by The Evergreen Outreach Committee is pleased to announce that December’s Community Spotlight is Debbie Luchenbill. Debbie is the Associate Director for Open Source Initiatives at MOBIUS and wears many hats in the Evergreen Community.
Debbie started her work at MOBIUS – and her Evergreen Community involvement – in 2012. At that time, her role at MOBIUS was Evergreen Coordinator, and she worked with MOBIUS’s Evergreen libraries providing training, fielding helpdesk tickets, and managing communications.
Debbie cites the 2013 Conference as a turning point in her community involvement. “I met everyone, and contrary to what I’ve been told, they weren’t scary or judgy!” Debbie says. “I started thinking about how I could be more involved.” Since documentation was part of her job at the time, Debbie started working with the Documentation Interest Group (DIG). She became DIG facilitator in 2019.
“One of my big strengths is leadership, so taking on the DIG facilitation is good because I can bring that organization and regularity to DIG,” Debbie says. In 2020, she also brought those leadership skills to the Evergreen project as a whole and was elected a member of The Evergreen Project Board.
Debbie has also been involved with planning and executing the annual Evergreen International Conference, starting on the Site Selection Committee in 2016 and joining the Standing Conference Committee in 2018. She was also chair of the Local Committee that put on the 2018 Evergreen Conference in St. Charles. Debbie served as a Zoom host for the 2020 Online Conference, and is involved with the forthcoming 2021 Online Conference as well.
If you’ve had a video conference with Debbie, you may have noticed the Wall of Strong Women behind her, representing a portion of her Funko Pop collection. Her favorite is Princess Leia. “I’ve never not known Star Wars,” Debbie says. Her dad took her to see the first movie as a small child. “I’ve spent my entire life wanting to be Princess Leia, because she was a leader in the rebellion – fighting for people, for justice, and a cause she believed in.”
Debbie encourages new Evergreen Community members to get involved with one of the many interest groups and committees. “I think it’s a little easier now because there’s so many committees and interest groups meeting via video,” Debbie observes. “It’s easier when you can see people and know how they’re responding, as opposed to strictly [meeting] in IRC.”
And it is all about the people, Debbie says. “The people make the community!”
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Do you know someone in the community who deserves a bit of extra recognition? Please use this form to submit your nominations. We ask for your email in case we have any questions, but all nominations will be kept confidential.
Any questions can be directed to Andrea Buntz Neiman via abneiman@equinoxinitiative.org or abneiman in IRC.