 Is it on? Is it on? Test, test, test. Yeah. Okay, everybody. Welcome. This is aboard the WordPress community, a journey of self-discovery with Carol Olinger. Thank you. Hi. I love everybody and welcome to this session. I'm happy to see you around. I'm a bit excited and nervous, but I am so happy to be allowed to share my personal story about how I became a WordPress community junkie and to be in Florida with a lovely weather. So let's start. A few words about me. My name is Carol. I'm 37 years old and I come from a very small country in Europe which is called Luxembourg. But I live in a German Eiffel since more or less four years now. And I wanted to have a look back at my life, how it was four years ago. So I worked as a government agent in Luxembourg for 12 years. And there are a lot of advantages of being a government agent because you have a very high income and there's a lot of security related to that job. The pensions are guaranteed. You have a very good health insurance, which is an important thing, though. But on the other hand, I felt miserable about what I was doing every day. I didn't feel any fulfillment and it wasn't anything meaningful. And I ended up with severe mental health problems. And sort of advantages that you have are a lot about security. And who needs security? Actually people with a lot of fears. So my mental health status wasn't really that good at that moment. I had a lot of depressive episodes. I was frustrated. My day was full of lethargy. And I had the feeling that I was living in a golden cage. And even though I didn't have a master plan what I could do out, I felt that I really had to escape from the situation. And that's what I did, together with my husband, who was a government worker at that time as well. He was fed up with a job like me. And we quit our home country and we sold all our belongings and moved to the German Eiffel. We went on a four-year sabbatical, actually. So for me, I didn't have any professional goals at that moment. And unfortunately, only the decision to leave what didn't make me happy wasn't enough just to be happy, unfortunately. Because I fell into a very deep hole in the first month. And depressive episodes got worse. And I had a lot of fears of the future, because there was no master plan yet. And I struggled with severe overweight. And I got diagnosed with a chronic disease, which is called lipidema, which I was suffering for almost two decades without knowing it. But I have developed several eating disorders already in my early teenage years, because I wasn't aware of that. So as there have been no professional goals at that point, I decided that it was about time to focus on my mental health and on my physical health. And I decided that I was worth that. I married to a WordPress developer. And yeah, he's a software engineer. And he chose WordPress as a platform of his choice. And he had a plan B, so he worked on his own career. And I had no clue what WordPress was at that time. And I had even no interest to change that, because I am not a technical person at all. But that was kind of difficult for a relationship, because I didn't know what my husband was doing all day. And I felt kind of locked out of his life. And until the day that he invited me to join him into a trip to a so-called WordPress conference, which wasn't actually a thing that I would have liked to do at that point. Because the idea of being with, I'm so sorry, 2,000 nerds and me and having no clue what everybody's talking about didn't sound that amazing. And so he dragged me like kicking and screaming to my first WordCamp, which was WordCamp Europe 2016 in Vienna in Europe, which was the biggest WordPress conference so far, if I'm not mistaken. And yeah, what I got there was totally different from what I expected. I had so many fears to get excluded on site, because nobody would be interested in talking to me, because I was not a technical person. I wasn't involved into WordPress at all. And so I went there with all the prejudices in my head, like, you know, big bank theory, like, here comes Penny and you're all the nerds. And it wasn't like that. I was the only person who had prejudices in my head. And I got involved immediately. And I met so many inspiring people and I got so many input from my future life. And I felt a welcoming experience like I have never felt in my life before. And I wanted to become a part of that community. I made new friends and it was broadening of horizon. And there have been 2,500 people and nobody made me feel uncomfortable. And when we flew back to Germany, I had already some kind of withdrawal syndrome. And my husband told me that there's a website called WordPress Central, where I could check whether there are other WordCamps around in our area. And he might regret this by now, because I immediately started on planning where we could attend other WordCamps. And I signed us up as volunteers for some WordCamps to come up in a nearer region, in a nearer area. And the first one we attended together in Germany was WordCamp Frankfurt. And we even, so we got included in the German WordPress community, like from the very first minute on. And as you can see, even our dogs got included in the WordPress community. So I found out that it was not only about WordCamp Europe, but that the WordPress community is, seems to be amazing in general. And volunteering was a big thing for me, because I still felt like I needed to have a role, because I wasn't still a developer and I couldn't go to any session because I wouldn't understand a word. It's only for hardcore coders, of course, that wasn't my hat. And then we went to WordCamp Netherlands in 2016. And I went to the opening remarks, because I didn't suppose that to be anything technical. And then I kind of got locked in the room, because the first speaker, there wasn't a break between the first talk and the opening remarks. And I was like, oh my God, oh my God, the first speaker is on stage, and I can't leave the room, and I'm not going to understand a thing. And it wasn't like that. It was Marike van der Racht from Yoast, and she was talking about SEO. And I found out that it was super interesting, and I learned so much, and that I was able to follow, like, 89% of what she was saying. And that inspired me to go to other talks, and there was another amazing talk that day in Utrecht, which was from Sally Mayer, she's from the United Kingdom, and her talk was called How WordPress Saved My Life. And I found out that there are so many things that I wasn't aware of, like remote work, and that WordPress gives you the opportunity to raise your voice. And it doesn't matter who you are or where you are located. And that was a lot of inspiration to me, and I used that later on. And I'm going to show you what I made about this. The next work we attended was with Kim Kalloyn, again in Germany, and the German WordPress community was trying to convince me, like, two or three days to attend the contributor day, because I had so much fun with the community, and I didn't want to go to the contributor day because, again, in my hat, that's the only thing for coders. And so in the end, I went there, and I joined the polyglots table, and at the end of the day, I had localized a complete theme into