing GM Farcaster. We're entirely boot strapped and the extra funds can give us a little more cushion and allow us to continue building our platform, where we naturally empower and amplify women's voices and perspectives.

I'd love your feedback. What resonates most with you? Are there any other ideas I should consider?