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128          VM (Vicky) Brasseur
129          <span class="site-subtitle">corporate strategist, open source &amp; technical leader, author, speaker</span>
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132              <a href="/resume.pdf" title="My current resume">Resume</a>
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248    <meta itemprop="headline" content="About">
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256          <h1 id="page-title" class="page__title" itemprop="headline">About
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263        
264        <p><em>Jump to: <a href="#about-me">About me</a>, <a href="#bio">Bio</a>, <a href="#really-short-bio">Really short bio</a>, <a href="#contact">Contact</a></em></p>
265
266<h2 id="about-me">About me</h2>
267
268<p><img src="/assets/images/me.jpg" alt="Selfie of me" width="150" align="left" style="margin-right:15px; margin-bottom:15px;" />I’ve spent much of my twenty-plus years in the tech industry leading software development departments and team

268s, providing technical management and leadership consulting for small and medium businesses, and helping companies understand, use, release, and contribute to free and open source software in a way that’s good for both their bottom line and for the community.</p>
269
270<p><a href="https://fossforge.com"><img src="https://www.vmbrasseur.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/vbopens-cover-small-250x300.jpg" alt="Book Cover: Forge Your Future with Open Source" width="150" align="right" style="margin-left:1em;margin-bottom:1em;" /></a>I am the author of two books:</p>
271
272<ol>
273  <li><em>Forge Your Future with Open Source</em>, the first book to detail how to contribute to free and open source software projects. Think of it as the missing manual of open source contributions and community participation. It’s available as <a href="https://fossforge.com" title="A link to go buy my first book!">eBook</a>, <a href="https://bookshop.org/p/books/forge-your-future-with-open-source-build-your-skills-build-your-network-build-the-future-of-technology-brasseur/6388560?ean=9781680503012">paper book</a>, and <a href="https://pragprog.com/titles/a-vbopens/forge-your-future-with-open-source/">audiobook</a></li>
274  <li><a href="https://fossbiz.com" title="A link to go buy my second book!"><em>Business Success with Open Source</em></a>. Free and open source software (FOSS) is the whetstone of the cutting edge. Your company is almost certainly using FOSS right now, whether you know it or not. Discover how to use, contribute to, and release open source projects effectively and strategically for your business with this book.</li>
275</ol>
276
277<p>Both books are published by <a href="https://pragprog.com" title="Go to the Pragmatic Bookshelf">The Pragmatic Programmers</a>.</p>
278
279<p>Over the years I’ve founded and lead some useful but non-standard free/open source projects, including the <a href="https://fossgovernance.org">FOSS Governance Collection</a> (founder and maintainer), <a href="https://flossfoundations.org">FLOSS Foundations website and directory</a> (admin, moderator, and maintainer), and the <a href="https://github.com/vmbrasseur/Public_Speaking">Public Speaking Repo</a>. I’m a frequent advisor for FOSS projects and communities, including for national organisations such as <a href="https://openuk.uk">OpenUK</a>.</p>
280
281<p>I’m a frequent and popular <a href="https://www.vmbrasseur.com/presentations/">public speaker</a> and have presented several international keynotes.</p>
282
283<p>Currently I live in lovely Oregon with my amazing cats, <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/vmbrasseur/tags/osgood/">Osgood</a> and <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/vmbrasseur/tags/basil/">Basil</a>. I am not interested in relocating.</p>
284
285<h1 id="bio">Bio</h1>
286
287<p>VM (aka Vicky) spent most of her nearly thirty years in the tech industry leading software development departments and teams, providing corporate strategy, technical management, and leadership consulting for businesses, helping companies understand, use, release, and contribute to free and open source software in a way that’s good for both their bottom line and for the community.</p>
288
289<p>She is the author of <a href="https://fossforge.com"><em>Forge Your Future with Open Source</em></a> and <a href="https://fossbiz.com"><em>Business Success with Open Source</em></a>, both published by <a href="https://pragprog.com">Pragmatic Bookshelf</a>. She’s currently honored to serve as Chief Program Officer for <a href="https://openrobotics.org">Open Robotics</a>.</p>
290
291<h1 id="really-short-bio">Really short bio</h1>
292
293<p><a href="https://vmbrasseur.com">VM (Vicky) Brasseur</a> is an award-winning free/open source advocate and corporate strategist, international keynote speaker, and writer. She’s the author of <a href="https://fossforge.com">Forge Your Future with Open Source</a> and <a href="https://fossbiz.com">Business Success with Open Source</a>, both published by <a href="https://pragprog.com">Pragmatic Bookshelf</a>. Aside from articles in <a href="https://www.vmbrasseur.com/publications-interviews/">various publications</a>, she also writes about FOSS, business, and their intersection on her blog, <a href="https://anonymoushash.vmbrasseur.com">{anonymous =&gt; ‘hash’};</a>. She’s honored to serve as Chief Program Officer for <a href="https://openrobotics.org">Open Robotics</a>.</p>
294
295<h1 id="contact">Contact</h1>
296
297<p>There are innumerable ways to get in touch with me, but the most effective is to send email to <code class="highlighter-rouge">contact@</code> at my domain.tld (<code class="highlighter-rouge">vmbrasseur.com</code>).</p>
298
299<p>Zoom, Signal, Facetime, and other contact points available upon request.</p>
300
301<p>I almost never see or respond to Mastodon DMs or Linkedin messages. I am no longer on Twitter. Seriously, just email me.</p>
302
303<h1 id="stuff-i-use">Stuff I use</h1>
304
305<p>I maintain a list of hardware and software that I use over on <a href="/uses">this page</a>.</p>
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316          <p class="page__date"><strong><i class="fas fa-fw fa-calendar-alt" aria-hidden="true"></i> Updated:</strong> <time datetime="2026-08-11">August 11, 2026</time></p>
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382Unless otherwise stated, all content is licensed under the <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike v4.0 International license</a>. <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/"><img alt="Creative Commons License" style="border-width:0" src="https://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-sa/4.0/88x31.png" /></a>
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