Kamila Stępniowska

How I got here - increasing representation in open source

San Francisco, California. Kamila Stepniowska is a leading advocate for diversity in open source scientific computing. She works at NumFOCUS, a nonprofit that promotes and supports open source scientific computing. Prior to her current ventures, she was a serial entrepreneur and sociology researcher.

Navigating childhood in a changing Warsaw

Kamila was born in Warsaw, Poland in 1986. The time was marked by significant changes as the world had entered the late Cold War era. Poland experienced significant political, economic, and social impacts in the wake of the Chernobyl disaster and the rule of a communist party. Warsaw being the nation’s capital left it at the epicenter of the swathing changes, and Kamila bore the full brunt of the country’s transformation.

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Kamila does recall one clear inflection point: high school. Having grown up in the Grochow district which “wasn’t very safe at the time”, Kamila had grown accustomed to an under-resourced education. It wasn’t until Kamila earned admission to a really great high school in a neighboring district that she “realized she could do a lot with her life”.

Learning inside and outside the classroom

High school was another period of change for Kamila. At her new school she made friends with affluent children of academics and business owners. In class, the material had begun to shift towards a more comprehensive curriculum that emphasized critical thinking with subjects like literature, Latin, basics of law, philosophy, theory of probability, and civic society. Outside of class, Kamila grew involved with the school’s volunteering initiatives, theater program, and choir. The combination of these first-hand experiences with class, academia, welfare, community and acting made her grow curious “about people, how they interact, what makes power structures, and what makes decision structures”. It was for this reason Kamila decided to pursue further education obtaining a Bachelor’s, Master’s, and PhD(c) in Sociology.

Searching for a fairly tale story

Starting a career in the startup space, Kamila quickly noticed a common train of thought amongst Warsaw’s tech tribe ...

“We have the startups, we have the brilliant people, where is the capital?"

The answer to that question was rhetorical, with everyone knowing it was in the US. Kamila’s fascination with the US grew as she learned of its inclusive culture, stating she believed “we can all succeed in the US, just like they do in fairy tales”. While members of Warsaw’s tech tribe traveled a bit and settled down, Kamila held out for the US.

Building a global organization

Kamila’s hope for her work is that it has a local and global impact. With 12 years experience working in tech, including AI, she knew the easiest way to accomplish this is to work locally in the US due to its “global influence and access to capital”. The US is one of the only places where you can host an event in your local city, say San Francisco, and have word expand globally.

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Since moving to the US, newfound access to capital and reach has allowed her to support local leaders from all over the world. For example, currently NumFOCUS is hosting a series of workshops on Deep Learning in Kampala, Uganda.

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Professionally, San Franciscio has “opened so many doors” giving Kamila direct access to the “mecca of AI”. Being surrounded by leading technology companies and networks have informed her work at an NGO, expanded her own set of skills and knowledge, and unlocked new partnerships and funding opportunities for her work promoting open source projects.

Building a global organization

Since immigrating to the US, Kamila has noted feeling a sense of tranquility. Perhaps it is the bay’s beautiful flora and fauna, which has kickstarted a new found hobby of hikes and climbing. Or maybe it’s the freedom to develop yourself in a direction that you choose to and a confidence that hard work will pay off in this country. Kamila noted the diversity of people concentrated in San Francisco makes it common to find people different from you. When being distinct from the rest of the crowd is so commonplace, people are empowered to do whatever they want and feel comfortable knowing they won’t be judged.

While those are all contributors to Kamila’s newfound sense of peace, the most significant has been a gradual shift in thinking over the years. In Poland, “because of the historic traumas, the traumas still feel alive” and she finds herself carrying the emotional baggage. For Kamila and those around her, the baggage manifested itself into a closed mindset. Living in the US, Kamila has started to develop a growth mindset. She shared, “It’s about asking how can I get to the point where I want to be, instead of asking what obstacles would I face along the way. Being solution focused.” Her time in the bay has allowed her to find the right people and, subsequently, the drive to accomplish anything.

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A word to other immigrants

Kamila’s biggest tip for fellow immigrants looking to make the move to the US is to apply their growth mindset to their immigration journey. It is so common for founders and builders to shoot for the stars when it comes to their business, but they don’t always apply the same sort of thinking to their immigration journeys. She states...

“Don’t set barriers for yourself. Step back and ask yourself does the barrier factually exist? Or did you create it?”