You didn’t get last week’s SiSEO newsletter because, quite frankly, I got a little overwhelmed toward the end of last week.
Somewhere around once a year Samantha and I have to moderate posts, and last week I had to close comments on two of them 
It all started when a conference was called out for not having any female speakers – an all too common issue in our industry, as I’m sure you’re aware.
Understandably so, several of us brought out our (metaphoric) pitchforks.
Then, there was another post defending the conference organizers.
Very quickly, my DMs were hit with SiSEO members defending the organizers.
They were advocating for saving the pitchforks for another day because the organizers are legit, and at least two SiSEO group members had been asked to speak but couldn’t attend.
At the same time, I received DMs from people advocating that not only should we keep the pitchforks out – but has anyone thought of lighting the pitchforks on fire, too?
Again, speaking metaphorically here.
Please keep in mind, I know NONE of the people associated with the conference in question.
Honestly, I'd never heard of any of them before this controversy.
The comments and engagement in the group were set to hit a tipping point, so I shut it all down.
I’m bringing all this up because:
- More of us should be invited to speaking engagement parties
- It’s lazy and short-sighted (at best…outright bigoted, at worst) of conference organizers to NOT actively seek diversity in their speakers
- Women in Tech SEO has an entire page on their site dedicated to non-dudebro speakers, which you can also submit your speaker profile to. This is a killer resource!
Like many of you reading this, I still need to submit my profile to the Women in Tech SEO speaker page.
Until I do, I’ll hold off on complaining about not being invited to speaking engagements.
Do you know of other places group members should be submitting speaker profiles?
If so, hit reply to this email to let me know – I’ll include the resources in future emails 
Speaking of Speaking Engagements…
I’m actively working on putting together an SiSEO retreat 
I’m also seeking corporate sponsors to bring Diversity & Inclusion training to all Sisters in SEO members (free of charge, but I need a sponsor to help cover the cost of the instructor).
We can do better, and I’d love to partner with a company in the SEO space to make this group education opportunity possible.
If you can help with this vision, please respond to this email!
A little something special for my fellow neurodivergent peeps 
Briar Harvey is a long-time group member, and I absolutely love her social media posts.
At some point, I signed up for her emails and…wow. Briar brings the realness.
If you’re neurodivergent (some of my favorite SiSEOs are – personally, I’m on team ADHD, PTSD and Anxiety Like Woah), I highly recommend that you sign up for her email list.
Looking for work? A TON of new #jobopps have been posted in SiSEO 
These include multiple full-time positions, as well as contract opportunities (we’ve got everything from 6-figure salaries to one-off project work).
To find these opportunities, go to the SiSEO Facebook group and search for #jobopp.
Be sure to filter for the most recent, so you can see the latest posts (instead of just the most popular).
There’s SO MUCH MORE to cover from the last two weeks in the group, but I’ll save it for the next email.
Before I go, I want to take a minute to point out that according to Facebook, over 50 members of Sisters in SEO are in Ukraine.
If you’d like to donate to one of many approved charities to help, Ahrefs will double-match your donation with a subscription increase (as if we needed another reason to love Ahrefs).
"For any amount donated to https://savelife.in.ua/en/donate/ or another approved charity in Ukraine, we'll extend your Ahrefs subscription for double of that.”
Click here for more info – H/T to SEO superstar and all-around badass Kayle Larkin for the heads up on this.
Please take a minute to send some good energy to the people of Ukraine, and help with a donation if you can 
