Congratulations to Kaliya Hamlin, aka Identity Woman, for winning the Digital ID World yearly award this past week. You’ve likely met Kaliya, although you may not know much about her. In short, Kaliya is one of the most unique individuals I’ve ever met, and she’s a template for how to be successful in life. The template? Pursue your passions unabashedly, barriers be damned. She’s neither a technologist, an academic, nor an entrepreneur (although she certainly has an entrepreneurial spirit). She made Digital Identity (among other things) her field not out of ivory tower interest, but because she realized that it would have a tremendous impact on the things she cared about in the world: spiritual activism and saving the world. How does she do it? Pure doggedness. She’s not afraid to learn, and she’s not afraid to be persistent, qualities that have helped her succeed.    (L61)

I vividly remember the first time we met at a Planetwork Forum meeting in 2003. Jim Fournier had asked me to help integrate Collaborative Tools into the 2003 Planetwork Conference experience, and I gave a brief talk at the forum describing what I was about and what my plans for the conference were. Kaliya approached me afterwards and gave me the names of three people I had to talk to. It’s been like that ever since.    (L62)

It’s been fantastic watching Kaliya grow and succeed over the past few years. Everyone in this community knows who she is, and I’m thrilled that she’s getting this recognition so that the wider community realizes it as well.    (L63)