While searching for an internship last year, I stumbled upon the DCUX conference. I knew the organizer of the conference and reached out about volunteering for the conference and in return being able to attend the talks. It was an amazing networking and learning experience. During my time volunteering at the registration desk, I talked with the organizer, Vanessa Foss, about the lack of students at the event. I explained that this was a great networking experience, and I was learning so much about content strategy, information architecture, and user experience design. It seemed to me that maybe students weren’t attending because they didn’t know about the conference, or maybe it wasn’t designed to appeal to a broader range of people. I asked to be considered as the first-ever student co-chair for the 2021 Information Architecture conference that Vanessa also organized, so I could be involved in all of the decisions and make the conference more accessible to students.

In March, I was announced as the first student co-chair, and in May my work began. I have assisted with the budget for the conference, co-led the sponsorship initiative, and been the liaison between the conference and numerous iSchools. I hope to get schools to allocate money for their students to attend this conference. I have found that the people who attend this conference and are a part of this community are very passionate about guiding and assisting students who are trying to find their way. I hope to share this opportunity with my peers.

As a student co-chair, I have not only participated in all of the planning meetings, written budget requests, held meetings with program directors of iSchools, and co-led our finance team, but I have secured our opening and closing keynotes for the conference.

Rebekah Brusehoff is a 13-year-old transgender youth activist. She and her mother will be opening our conference by talking about how classification can either be empowering or detrimental when used to group and label people. She will demonstrate that you don’t need years and years of experience in the career world to be passionate and have important things to say.

Kathy Sierra created the award-winning Head First book series that has sold over 1 million copies. For more than 15 years Kathy helped large companies, small start-ups, non-profits, and educators rethink their approach to user experience, and to build sustainable, genuine customer loyalty. In 2007, Kathy made a high profile exit from the technology industry after being subjected to a sustained campaign of harassment that included doxxing and death threats. Now she will make her return at this conference to tell her story.

I have learned so much working on this conference, and I am so grateful to be working with such amazing people. I am excited to see how it all turns out in April 2021. If you’re interested please check out the conference website!