Follow along as I to try to express my gratitude and share a little about each of these women in hopes that you too can understand, appreciate, and come to admire these women and why I consider these women my mentors In, Near, and Around Ubuntu.

Akkana Peck (akk) - I had the opportunity to meet Akkana at OSCON last year though we had talked/chatted in IRC prior to that. Akkana is an excellent public speaker and funny as heck too! Anyone who can make me laugh and understand GRUB a little more in under 5 minutes is awesome in my book. (side note - Her mom is cool too!!!)

http://www.ubuntu-user.com/Online/Blogs/Amber-Graner-You-in-Ubuntu/Women...

Elizabeth is a longtime Linuxchix member, and is the first-ever women elected to the Ubuntu Community Council. Congratulations, Elizabeth!

The newly-elected council will serve a two-year term:
Alan Pope
Benjamin Mako Hill
Daniel Holbach
Elizabeth Krumbach
Matthew East
Mike Basinger
Richard Johnson

Open source advocate and former Linux Australia president Pia Waugh today revealed she will be leaving her business and joining the staff of Senator Kate Lundy as a policy advisor.

Read the rest of article

Carla Schroder says she just "kind of wandered into" her current life as a free software advocate and well-known IT journalist. "I don't have much in the way of formal education. But I've always been mechanically inclined - your classic ripping things apart and figuring out how they work. I think that makes open source a natural fit for me."

Schroder didn't study computers or programming in school...

Read the rest of the story.

Linux.com has a wonderful article about our very own Michelle Murrain:

http://www.linux.com/feature/143264
"Michelle Murrain is a great example of what the FOSS community is all about. She's complicated: she calls herself a "scientist turned technologist turned theologian turned writer," all blended into one person. She's also an active supporter of and contributor to open source software projects. She's not a developer, however, and Murrain would really like to see more space for people like her, with different gifts to share, in the open source community."