What goes into supporting more than 650,000 projects and nearly a million users of the Python Package Index? This week on the show, we speak with Maria Ashna about her first year as the inaugural PyPI Support Specialist. Maria has a varied background in creative arts and neuroscience. She decided to apply for the PyPI support position, defying common misconceptions about who can take on roles inside the Python Software Foundation, and challenging imposter syndrome along the way. Her recent talks at PyCon US 2025 and EuroPython 2025 were about her experiences in the role. She describes tackling the backlogs of account recovery and PEP 541 requests, and we also discuss PyPI community and company organizations. Course Spotlight: Publishing Python Packages to PyPI In this video course, you’ll learn how to create a Python package for your project and how to publish it to PyPI, the Python Package Index. Quickly get up to speed on everything from naming your package to configuring it using setup.cfg. Topics: 00:00:00 – Introduction 00:01:42 – What led you to learn Python? 00:08:09 – PyCon 2025 talk about the first year at PyPI 00:11:06 – Embracing asking questions 00:13:55 – Being willing to say “I don’t know, let’s find out” 00:15:06 – What is PEP 541 and resolving name retention issues 00:23:22 – Video Course Spotlight 00:24:40 – Addressing the account recovery backlog 00:26:43 – PyPI Organizations 00:30:54 – Moving beyond the hesitancy to submit a package to PyPI 00:40:43 – Getting past imposter syndrome and applying 00:45:07 – What are you excited about in the world of Python? 00:46:10 – What do you want to learn next? 00:47:52 – How can people follow your work online? 00:49:03 – Thanks and goodbye Show Links: Adventures in Account Recovery, PEP 541 & More As Inaugural PyPI Support Specialist - Maria Ashna - YouTube PyCon US 2025 - A PEP Talk: Adventures in Account Recovery, PEP 541, And More As the Inaugural PyPI Support Specialist EuroPython 2025 - July 14th-20th 2025 - Prague, Czech Republic & Remote PyPI - The Python Package Index PEP 541 – Package Index Name Retention Introducing PyPI Organizations - The Python Package Index Blog Packaging Python Projects - Python Packaging User Guide The Traveling Guitar Maria Ashna (@thespi_brain) - Instagram Thespi-Brain (thespibrain) - GitHub Level up your Python skills with our expert-led courses: Documenting Python Projects With Sphinx and Read the Docs Publishing Python Packages to PyPI Exploring Python Closures: Examples and Use Cases Support the podcas