Make: Pioneer – Limor “Ladyada” Fried On WIRED Cover

Make: Pioneer – Limor “Ladyada” Fried On WIRED Cover

Engineer, kit maker, entrepreneur, MAKE advisory board member, open source hardware pioneer Limor “Ladyada” Fried is on April’s WIRED cover. This is the first female engineer to appear WIRED’s cover (as well as the first female engineer to appear on such a high-profile tech publication that I can recall).

I met Limor exactly five years ago at South by Southwest. She’s one of the most talented people in the world, she works harder than anyone else I know, she puts more value in the world than she takes.

Limor, everyone at MAKE is so happy for you. This is a milestone for makers, for women, for engineers, and anyone who makes things for a living. No one deserves the recognition and accolades more than you for all you’ve done and will do.

If you look at the media landscape at the moment, it’s interesting to see who we hold as heroes and role models. I took this photo in the bookstore, seeing Limor on the cover makes me think we collectively have a shot at making the world a better place, if we try.

“We are what we celebrate” – Dean Kamen.

54 thoughts on “Make: Pioneer – Limor “Ladyada” Fried On WIRED Cover

  1. Jonathan Danforth says:

    Memo to Wired: The “DIY Revolution” started a LONG time ago!

    1. Anonymous says:

      It was looking pretty scary in the 90’s, though. Ham radio was dying and it didn’t look like anyone was interested in doing much except assembling their own PCs. Glad to see the soldering irons plugged in again and loads of small suppliers catering to the Makers of the New Century. And unlike the 70s, there are now nerds of both genders! Makes you feel better about our future…

      1. Butts McKrakken says:

        Yeah, female nerds back in the 70’s would of been great. There are a lot of things that have gone down hill, but more females in science & engineering isn’t one of them!

  2. Shawn Connally says:

    This is SO great! Congrats, Limor, you totally deserve it!

  3. Anonymous says:

    Thank you, Limor. Thank you WIRED. Thank you, Phil for sharing the pic and the story with us. It’s a perfect representation of why it is so very awesome. 476 Ways To Look Great Everyday – really?!

    PS. Snooki…boo. Snooki straddling a rocket > makes sense – but still..boo.

    1. johngineer says:

      Snooki straddling a chimey exhaust vent. Excuse me, I think I just threw up a little.

  4. Anonymous says:

    I love the Rosie the Riveter bicep juxtaposed with the airheaded celebrities to the left and below.

  5. Anonymous says:

    Congrats! But where’s the iconic lip ring?

  6. Tim Canny says:

    Welcome to the band wagon Wired! We thought you’d never get here.

  7. Anonymous says:

    She is awesome. I wouldn’t have built two 303 clones without her =)

  8. T0rTr011 says:

    Wow, when did Lady Ada get cute? I like

  9. Steven Sprague says:

    AWESOME! You should have covered the other magazines with a copy of wired!

  10. johngineer says:

    The phrase “full of win” was created in anticipation of this cover. Congrats, LadyAda!

  11. Reece Sheppard says:

    Congrats to Limor, but that is one nastily airbrushed image. Wired, seriously? Oh, you can’t be a female role-model, geek or otherwise, without looking like you’re made of plastic

    1. Anonymous says:

      hi reece, that’s not accurate. i was at the photo shoot with limor and jill greenberg the photographer uses light and camera unlike anyone i’ve ever seen, her images are amazing and almost glisten – the wired photo is very very close the original, the background was changed to red and the tool in limor’s hand was added (it was a wrench). but other than that – when you have lighting, makeup and really dramatic lighting, this is how photos (can) look – i love it, i think it looks great and captured the moment perfectly.

      1. Tim Saylor says:

        Wow, I was going to call out the airbrushing too. That’s pretty amazing.

        1. Anonymous says:

          Grats to Limor! I have no doubt there was some photoshop trickery added (what cover photo isn’t?)… But this is the name of the game when it comes to selling, like it or not: Sex Sells. Wired has a history of this (in their defense sometimes there’s a legit reason ie: the recent “boob” cover talking about breast cancer)… but almost every issue sent in the mail to subscribers also contains a advert with a naked Jennifer Aniston. Sorry… I got off point… I just wanted to mention that this exact issue was also brought up on “Good magazine’s” blog: http://bit.ly/hENjCP

          1. Anonymous says:

            @cyenobite – limor has responded to this and the GOOD blog updated their post.

      2. Wayne Evans says:

        why is it hard to believe that Limor can glam up? She is hot in and outside of her skull…

        1. Christian says:

          I could not have said it better.

