Speaker
Description
745,000 people die from overwork every year. 42-62% of IT infrastructure workers report burnout symptoms. 55% don't talk about it. This talk is personal. After surviving a suicide attempt driven by years of toxic work culture, I spent months turning my experience into research. The result: a study with 60+ sources documenting the structural causes of mental health crises in internet infrastructure - and what actually works against them.
From always-on culture and KPI terror to harassment at conferences and forgotten disaster-response volunteers: the data is clear. The solutions exist. What's missing is the will to act.
What will the TNC audience take away from your talk?
A culture that values mental health isn’t a luxury, it’s a foundation for sustainable innovation.
If we can engineer networks that span continents, we can also engineer workplaces where no one has to choose between their career and their wellbeing.
By introducing the ToxicFreeTech model—peer-to-peer support, anonymous mentorship, and culture audits for tech organizations—attendees will see how we can turn individual vulnerability into collective strength.
This talk goes beyond awareness, it calls for action. It challenges our community to recognize that mental health is infrastructure. Because the most important systems we maintain aren’t routers or servers, they’re the human minds that make innovation possible.
This session speaks directly to the TNC audience: network operators, researchers, and community builders, who are increasingly asked to “do more with less” while navigating constant digital change.
Attendees will:
• Recognize the warning signs of toxic work culture in their teams and organizations.
• Learn how to integrate mental health frameworks into everyday leadership and collaboration.
• Discover community-driven methods for peer support and sustainable team resilience.
• Reflect on how we, as a global research and education community, can redefine success beyond uptime and performance metrics.
The talk is designed to be emotional, grounded, and practical, combining authentic storytelling with applicable tools. It invites the audience not only to listen but to participate, reflect, and take action within their own networks.
| Are you a first time speaker at TNC? | Yes |
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