In October of this year Yahoo host Open Hack Day in NYC. It was a cool event, they had great speakers (including a keynote from Clay Shirky); they also provided space, resources, and food to those who wanted to compete in an overnight coding competition. They had workshops, and cool exhibits (like the Makerbot 3d printer using icing). They had amazing food that included a hot dog stand and Stella (my favorite beer). It was a great experience, I didn't get to catch many of the talks, but I did get to speak to other developers, meet some fine folks, and learn much about Yahoo's dev tools.
In our welcome pack we got a bag, which included our schedule, a toolkit for "hacking," and a bag of toiletries for those of us that decided to stay the night. The bag included things like soap, toothbrush, toothpaste, deodorant...etc. It was a great idea, and nice of Yahoo to consider the developer's personal hygiene.
Thinking I could use the soap or the lotion included I threw my kit in my gym bag. I've taken to working out before heading into the coworking space I work out of some days recently. The week before last I was at my gym, freshly showered and about to put work clothes on when I realized I had forgotten to grab deodorant. I remembered I had that little Hack Day toiletry kit and I remembered the deodorant inside. I have used men's deodorant in a tight spot before, I figured I would just make due. I automatically assumed it would be men's deodorant, I mean, this was a coding competition?
It wasn't! It was scentless gender neutral deodorant. I know it's dumb, but this surprised me greatly and made me feel included. I know there was some scandal involving the Hack Day in Taiwan and female dancers, however, the Hack Day in New York was a smashing success and whomever planned the goodie bag is awesome.
So, thanks, Yahoo, for thinking of the ladies as few as we may be.
