Boston, MA – Fairwinds, the leading provider of Kubernetes security, policy and governance software backed by a suite of services and open source tooling, has awarded another three scholarships to the Turing School of Software and Design. The company has always fostered a culture of inclusivity, and, further motivated by the Movement for Black Lives, chose to contribute to the Turing School to drive more equity in tech. To date, Fairwinds has provided six scholarships to Turing students, specifically for students who identify as Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC).
“We believe it’s extremely important for both students and organizations to ensure that our technology community is diverse, inclusive, and brings forward the robust talent that might not otherwise get into technology,” said Bill Ledingham, CEO of Fairwinds. “The scholarships we have funded are for both tuition and cost-of-living fees and are supporting really bright, very talented students who are the software developers, leaders, and investors of tomorrow. We are thrilled to be involved and are very proud of the scholarship recipients.”
The newest Fairwinds Scholarships to the Turing School have been provided to:
Lourdes – A queer, Latinx woman of color from a mixed-immigration status family, Lourdes has continually overcome challenges navigating higher-education as a first-generation student. Her approach to problem-solving and finding solutions despite barriers has led her to change careers and pursue her interest in software development while working to avoid the cyclical nature of poverty.
Marla – A proud Venezuelan woman who left an abusive marriage, Marla is passionate about the intersection of technology and dance, and hopes to support the construction of arts and cultural resilience in communities. She is most interested in creating accessible software that lets communities and artists produce work with limited budgets.
Natalia – An immigrant from Guatemala who experienced cultural, gender and racial discrimination, Natalia is leaving a career as an adolescent case worker with her local public health department to pursue a career in software development. She was inspired by the COVID-19 pandemic and wants to help push the software development industry forward toward better representation, accessibility, inclusivity, and power sharing.
Fairwinds funded three previous scholarships to the Turing School, including one for Cydnee, who was able to work as a paid intern at Fairwinds as a result of her work at Turing. Cydnee recently finished her internship at Fairwinds after securing full-time employment as a software engineer, and credits her practical work and on-going support from her teammates at Fairwinds with helping her secure her new position.
“You can use Google and YouTube to learn, but without real life examples, it’s hard to put skills into play,” said Cydnee. “I was excited to get the Fairwinds paid internship so I could get hands-on experience with Kubernetes, AWS and Docker. This exposure enabled me to feel comfortable accepting my new position. The people at Fairwinds make the company. It’s a team of really good people that encourage and support each other to build amazing technology.”
Darren Smith, Turing’s Financial Services Manager who works closely with incoming students said, “We regularly see students who are fiercely committed to pursuing careers as software developers despite tremendous barriers. Lourdes, Marla, and Natalia are wonderful examples of students who continually push to find a way around those barriers. The Fairwinds scholarships are critical to helping these women further their education so they can bring their diverse backgrounds and perspectives forward into the software they create.”
In addition to funding scholarships, Fairwinds has partnered with the Turing School’s Black @ Turing student group to elevate networking and employment opportunities for Black students.
