As a programmer, I love the idea of joining a hackerspace: A space where I can work on personal and community projects to explore new areas of programming that I may not be familiar with. As a maker, I love the idea of joining a makerspace: A space where I can have access to tools, materials, and resources to build and tinker with things. As a working mom, I love the idea of joining a mommy group: A group where I can find moral support and camaraderie.

Put them all together and what do you get? A maker-programmer-working mom desperate for a space where she actively grow with her child rather than placidly watch her child grow. I have searched high and low for a space or group where my particular brand of crazy would be welcomed; the kind of crazy that always has dirt under her fingernails, paint on her pants, glue in her hair, algorithms in her head, and wacky overambitious ideas in her heart. It is during this desperate search for mommy tinkerers that I found Mothership HackerMoms, the first hackerspace for women.

Unfortunately for me, HackerMoms is not in my area. Located in Berkeley, California, HackerMoms started last year when 10 not-your-average moms decided to form a not-your-average mommy group. After months of meeting at each other's homes, they decided to launch an official hackerspace, complete with Kickstarter campaign to get things going. Moreover, they have the support of Chris Wang of Tokyo Hackerspace and Freaklabs, brother of Mothership HackerMoms founder Sho Sho Smith. Chris is helping raise funds by selling a couple of Freaklabs electronic kits, with all profits donated to HackerMoms.

Mothership HackerMoms: The first women's hackerspace. Photo from mothership.hackermoms.org, used with permission.

If you're curious about the space, HackerMoms regularly holds open houses and workshops. Not a resident of the Bay Area? These gals dream big. Success now may mean world domination later. Who knows, there may be a HackerMoms space coming near you one day!

I had the chance to chat with Sho Sho Smith and community outreach and education director Samantha Matalone Cook about their new space. Here's what they had to say about the importance of being a fulfilled and creative mother.

GeekMom: What do you envision for this new space?

Sho Sho: We just launched a Kickstarter fundraiser to get equipment, do some DIY construction, and develop our workshop programming. In the far future, we’d like to see a HackerMom space in every town to support as many mothers as possible. Traditional hackerspaces number over 1,000, and we will do everything we can to see that hackerspaces for mothers and women proliferate, too.

Samantha: We have been hard at work on a Kickstarter presentation to raise some money so we can acquire some specific and much-needed equipment, as well as re-organize our space to make it more efficient for our growing membership. We also will use this money to expand our educational offerings. We will also continue to participate in community programs like Maker Faire as well as offer spectacular learning experiences through our workshops.

GeekMom: How did your group of ladies start getting together?

Sho Sho: In 2011, 10 misfit moms (artists, writers, entrepreneurs, designers, makers, educators, professionals), our kids and a hired babysitter met in each other’s homes for nine months before we got up the nerve to open our non-profit space. These moms shared certain alternative qualities: a mind for ideas, a “make-or-die” hunger to create, a boredom with the usual moms groups, and the recognition that motherhood has a dark side. Love is abundant, but life with young kids can be a fractured existence and an isolating state. We wanted a way to balance that.

HackerMoms at work: You gotta love the mix of high and low tech! Photo from mothership.hackermoms.org, used with permission.

Many of us had family and friends who belonged to the numerous hackerspaces in the San Francisco Bay Area. We respected the collaborative, open-source culture and values and loved the idea of hacking something to modify it to fit yourself, be it furniture, a computer program or a recipe. The concept fit what we wanted to achieve. We hacked a hackerspace to fit mothers! We threw a few fundraisers (like our Leave it to Beaver Art Sale!) and raised enough money for a down payment on a light-filled, 1,000-square-foot storefront on the Oakland-Berkeley border. We opened our doors in April 2012 – and nothing else like it exists in the world today.

On a more personal note, I founded Mothership HackerMoms in the middle of my husband’s cancer treatment. I needed a positive project that yoked creativity, community and motherhood, all primary parts of my life, in a way that was greater than myself – so that I didn’t lose myself in the cancer. It was self-care, in a way. I was supporting my whole household and needed to find ways to stay strong and healthy in mind, body and soul. HackerMoms saved my life, and by extension, my family’s lives.

Samantha: There was a core group of us that came together last fall, all searching for the same thing. We had tried other local hackerspaces but could not find something that fit our specific needs. I can say that we all had our unique visions as to what we wanted Hackermoms to be, but it all seemed to collectively fit into that larger point of view. Personally, I saw an opportunity to participate in community-based projects, have childcare for my youngest when I really needed or wanted to work on a specific project, have an instant base of supportive, like minded women, and I also saw the potential to help many other women just starting their journey into the balance between personal creativity and motherhood.

The HackerMoms and the "Hacker Sprouts". Photo from mothership.hackermoms.org, used with permission.

GeekMom: Why do you think it's important for your kids to watch you create?

Samantha: It’s important for two reasons: Children learn best through modeling, and children who observe passion and commitment in a parent towards something not only learn to respect it, but to create it in their own lives eventually. It’s good for children to see and make space for their parent’s needs certainly, but it is also essential that they grow up knowing that they deserve the same.

GeekMom: What projects do you have planned that the children can also participate in?

Samantha: We are making Saturdays all about kids at the Mothership. In the morning, we have an amazing African Dance and Drum Circle, and we are beginning art classes. These are aimed at younger children–we call them Hacker Sprouts.

GeekMom: Why mothers?

Sho Sho: It’s easy, in some ways expected, for a mother to give up her life for her kids. Instead, we believed that a happy mother – that is, a fulfilled woman learning and using her talents – is good for herself, family, the community and the world. Anyone who’s grown up with an unfulfilled parent knows the damage it can cause. All work and no play makes mom a dull mother, lover and friend! HackerMoms is like the mythical village that raises the child and supports the mother together. We built it for ourselves. It’s a mom rescue for lost creative lives and selves put on hold. Most importantly, it’s where we come to have fun. If we don’t support this playful creative self, we risk burnout, depression, and two-year-old-level temper tantrums. It’s a use it or lose it philosophy to motherhood sanity.

Additionally, women can join traditional hackerspaces, though the percentage is often small. But the lack of safe space or childcare makes them unrealistic for mothers to attend. We wanted something that didn’t exist, a hackerspace for moms with affordable childcare and a mother-friendly culture on site. We are a unique tribe within our hacker community.

Samantha: What makes us different is twofold: we are the first hackerspace to be founded on the idea that many mothers need a creative outlet where not only are they encouraged to build on current and desired skills but also supported in giving themselves permission and opportunity to do so. We also provide the option of low-cost childcare at our meetings and workshops for accessibility and ease. We welcome families, including dads! We like dads, and so do our kids.The way in which we came about guided our vision, but we have always been very clear in our desire to be inclusive and useful to our community. Our mission has never been about separation or exclusion, but about empowerment and inspiration. It stemmed from our own truth, but we are quite sure it is an experience shared by many.

GeekMom: As the first women's hackerspace, the impression you make is an important one. You represent all of us! What impression do you want your hackerspace to make?

Samantha: We want families to prioritize their passions. We want to be a model for family inclusiveness and support. We want to provide a space where parents can work and learn and experiment as a natural part of their life, rather than a luxury they have to choose while sacrificing other parts.

Thank you, Sho Sho and Samantha. Keep up the good work and thrive, I hope to see you in a city near me soon!