They built the chapters, created projects and libraries,
organised meetups, welcomed newcomers, and made spaces
where people could belong.
Most of their stories are never told.
PyBabies exists to preserve those stories.
Each series begins with interviews and becomes a collection of illustrated zines, collectible figures, collector cards, and keepsakes inspired by the communities they built.
Why it exists
They survive on oxygen. They survive on recognition, support, and momentum.
Behind every thriving project or community are people whose stories are rarely told. The founders, organisers, and maintainers whose work shapes the ecosystem quietly.
PyBabies exists to bring those stories into the light through collectibles, storytelling, and community support.
How it works
Founders or community builders of the featured project is interviewed.
Their story becomes short-form content and collectible art.
A PyBabies series is released.
25% of profits go back to the featured project or chapter.
What PyBabies proves
Supporting open source can be tangible.
Storytelling can fund communities.
A business can strengthen the ecosystem it depends on.
Stories are infrastructure.
For years, I’ve organised events and watched communities take shape. Some grew quickly. Some fractured. Some rebuilt themselves from almost nothing. Again and again, the same pattern appeared: people giving enormous parts of their lives to create spaces for others, then quietly disappearing from the story once those spaces succeeded. That stayed with me. While co-hosting PyPodCats with Mariatta, Cheuk, Tereza, and Mojdeh, I kept noticing how many paths into Python never make it into the record. Every conversation revealed another founder, organiser, or maintainer whose work shaped the ecosystem without headlines. A podcast could surface those stories. It couldn’t support the people behind them. PyBabies grew from that gap. Each series begins with interviews and becomes something you can hold: illustrated zines, collectible figures, collector cards, small archives of work that changed communities. Part of the revenue goes back to the chapter or project behind each story. Not as charity. As recognition. I don’t know yet if this model will work. But I do know the stories matter. The people matter. And communities don’t survive on visibility alone. This project is structured as a business on purpose. Volunteer labour should not have to survive on goodwill forever. Sustainability has to include the people doing the sustaining. AI helps with parts of the process. But the stories themselves come from the community. The art from human creativity. PyBabies is my way of keeping those names visible a little longer, and returning something tangible to the people who built the spaces many of us now stand in.
