Tomorrow, Tech Girl is exactly one year old. I wasn’t going to write a soppy post but you know what? I want to celebrate a blog birthday. I write most of the content for this site on Sundays. I give up a huge chunk of my time to keep pouring myself into this blog and what it is. It has become a bit like a child. Much like a child, sometimes I hate it and want to pack it all in but, for the most part, I’m proud of what I’ve done with it. There’s been no blood but there has been sweat, lack of sleep and tears (usually from laughing but there have been a few sad ones too).
My end goal has always been to build a community of normal South African women who have even a small interest in tech. A place where we can chat about gadgets, giggle and add a bit of glamour. It’s not a big blog but there is definitely a small community. I am so incredibly grateful that you’re part of it: that you visit, that you read what is on here and that sometimes you even chat to me on social media or drop me an email.
You are the only reason Tech Girl exists and you’re the only reason I do this. It’s why when I meet you in real life I have to control the urge to randomly hug you for fear of creeping you out (consider that your warning).
One year on I have a few people I need to thank. That’s what this post is for so bear with me. There is a really good chance I’ve forgotten people I should be thanking. I’m sorry in advance. I tried to remember everyone.
I’d like to thank you again. I know I just did that but take the second one as well.
To the amazing men and women who have, in some way, contributed to this site: Anne, Candice, Gbemi, Jade, Lauren, other Lauren, Lexie, Lou, Louisa, Pixie, Ruby, other Sam, Tamarin, Tash, Ricki and Zoe. Mad love for you all.
You’ll notice I left Marco out of that list. That’s because I wanted him to have his own line. Marco joined Tech Girl recently to show the world that gaming and Gaga can go together. He is such a dedicated writer who is so incredibly passionate about what he does. Marco has this giant kind heart and I have a giant pile of articles of his that I still haven’t got round to posting. He is constantly bashing at those keys and I don’t know what I did before him.
I also left Tanya Kovarsky off that initial contributor list as well. That’s because Tanya doesn’t only regularly contribute to Tech Girl but she was also an instrumental part of its inception – playing my blogger mentor in a way and always making herself available to help me when I had questions or wasn’t sure of stuff. Her favourite line to me has always been “just ignore everyone else and do your own thing.” I still say that line to myself regularly.
I have this great group of friends and family who leave me alone on Sundays and have given up on seeing me as much as they did. Anne (again), Sarah, Tash (again), Tam (again), Rosemary, Trav and Grant – I’m hoping this public declaration of thanks will get me a free pass on all those times I couldn’t come out. My family, you’re stuck with me either way. Sorry.
I have to thank Mike Sharman from Retroviral, Kirsty Sharman and the entire Webfluential team. Your platform taught me how to monetise my blog and the advice and tips you share are always so useful. Every blogger should sign up to Webfluential.
The brands that have taken a risk and advertised on a niche market newbie blog – thanks for being early adopters and thinking outside the box.
To every PR person and marketing exec behind the brands that Tech Girl has worked with… especially those who jumped on board this time a year ago when I sent out a mail saying “hey, here’s a blog with zero readers and zero social media following, let’s chat”. You’re a rad group of humans.
Thank you to Liron Segev who reminded me in the beginning of this journey to be myself and not get sucked in to the generic “we don’t know if we’re a blog or a news site” place. All your advice has been appreciated. To Gav from Lazygamer for helping me with serious coding stuff. He’s delightful in real life I swear! Also thanks to Devon Stanton for being a sounding board and for trying to encourage me to make my YouTube videos “professional”. I now use a tripod when filming:
A final thanks to my day job who lets me take unpaid leave to sometimes do rad things relating to this space and remind me daily that I am not very techie nor do I know very much about engineering. You guys are smart. Also to Domains.co.za – the best hosting site a girl could pay for. Moving forward I promise to not send you emails on a Sunday morning asking you to fix my experiments (I might not be entirely committed to keeping that promise).
Finally, thank you to my granddad who read this blog from the day it started. Who told me he didn’t understand what I was on about but still read weekly and subscribed to our newsletter (he was the first!). Thank you for always encouraging me, no matter how kooky you thought the idea was. I’m going to desperately miss your emails weighing in on what we post on this site. I love you. Xx
