We’re excited to announce that the first-ever class of Platform Agnostic kicks off today. Mentors and mentees have been added to the Slack group, and we’re pleased to share the pairings for our inaugural batch below.
Starting today, our mentees and mentors will convene about an hour a week based on their schedules and preferences. The program will officially end in six months and we will circle back here with a progress report from our graduates and their mentors on September 1st. In the meantime, program directors will be checking in with every participant to ensure each individual feels they are getting what they need and are supported throughout the process.
The Slack group offers an avenue for everyone to get additional help and resources when they need, and will hopefully be a thriving community for all participants in time. We’re excited to learn how to improve the program for future iterations and can’t wait to see what the future holds for our inaugural class of mentees!
Carlos Lima and Sherri L. Smith
Carlos (he/him) is a lifelong technophile who loves helping people get the most out of their gadgets. This all started with an old IBM computer and figuring out how to get school assignments done on WordPerfect. Since then, he has gone on to work in various tech-oriented roles ranging from data entry to device repair and information technology. In addition to consumer tech, Carlos has an interest in architecture and urban planning.
Julia Mercado and Anthony Ha
Julia (she/her) is a freelance writer and creator of Alternatakes, a TV and movie review blog that looks at online media from another perspective. When she’s not writing about TV and movies, she’s probably making presentations about why her favorite characters are so amazing.
Luc Gore and Dieter Bohn
Luc (he/him) is a first-generation freshman at California State University, Sacramento. He’s a hobbyist photographer and a video-editor, specializing in Adobe Premiere, Vegas Pro, and AVID Media Composer. As a nerd at heart, he enjoys talking about Google and Apple smartphones, IoT devices, computers, streaming services, and pop culture
Pete Sheppard and Roger Cheng
Pete (he/him) has always been enthusiastic about tech and gadgets, since losing his vision 17 years ago. He likes to see what devices are accessible to the visually impaired “Out of the box” or how perhaps with minor changes it might be possible for them to become accessible.
Eric Chiu and Alan Henry
Eric (he/him) is a staff writer at CableTV.com, where he writes about internet and TV providers. Previously, he worked as a local news reporter and technology copywriter.
Christopher Reardon and Florence Ion
A brain tumor survivor since the age of 8, and handicapped since the age of 10, Chris (he/him) is now 34. He fell in love with creative writing after writing a poem about his struggles in the 7th grade. Since then, he has self-published five books. After 2 years at The University of Arizona, he graduated from Stonehill College in 2009, and earned his Master’s degree in English in 2011 from Salem State University. He now lives in Beverly, Massachusetts.
Cornel Waugh and Daniel Howley
Cornel (he/him) is a Canadian citizen who currently works in the shipping and logistics industry as a driver. He has been passionately interested in Tech ever since he was a little guy begging his dad to install an extra 2 megabytes of RAM so he could play obscure text-based adventure games like The Dagger of Amon Ra and Hero’s Quest.
Note: Unfortunately, one of our mentees Bruna Fernandes Guimarães had to drop out of the program due to personal reasons. We wish her all the best and hope to work with her in future.