2025, year in review

TL;DR

This year was awesome, I success to do things and I wouldn't have expected to do, and I am very grateful for all the support I had this year, all the amazing friends I have, all the opportunities I had.

This year was also a year of learning and growth for me. Huge personal challenges that has pushed me to change, improve and be more confident in myself. Still a lot of work to do but I feel I'm on the right path.

My highlights for the year have been:

• Be Vice President of the Django Software Foundation (DSF)
• Meet the community all over the world
• Organized a devroom in FOSDEM
• Keynoting in few conferences
• First full solo travel trip
• See remote friends in real life
• retake drawing and creative skills

Volunteering and community

I attended and spoke at several conferences this year, which was a great experience for me. I did that not only to share my knowledge, promote Django and the DSF but also to see the community everywhere in the world.

As a DSF representative, it was important for me to be present and accessible in the community. It was also a good way to connect with people locally and get their feedback on how the DSF can better support them and things we could improve.

I have attended and/or spoken at:

• PyCon IT
• FOSDEM
• DjangoCon Europe
• DjangoCon Africa
• DjangoCongress JP (online)
• PyCon Africa (online)
• PyCon FR
• DjangoDay India
• PyLadiesCon (online)

Some others conferences I would have liked to attend but couldn't make it this year due to time or budget constraints but I was involved in some ways like EuroPython where I helped to get a community booth.

I gave my first keynote at PyCon IT, which was a huge milestone for me.

It was scary but also very rewarding. Thank you so much the organizing team for trusting me with this opportunity! My keynote was on raising awareness on accessibility.

Related to accessibility, with some friends we organized the first Inclusive Web Devroom. FOSDEM is a huge event in Europe and it was a great opportunity to bring more visibility to this important topic.

Still involved in my favorite community space, Djangonaut Space, where I helped as much as I can, and I switched to an advisor role this year due to my other commitments.

And one of my commitments was being Vice President of the DSF, which was a huge honor for me.

I tried my best to represent the community and help the DSF to achieve its mission. It's always hard to do all the things you have planned, especially as a volunteer, but I think we made some good progress this year.

I'm taking this opportunity to thank all the amazing people in the DSF board and all the volunteers who are doing an amazing job to support the community and the project. Specially, I want to thank the former DSF president, Thibaud Colas, who has been an excellent leader and teammate 💚

I hope to be able to continue to grow, improve and welcome people to the Django community and met other friends from all over the world. I will do my best to continue the DSF Member of the Month initiative, which is a great way to highlight the great people in our community and their contributions.

I'm sure there will be more to come in 2026!

Creative and personal projects

This year I realized I completely abandoned all the creative work I used to do, and I'm trying to get back into it because it's something I really enjoy and I'm a fairly creative person in general.

I retook drawing and painting, I really enjoy it, it's a good way for me to relax and express myself. I also want to try other creative things like photography, but I need to change my camera first, so if you have any recommendation, let me know!

I'm also trying to do some self-work, I think it's important to take care of yourself and work on your personal growth. I have been reading some books on this topic and it's really helpful for me. I want to keep doing this work and improve myself in many areas, I think it's important to be a better version of yourself to be able to help others too.

I hope to share some of my learnings and insights on this topic in the future, maybe in a blog post or something like that.

I'm also trying to learn new things, I have a long list of things I want to learn but I need to prioritize them.

Some of the things I want to learn in 2026 are:

• Improve my drawing skills
• Learn more about web accessibility
• Learn more about self-care and personal growth

Travel and experiences

This year I had the chance to travel a lot for conferences and personal trips. I love so much to travel and discover new places, cultures, and meet new people. It's always a great way for me to meet friends in real life too.

I have been to:

• Belgium
• France
• Greece
• Germany
• Ireland
• Italy
• India
• Netherlands
• Poland
• Tanzania
• United Kingdom
• United States of America

Some of those trips were for conferences, some were for work or for personal reasons, but all of them were great experiences for me. I realized I have been to almost all the continents this year, which is something I didn't expect to do when I started the year.

I also had the chance to do my first full solo travel trip, which was such an achievement for me!

I went first in Berlin in Germany completely alone, which was a bit scary but also very rewarding. Funily, I choose to go when there was a festival of lights I didn't know about, so I had the chance to see the city in a different way and it was really beautiful.

Then I went to India for DjangoDay India, which was also a lovely experience. I had the chance to meet many people from the community and discover the country. I stayed more days to visit other cities, from the north to the south, and it was really amazing.

I really want to go back to India, there is so much to see and discover there. It's a country where you either love it or hate it, but for me, it's a place that has a lot of charm and I really enjoy it.

Outside of Asia, I want to do more trips in Africa in the future. I discover Tanzania for the first time this year with DjangoCon Africa and it was amazing. I have written a blog post about my experience at the conference.

I really enjoyed the culture, the people, and the nature there. There are so many beautiful places to see and I want to discover more of them.

Europe is also a great place to travel, there are so many beautiful cities and countries to discover. Some pictures of my trips in Europe:

I have been to Americas too, but more in the north to visit family, I want to discover more of the south in the future.

I also experienced some things that I didn't expect to experience, like the breakup of my very long relationship, which was a really hard experience but I think it was also a good opportunity for me to grow and learn more about myself.

One thing I learned from all those travels and experiences is that it's important to be open to new things and take time to take care of yourself, especially when you are in a new place or going through a hard time.

Lessons and insights

I've learned a lot during the 2025's year, by trying things, going out of my comfort zone and making mistakes, of course.

I tried to be more close to what I really want which means improving myself in many topics. I improved my public speaking skills by giving talks in conferences. I improved my leadership skills by being Vice President of the DSF and other volunteering roles. I still have work to do but I'm proud of the progress I made.

I keep working on my communication skills, especially in English, and I feel a bit more comfortable now. I learned to think more about myself and my needs, still a work in progress but there are improvements.

I also learned a lot by meeting people and chatting with them, I have the chance to meet many amazing people this year and I'm really grateful for that.

I know that I'm really good at connecting people to each other, which is something I really enjoy and I want to keep doing it. I also learned that it's important to take care of yourself and work on your personal growth, I think it's important to be a better version of yourself to be able to help others too.

My favorite quote for this year was "Feel the fear and do it anyway" by Susan Jeffers, which is a great reminder for me to keep trying new things and not be afraid of failure.

My quote for 2026 is "Try more things, take more risks, embrace more discomfort" by Peter McKenzie, which is a reminder for me to keep improving myself in many areas and be ok with the fact of not being comfortable.

Reminder to myself

2025 I keep trying things I wasn't comfortable with. 2026, Tim Schilling recently asked me what would be my theme for this year, I think it would be "letting go and self-love" as I want to keep improving myself in many areas.

It's a long road but I'm confident. It will not be easy but I'm not alone and it can just help me to be a better version of myself and be able to help others too.

Piece of advice to tell for this new year:

• Keep trying, making mistakes is not that bad
• Practice is important to be good at something
• Be kind to yourself
• Letting go of what doesn't serve you anymore
• Focus on what matters to you
• Celebrate your progress, no matter how small
• Take time for self-care and reflection
• Embrace change and be open to new opportunities

Do what makes you happy and fulfilled, and don't be afraid to change your path if it doesn't feel right anymore.

I hope this year will be a good one for you, and I wish you all the best for 2026!