If you donโt know who Becky Stern is, itโs not her fault. Sheโs prolific. Sheโs worked atย Make:, Adafruit, places of higher learning, and given talks all over the nation. Any decent write up of her work could easily take up a small novella, or a shelf worth of alternative yet action packed zines. But for those of you very new to the scene, hereโs the skinny version.
We love Becky, and not just because we were contractually obligated to back when she worked at Make:ย making rad video. There’reย too many to even get started, but hereโs a small 3-hour selection. She was doing awesome things before she came to Make:, and sheโs doing awesome things now (which is why we still post cool stuff from her, like this GPS watch.)
Since I joined make after she left, I only met Becky at Maker Faire New Yorkย 2013, where she called me out on wearing the same code as her. Despite the fact that she then posted a photo for public shaming, she was kind and pleasant and generally fun to be around. But Iโd heard of her at least as far back as 2008. ย If you were on the internet that year, you probably came across her bizarre-as-it-is-brilliant Compubody Sock.ย Perfect for knit-happy introverts in your life.
But it was the TV-B-Gone hoodie that got me excited about wearable electronics, showing off her talent for blending thread and wires as if people had been doing it for ages. Sheโs now Director of Wearable Electronics at Adafruit, with 82 guides and counting. And itโs solid stuff. From teardowns ย to ties, she does amazing wearable electronics work, including working on stuff for the FLORA (the most popular soft-circuits arduino-compatible product line that Iโm aware of [feel free to call me out – Iโd love to know of others]). And she somehow manages to make them impressively geeky, while stepping way over socially acceptable into freaking awesome.
Hereโs to more wonderful things.
New fans and students hunting the internet for research purposes would do well to check out herย bioย on Adafruit.
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