Austin

I’m a program manager at Google, and I worked on the accessibility engineering team with Ada.  My first day on the team (and at Google), I remember being very nervous as I went around meeting all of my new teammates and colleagues.  I remember when I met Ada, I was nervous not only because it was my first day, but also because I had never spoken with someone who uses the type of text to speech assistive technology that Ada was using then.  She turned around in her chair, smiled at me, and took a moment to type out her message.  She said, “Hi, Austin.  Great to meet you.  My apologies.  If I had known I was meeting someone new today, I would have worn better socks.”  It was such a light hearted statement that immediately put me at ease, and made me feel more comfortable on such a big and stressful day.  I only occasionally collaborated with Ada on some smaller projects on the team, but I will always remember her extremely witty sense of humor and incredibly inclusive attitude.  She was obviously very driven and passionate about her work, but she always took time to focus on the people around her and always made sure that everyone felt welcome.  She was such a fun person to interact with, and I will very much miss her brilliance and kindness on the team.