Last month, when I was in San Francisco covering the Red Hat Summit, I realized the president of the Gnome Foundation also lived in the area. We connected on WhatsApp and decided to meet for dinner. Nuritzi Sanchez has been involved with open source for more than six years as part of the Endless Computers team. She joined the Gnome Foundation in 2015, and then in 2016, she was elected as the president of the project.

As a newcomer, she finds herself in a unique position. "I have been here only for six years, which is nothing," said Sanchez, "Being a newcomer myself, I can see how important it is to be very welcoming to people who don't have a long history with the project." Gnome, which was founded in 1997, is over 20 years old, and some developers have been around since the beginning. "It's great that we have these veterans who are our North Star regarding what free software should be. You have to have that spectrum," she said. "We also need new users."

As the technology landscape is changing, traditional venues (such as Linux User Groups) that used to bring new users to Linux are disappearing. "I can still identify with many people who haven't really used free software before. I see myself as a bridge, especially for women," she said. "I've noticed that people feel they can approach me easily, and I tend to be a friendly face in general. I have been able to connect with these people."

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