Katherine 'Kati' Michel is featured as the Django Software Foundation member of the month for July 2026. Kati shares her journey from government work to software engineering at JPMorganChase, her long involvement with DjangoCon US as website chair and DEFNA board member, and her thoughts on Django's future. She highlights favorite libraries like django-silk, htmx with django-template-partials, and django-ninja, and discusses how DjangoCon US has evolved in diversity and inclusion over the years. She also offers advice on public speaking and contributing to open source communities.
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Can you tell us a little about yourself? (hobbies, education, etc)How did you start using Django?What other framework do you know and if there is anything you would like to have in Django if you had magical powers?What projects are you working on now?Which Django libraries are your favorite (core or 3rd party)?What are the top three things in Django that you like?I'm curious, how did you started to contribute to DjangoCon US? Do you have any advice for someone who might be considering joining the board of directors if the opportunity arose?You have been a speaker, an organizer of DjangoCon US, and a member of DEFNA’s board of directors. Having observed the conference from many different perspectives over a period of time, how do you think DjangoCon US has evolved?You have been a speaker multiple times, do you have any advice for someone considering starting speaking one day?After so many times in the Django community, what makes you stay?How do you envision the future of Django from your perspective?Do you remember your first contribution to Django and in open source? (Can be Django ecosystem, code contribution or not)What are your hobbies or what do you do when you’re not working?Is there anything else you’d like to say?332 Impressions