Zoe entered the world of hackathons as a volunteer for nwHacks during her first year at university. As anyone who has attended nwHacks can all attest to, the energy is quite infectious. After just one, she was hooked and applied to be on the organizing team for the next year. 

She hit the ground running and organized three more nwHacks, working in various roles including director. She went on to become president of nwPlus, the organization and club that facilitates events for tech enthusiasts. During her presidency, she rebranded the club which was previously known as StartupStorm and helped to make it the go-to organization for all things hacker related. 

It was then that she worked to expand the amount of coding opportunities nwPlus offered to students. She worked with the UBC Local Hack Day organizers to learn how she could better support their efforts, promoted hackathons where students could get travel reimbursements on social platforms, and worked on helping to expose more people to hackathons. 

This is what led to the creation of cmd-f, Vancouver’s first all-female* (*and non-gender-conforming) hackathon. It was founded with three core values in mind: Women* helping women*, building confidence and positive STEM identities, and learning. Putting it together in a little over a month, the event had over 150+ hackers and was a success.

Zoe has never completed a hackathon project but hopes that cmd-f counts. Zoe explains, “I founded cmd-f in the hopes that this event could help women* find a community, find their confidence and passion in the tech industry, and really, just find a place that helps them learn.” Through hackathons, Zoe has found a passion for education and building communities.