ORLANDO, FL — Activist and organizer Ida Eskamani is announced as the new Co-Boss of Nerd Nite Orlando.
Nerd Nite, a monthly event that features educational and entertaining presentations in a casual atmosphere, operates in over a hundred cities around the world, including Tokyo, Seattle, New York City, London, Fort Lauderdale, Des Moines and Austin.
Nerd Nite launched in Orlando on Thursday, March 14, 2013 by founding organizers Valerie Cepero, Josh Manning, and Ricardo Williams. For the past two years, Williams has solely organized and hosted Nerd Nite Orlando. Eskamani, who nerds out about astronomy, music and nature, will work side by side with Williams to organize monthly events as well as special programming and share hosting duties on certain evenings.
The announcement was made on Thursday, September 14th at “Nerd Nite Orlando LV: Neural Networks, Autonomous Vehicles, & The Procrastination Paradox” where Eskamani took the stage at the end of the evening to emphasize big plans for 2018 including a Nerd Nite Prom and how they’re going to “triple everything in size and Nerd Nite this whole damn town!”
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Contact:
Ricardo Williams
Host, Nerd Nite Orlando
813–464–1712
Ida Eskamani is a first generation Iranian-American and a native of Orlando, Florida. She earned dual degrees in Political Science and Sociology and has served on top political campaigns, advocacy organizations, and institutions including the Obama White House, Sen. Bill Nelson’s re-election campaign, and Equality Florida. Following the tragedy at Pulse, Ms. Eskamani launched the Pulse Victims Fund, raising $10 million dollars for Pulse families and survivors and played a key role in victim service and advocacy efforts following the tragedy, with a focus on intersectionality and empowerment. She has organized large-scale demonstrations in support of the black lives matter movement, LGBTQ+ equality, common sense gun safety measures, and in resistance to Trump’s travel ban. Ms. Eskamani earned her Masters in Public Administration from UCF in 2016, and currently serves as Chief of Staff to Rep. Carlos Guillermo Smith, as well as on the Board of Directors of Organize Florida, a community-based, nonprofit member organization of low and moderate income people dedicated to the principles of social, racial, and economic justice. She also serves on Equality Florida’s Greater Orlando Steering Committee.
Nerd Nite Orlando’s 3 Year Anniversary held at The Abbey and presented in part by Downtown Arts District. Appetizers provided by Daya Restuarant with presentations by Max Jackson, Anjali Sareen, and Griffin Lunn. Hosted by Ricardo Williams
So I took this screenshot last night from the Nerd Nite Facebook and I thought “holy shit- this is a busy month”- but I wouldn’t have it any other way. I love hosting and organizing Nerd Nite and as long as people keep coming and keep loving it, I’ll continue to do it.
Tonight will be the first of five separate Nerd Nite events that I’ll be putting on in a span of just two weeks.
They are as follows:
Sept. 10th: Nerd Nite Orlando XXXI (at the Geek Easy)
Sept. 12-13th: Nerd Nite at Maker Faire (at the Orlando Museum of Art)
Sept. 19: Nerdy Speed Friend-ing (at the Geek Easy)
Sept. 22: Nerd Nite Orlando: Town Hall, v3 (at Catalyst)
Sept. 24: Nerd Nite Orlando: Movie & Trivia Nite, v2 (at the Geek Easy)
For the past 2 and a half years, Nerd Nite has received overwhelming love and support from the Central Florida community. Every single mention in the media, whether big or small is incredibly humbling and I am truly honored for our most recent inclusion in the Orlando Weekly, not just because it is an article that made the cover but primarily because it is on a list with so many top-notch events and programs that are building the social architecture of Central Florida. I am happy to say that I’ve worked with and/or participated with all of them.
My name is Ricardo Williams and for over the past 2 years, I have been organizing a little event called Nerd Nite here in Orlando, Florida. These days, I am in charge of every single aspect of the program, from all the backend work to hosting duties every month to plenty of specialty programming in-between. I absolutely love it. I tell people all the time that I’m glad to do all of it because “I’m Nerd Nite’s biggest fan”.
Being in the position that I’m in can very easily make Nerd Nite Orlando turn into “the Ricardo Williams Show” and that is exactly what I DON’T want. Nerd Nite was not created to serve the needs and desire of one, but many. So in an effort to create more work for myself, I started a new meetup within the Nerd Nite umbrella called “Town Hall”.
At Town Hall, nerds can hangout and have more of an intimate discussion; as well as present ideas, voice their opinions, and ask questions of the the Nerd Nite team.
I held the pilot event on Monday, June 29th at the Effin Amazing office and I am incredibly proud of the results. At the meetup, I announced upcoming programming from Nerd Nite, discussed other applications and programming via Nerd Nite, held an open discussion on what kind of topics should be presented at future Nerd Nites, and the evening finished off with the group voting on a Nerd Nite talk to watch from a different city. (Everyone in the group also submitted anonymous notecards about what they would like to enjoy at Nerd Nite in the future as well as what they do not like about Nerd Nite.)
The discussion (and debate) was incredibly useful feedback for me as an organizer because my goal is to make the best events possible and thanks to the support of so many of Orlando’s most passionate nerds I can continue to do that.
For the past two years, Williams has solely organized and hosted Nerd Nite Orlando. Eskamani, who nerds out about astronomy, music and nature, will work side by side with Williams to organize monthly events as well as special programming and share hosting duties on certain evenings.
