It Takes All Kinds to Do This Work
Hi all,
Despite the political winter in which we find ourselves, spring is beckoning, ready to burst forth with fresh blooms and a new, warmer kind of energy. We here at Apiary are grateful for that transition, for the shift in the temperature and the emergence of greenery. And thankfully, as of yesterday, Mercury is no longer in retrograde! We made it, fam!
As part of our continued focus on all the unique ways in which Apiary is offering technical assistance to our community, this month, we’re featuring a Q&A with our Canadian Jane-of-All-Trades who solves the tech problems we didn’t even know we had, our Digital Strategy Lead, Jordan Myles! Jordan’s journey to Apiary and this work is unique, and so is her perspective. As we know, it takes all kinds to make the Hive thrive. We are so grateful to Jordan for all she has done and for dropping some essential pearls of wisdom.
What is your professional background?
All of my “career” jobs have been at small start-ups or small public companies. It was me and maybe one or two other people or a small team, so it was always normal for me to work wherever I was needed at a given time. My role was to be the octopus with many arms because I was in all departments—IT, Product Development, Customer Support, Finance, Communications, Operations, etc,. Titles have never really been that meaningful for me because my role has always shifted based on needs at the time and holes that need to be filled. Calling me the Marketing Coordinator while I’m analyzing financial models, finding errors in lines of code, and creating templates for our customer support requests but also designing our social media posts was always hard to explain.
Today, the larger portion of my role at Apiary is tech-related but I was never formally trained in technology or programming. I went to school originally for business, but I figured out that by jerryrigging the curricula with an international development studies degree that I could get two degrees in six years. I haven’t really taken any tech-related courses, but like most of the things I do, I just learned it all by being the only person there to do it and doing a lot of Googling/watching YouTube videos.
What was your path to Apiary?
When the Supreme Court Dobbs decision happened, my job at the time had a lot of projects on hold so I had a lot of free time. I was sitting in my little Canadian palace up here and I was angry, thinking about what I would do if I was in a situation where I couldn’t get an abortion if I wanted one. I was trying to find out if there was a way for me to help if people needed to cross the border to get care, when I found Apiary’s webpage that essentially said “No, abortion seekers don’t want to stay at your house!” I liked the concept of Apiary and the multiplier effect they could have by helping so many organizations that help folks across the country. So I emailed the contact email saying that I had a lot of free time and an array of skills if they needed any help.
They took me up on my offer and my first project as a volunteer was actually launching this newsletter! And then, as I do, I started offering to help with more and more projects until I was volunteering almost full-time and they offered to bring me on as a paid contractor. I spent a lot of time with the different software tools we use and building integrations and workflows between the tools and eventually became the pseudo-IT person while doing Comms, and it just grew from there.
What about Apiary’s values appeals to you?
Experimentation is a key shared value for me. For the majority of the projects and tasks that I take on, I’m learning how to solve the problem as I go. I got really good at Googling and watching YouTube videos at 3x speed to try and figure out how to troubleshoot challenges or learn how to use different software features to either make our workflows more efficient or present information in more useful ways. It’s a lot of “okay, that didn’t work, let’s try something else to see if this iteration meets our needs better”. The flexibility and openness to experimentation and evolution that our team has makes it a lot easier for me to do my job since nobody is expecting me to be an expert in everything overnight. Is your first solution going to be the best one? No, but it might be enough to solve the immediate pain point and help get you to a place where you can experiment a little more.
When perfectionism is demanded, there’s no room to be a human. When everything is urgent and treated like it’s make or break, the stakes feel so high that you’re more worried about messing up than creating incremental improvements. That being said, Apiary isn’t a direct service organization so we aren’t operating with the inherent urgency those we support are operating in, working directly with abortion seekers. But the grace that my team gives me actively combats my own ingrained nature of perfectionism, which is something I’m consistently grateful for and helps me try to live into another one of our values that I love—working in a pleasure-centered way.
What advice do you have for others who don’t feel like they fit a specific organizational role?
I try to convince people who don’t think they’re qualified for positions or projects that most things in companies or organizations are figure-out-able and that the majority of people are learning as they go, even when they are “experts” in their specific fields. I’m hella unqualified to do a lot of things, but I now know that I can either figure out how to do it with trial and error (and a lot of supportive brainstorming from my team members) or from resources/support networks. The Techies 4 Reproductive Justice coalition has been such an amazing support as well, with technologists across all fields to ask questions and bounce ideas off of (join here!). Be sure to try and find support where you can, whether that’s internally or through volunteer networks, clubs, or forums.
My second piece of advice is that often, good enough to fill a hole in the moment, is sometimes more than enough. So say yes or volunteer for projects that you may not be “qualified” for as often as you can and reject the notion of silos or “staying in your lane.” Job titles, like everything else, are made-up conventions to put us into easy to describe boxes. They can be helpful but shouldn’t constrain you and the value you can provide. It can be nerve-wracking to do things outside of your comfort zone, but that’s how we can grow—both in our work and our personal lives.
What’s Happening at Apiary 🐝
🩺 We have a brand new resource exploring later abortion care! In it, we detail what later abortions are, why they happen, and why it's essential that we support later abortion seekers and oppose any and all gestational age abortion bans. Plus, we link to some fantastic external resources so you can continue to learn more about how to support later abortion seekers!
🤲 Apiary is also pumped to be participating in the National Network of Abortion Funds' 2025 Annual Summit! Along with a fund member, the Apiary team will collaborate to create a custom track on Service Delivery and Practical Support for abortion care. More details to come soon.
What’s Happening in the Community 🍯
📣 Abortion On Our Own Terms is hosting a webinar on Self-Managed Abortions in Black Communities on April 12 at 2pm EDT. Please note that this is an all-Black space to ensure folks can speak freely and collaborate openly.
🌋 Check out the upcoming Get Da Abortion lol! event from ARC Southeast. This webinar is part of their 'Change Your Mind, Change the World Decrim' campaign and will focus on the linkages between sex and Reproductive Justice.
📋 Our friends at INeedAnA and If/When/How have collaborated on a new resource that details how your immigration status can affect abortion access. It includes essential info and resources to keep you and your community as safe as possible.
⛵ Building Movement Project has an upcoming webinar on “Sustaining the Safety Net: Lessons from Service Providers Navigating Social Change,” on Thursday, April 17, at 1 p.m. EDT.