      3. Anonymous says:

        Even if it isn’t photoshopped I still don’t think it is very representative. Look at her skin, it is perfectly smooth and blemish free. I bet 99% of the women in the world don’t have skin that good.

        To be fair it isn’t really anything to do with Limor being a woman; they do the same to men. Still just as bad though. It isn’t a bad idea for an image, obviously influenced by propaganda from WW2 when women had to take on manufacturing and engineering jobs traditionally done by men.

        What I do find interesting is the social aspect of hobby electronics and how she has been at the forefront of that. No-one really predicted the rise of internet social movements (including MySpace, Facebook, Twitter and the rest). Before this movement most sites were “look what I did” affairs, where as now we have a community that is more interested in sharing ideas and making technology accessible to people. I think it is fair to say that few can claim to have done more than Adafruit in this area.

      4. Michael Durham says:

        Best-looking girl on the whole newsstand!

      5. Dave Brunker says:

        A very classic picture. I can’t decide if she looks more like Mona Lisa with eyebrows or The Statue of Liberty.

  12. Dino Segovis says:

    I would have preferred a lab coat, the glasses AND the lip ring. Oh well… sex sells I guess.
    Congrats Limor AND Phillip. (You are part of the team that is Adafruit after all. :) )

    1. Anonymous says:

      this is 100% limor, she is amazing and she is the star

      1. Dino Segovis says:

        ok. Cograts Limor! :)

  13. Anonymous says:

    It is unfortunate, but if Limor looked like your typical model she would have been on the cover a long time ago…

  14. Anonymous says:

    It is unfortunate, but if Limor looked like Jessica Biel she would have been on the cover a long time ago…

  15. Anonymous says:

    It is unfortunate but if Limor looked like Jessica Biel, she would have been on magazine covers a long time ago…

  16. Josh Burroughs says:

    Big congrats to Limor, I really can’t think of a better spokesgeek for the current DIY/Maker revolution going on. First the FastCompany props and now the cover of Wired what’s next for the hat trick? My guess: a profile in The Economist’s next tech quarterly, they already did an impressive cover story on 3-D printing I would think interviewing the founder of Adafruit industries is logical follow up in stories on grassroots engineering.

    So am I the only one that doesn’t recognize anyone else on the other magazine covers?

    Cheers,

    Josh

    Also what the hell is a Snooki? Or am I better off not knowing?

  17. Ed Glasheen says:

    …and which of the 6 people (oops! 5 people and one Snooki) would be most useful in a post-apocalyptic world? Now that’s a rhetorical question! Although Jeter might be somewhat useful for clubbin’ them zombies…and Snooki would be safe from them (no brains)

  18. Anonymous says:

    So I have to read the magazine to read about what wired means by the DIY revolution I guess. DIY has always existed, and always will exist, DIY in itself isn’t revolutionary. With respect to Limor, Women DIYers, outside the “womanly” crafts is nothing really new. Limor, Jeri Ellsworth, and others are at a time the internet allows easy self publishing, wide distribution.

  19. Adam Eyring says:

    Got my copy today! It’s a good collection of articles about Limor and other Makers. She is very inspiring!

  20. Adam Eyring says:

    Got my copy today! It’s a good collection of articles about Limor and other Makers. She is very inspiring!

  21. Andy Sprake says:

    Limor makes things, happen!!!!

  22. Anonymous says:

    Isn’t the first step to true equality not playing up our gender? I get these vibes like they’re saying “look, a girl can do it too”

    1. Anonymous says:

      really? she’s the one of the top engineers in the maker world, regardless of gender. it’s still a wonderful milestone to celebrate that she’s on the cover.

    2. A Burns says:

      I’ve not read the piece (I’ve been looking for it on news stands in Ireland since last week), but I don’t those vibes at all. None of the text seems to indicate that, and the homage is iconic to both feminism and industry.

      I think when you’re next to magazines like Aprils Wired is that vibe is inevitable. Simply put, the same photo put on the cover of a magazine has different vibes when put on a newspaper cover or a book cover, because its surrounded by other magazines. Judge for yourself.

  23. A Burns says:

    I’m a little saddened to see the amount of male commenters clamouring to have their say on LadyAda’s appearance without showing any acknowledgement or interest in why she’s famous enough to be on the woman on the cover of a hacker tabloid. Y’know. Working smarter and harder than anyone else.

    She’s as close as you’ll get to meeting Tony Stark – only without all the string of character defects.

    Is a woman acting like a woman that unforgivable???

