GitHub Sponsors provides a platform for open source maintainers and developers, like Mariatta Wijaya, to receive financial support from the communities that benefit from their work, thus granting them the freedom and security to continue contributing to open source projects. Wijaya, a Python core developer and maintainer of projects such as CPython and gidgethub, was motivated by the lack of diversity in the open source community, particularly the absence of women core developers, as highlighted in keynotes by Guido van Rossum. Her involvement in the open source community has been both professionally and personally rewarding, allowing her to tackle diverse challenges and improve her communication skills. However, she notes that the sustainability of open source projects is threatened by the limited time many maintainers can dedicate, often a privilege afforded only in their free time, which also affects diversity within the community. Through GitHub Sponsors, Mariatta hopes to reduce her reliance on her employer's income, enabling her to dedicate more time to open source contributions and initiatives like PyLadies Vancouver and PyCascades, thereby broadening her impact in the tech community.