Jessica Upani discovered the open source programming language Python at the PyCon Namibia conference in 2015. She was a mathematics and computer science student at the University of Namibia at the time, but her school work focused mostly on Java. “The conference was free, so I thought ‘why not?’” she says. By the end of the four-day conference, she had learned enough to write a small program. “I loved that I could build something so fast,” Upani says. “And I loved the community. I wanted to share that experience with others.” So she founded PyLadies Namibia, a chapter of an international group dedicated to supporting women in Python through mentoring, workshops, meetups, and other events. Today Upani is part of the PyLadies Global Council, working to bring the joy of Python to women around the world through its more than 90 active chapters in more than 33 countries.