    1. Anonymous says:

      Hmm, if anything I’d say that more female engineers (including Limor) could do with acting a little MORE like a woman. I speak from experience, many of the female engineers I worked and attended school with did not even try to look like women…

      1. Arno Brosi says:

        Under which 1950’s rock did you crawl from?

        1. Anonymous says:

          Unfortunately, it is still the case where girls are not encouraged to pursue careers in science and engineering. Those that do are considered to be the “nerdy ones” who in many cases perpetuate the stereotype of the typical engineer.

          I do wish that one day we can look into a Social Sciences classroom and into an Engineering classroom and not be able to tell what kind of class it is just by looking at the students…

      2. A Burns says:

        How can a woman act more like a woman?
        That’s like saying water should act more like water.

  24. Tess Elliott says:

    I totally agree! I always feel sad when I hear young girls admiring models, or celebrities without any balancing role models for doing good work and learning how to think. As a maker myself, it gives me hope that more women will get recognition in the media. I really did think of “Wired” as a boys club sometimes. We really do have to encourage everyone to make and recycle if our world is going to change in any real way.

  25. Jamie Laing says:

    I don’t have many heroes, but LadyAda is one of them. I’m certain she’ll one day be regarded as one of the great engineers and educators of our time. The fact that she’s female and attractive is completely beside the point.

    Limor has made a tremendous effort to help us all, through extensive, patient explanations that demystify technology, through loving workmanship and attention to detail, through excellent and accessible design, and by just caring enough to be involved in what matters. I’ve built almost all of her projects and taken her many lessons to heart, and I just want to say “Thank you LadyAda, you’ve made my world a better place!”

    1. A Burns says:

      Agreed.

      Even though, because of her, there still will be acid techno in 2050. And I will still probably hate it : )

  26. Anonymous says:

    What we all need to do is to encourage our children (both boys and girls) to pursue the sciences and engineering. I can’t stand it when I hear parents say “oh but I was terrible at math and science too, that’s why she’s like that. But she’s a great athlete!”. Ugh.

    1. A Burns says:

      I think encouraging kids to do what they want, regardless of whether its ballet or nuclear physics, might be a better philosophy. When I see manic eyed parents dragging young girls to pagents and saying things like “Off course she loves it! I did it when I was her age and I loved it!” the primative part of my brain that still worries about sabre-tooth tigers kicks in and tells me “Get away, danger, DANGER.”

      I’d like to see more women in engineering, but I think there’s a danger of arbitrary judgement kicking in and young women going into a field they aren’t passionate about for the wrong reasons. That isn’t an improvement.

      Showing them why its awesome and inviting them to join in on the other hand, and then letting them decide for themselves (the hard part), and you never know. We might wind up with affordable flying cars yet : )

  27. Christian says:

    I just found this article.
    She is an example for all girls. I am going to show this article to my maker daughters (both love the Maker Faire in Detroit).

  28. First 20 years of Wired covers « adafruit industries blog says:

    […] When Ladyada was on the cover of WIRED, here were the other magazines on the stand at the time. We are what we celebrate. […]

  29. Ada Lovelace Day: Women in Maker Culture | MakerBridge says:

    […] Limor “Ladyada” Fried — The first female engineer to appear on the cover of WIRED magazine, Ladyada is the owner of Adafruit Industries, an online hub for tools and resources to help people of all ages and skill levels learn electronics. […]

  30. “We are what we celebrate” – June/July 2015 magazine covers (and more) #makerbusiness « Adafruit Industries – Makers, hackers, artists, designers and engineers! says:

    […] Previous:“We are what we celebrate” – May 2015 magazine covers (good news!) @smithmegan @WhiteHouseOSTP @marissamayer“We are what we celebrate” – March 2015 magazine covers in the “Business section”…Make: Pioneer on WIRED Cover. […]

  31. “We are what we celebrate” – August/September 2015 magazine covers (and more) #makerbusiness « Adafruit Industries – Makers, hackers, artists, designers and engineers! says:

    […] Previous:“We are what we celebrate” – June/July 2015 magazine covers (and more “MAKE” overview)“We are what we celebrate” – May 2015 magazine covers (good news!) @smithmegan @WhiteHouseOSTP @marissamayer“We are what we celebrate” – March 2015 magazine covers in the “Business section”…Make: Pioneer on WIRED Cover. […]

  32. Ada Lovelace Day: Women in Maker Culture » MakerBridge says:

    […] Limor “Ladyada” Fried — The first female engineer to appear on the cover of WIRED magazine, Ladyada is the owner of Adafruit Industries, an online hub for tools and resources to help people of all ages and skill levels learn electronics. […]

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