Emily first joined the hacker community when she switched her major from mechanical engineering to computer science. She didn't know anyone in her major, but she was yearning to connect with others and learn about the possibilities of her new major. 

Emily felt inspired by the overwhelming amount of support and inspiration she found within the hacker community, especially when building her project at the TwitchCon Hackathon. She knew she wanted to have the same impact on others and was motivated to take up an opportunity to help her immediate community of women and fellow hackers by organizing Rose Hack, the first women-centric hackathon in the Inland Empire area of California. Her team was comprised of smart and creative women she had met. 

The experience of organizing Rose Hack opened up Emily’s eyes to what a community could really do for those who need that sense of belonging to find their identity as a hacker. From the hackathon alone, she was able to hear firsthand how meaningful it was to attendees to feel seen and acknowledged, especially when they won prizes. It was like seeing a group of students turn into real hackers overnight, not because of their wins but because of their newfound confidence.

Organizing a 24-hour hackathon in less than a year helped her land a job as a Program Manager at Microsoft. Organizing Rosehacks built her leadership skills, and taught her how to manage projects with different moving parts.

Her favorite project she ever made was a sentiment analyzer using the Twitch chat. The hackathon took place at TwitchCon where all the projects created were related to Twitch. This project was an intersection of two things Emily is passionate about: gaming and streaming culture.