German, and it was committed the same day, and I joined the discussions of the community table to create a new type of WordCamp, which is called WordCamp Retreat, and which is about to happen in six weeks in Germany, and that was my first step of becoming a WordCamp organizer myself. And then we attended a lot of WordCamps after these three. So there's, for example, WordCamp London, which is still an outstanding example for me when it comes to accessibility and inclusion, and I hope that I can influence future WordCamps in the way I learned it at WordCamp London, and that was also about my purple hat, so since then I'm wearing a purple hat every time I am at WordPress conferences. So as you will see here, my life changed a lot, and I changed as a person, and not only from the outside, as you can see here, but also from the inside, so there's a considerable weight loss, and I started my lipidema therapy, which is not an easy thing to do because you have to wear compression garments which are very tight every day, going to lymphatic, manual drainage, and I went through three very painful surgeries. Lipidema is a very painful chronicle disease. It's a fat disorder that almost exclusively affects women. And yeah, so in the meantime, I have found new personal and professional goals, and my self-esteem grew so much, so the fact that I'm standing here now in front of you and sharing this very personal story in a language that is far away from my mother tongue, it's a huge thing for me, and I am very, very, very happy to be allowed to do that, and I'm very proud that I'm able to do it, and I couldn't have done that four years before. So what did I achieve in the meantime, besides obtaining wordcares? And how did I use the inspiration I got from the WordPress community? I founded a nonprofit organization in my home country, Luxembourg, where lipidema wasn't recognized as a disease at that time, and I didn't want other women from my home country suffering the same way I did and not getting diagnosed for two decades or more anymore, and so I created a WordPress website with almost no skills, and in a very short amount of time, and we had an enormous reach and enormous feedback, and I realized then what I can do with WordPress, and it was so fulfilling and so amazing, and we got, we had several presence in the local TV, in the local newspapers, and we created a lipidema awareness campaign where I made the designer, but I didn't even know that I had any designer skills at that point, and it was such a fulfillment, and I wasn't paid for that, but it gave me so much more than everything I have experienced before in my work, which I didn't like to do actually. Today, the therapies are accorded in Luxembourg for lipidema, and I'm so, so proud of our non-profit organization that we achieved that in Luxembourg. Talking about creativity, so this is one of our dogs, and as they are part of the German WordPress community now, we created some sweet vapeau with the characteristics of a French bulldog, and I also have a crush on the version of him, and I have the stickers here, so if you want to grab some from this little QD, feel free. I got contacted last year, in the beginning of the year, by Tofa de Roja, if I would like to write an essay for HeroPress, and I felt super honored because I knew about this project, and it's so inspiring to read all the WordPress people around the world and how WordPress changed their lives, and I didn't know at that point that I had a story to share, and I wrote this essay, and I got so many heartwarming feedback after that, and in fact, this was the inspiration to give this talk, because it felt wonderful that I was... I could be able to inspire other people because I got so much from the community. I am in the meantime a WordPress organizer myself, so I was involved in the organization of the Last WordPress Colloin, which took place in autumn 2017, as I told you before, I'm a co-organizer for WordCamp Retreat, which is going to happen in Salta in Germany, which is going to be a new type of WordCamp in the form of a retreat where everybody sleeps at the same place, and there's not only going to be sessions, but community-building activities, I'm very looking forward to that, and I'm a co-organizer for WordCamp Europe now myself, which is about to happen in June, and talking about this WordCamp, I just wanted to let you know, if you are attending, I mean, it would be wonderful to meet some of you over there. The call for volunteers is still open, and we need some more volunteers, and I'm on a volunteer's team, so it would be lovely to work with some of you in Balgrade, in Serbia. You can still sign up, and last but not least, I'm a co-organizer for the tiny, but amazing little meetup in the German Eiffel. A big turning point in my life, again, was WordCamp Europe 2017 in Paris, and this because of two reasons, mainly. I got asked if I would like to emcee, so emceeing is like presenting the speakers on stage, giving information to the audience, and when I got asked, Francesca Marano asked me if I would like to do that, and she's speaking here today, it's going to be next session, I think, and I struggle a lot with imposter syndrome, like, oh my gosh, I cannot stand in front of 2,000 people and speaking English, and whoa. And then I said, okay, if they ask me, and it's such a big opportunity, I just have to overcome my fears and try it, and that's what I did. Somebody told me right before going on stage, one of the most important sentences I heard, like, you don't have to be afraid, we are a WordPress community, we want you to succeed, and that helped me so much, because I don't think there's anybody also here in the room that wants to see how I failed here on stage. I hope so. So I was freaking out, but I managed to keep my cool on stage, and I decided that if I'm going to emcee, I wanted to add value to the conference, so I created a very special emcee form, which I was sending to all of the speakers, which allowed me to write appropriate introduction, and I wanted to tell the audience, why has this speaker chosen to talk about this specific topic, and why should you all listen to the speaker? And I got great feedback about that, and today this form, in adapted ways, is mandatory for the emcees for several WordCams around the world. And the other big turning point in WordCamp Europe was that I was meeting the crew from Plask for the second time, I met them already in Berlin, and we had a lot of fun together, and so Plask is a web of hosting and server management platform, and they asked me in Paris if I would like to become their WordPress community manager, and I felt super honored. But again, I was struggling with the post syndrome, like, oh, wow, this would be an amazing job, but it's way too early for me, and I'm not a technical person, I can't do that. And then my husband told me like, hey, why don't you let these guys decide if you were able to do that or not? And in fact, he was right. So I give that a try, and since August 2017, I'm the WordPress community manager for Plask, and it's amazing because it allows me now to do what I love, to do, be around the WordPress community, and be in the neighbor, and creating opportunities, helping sponsoring WordCams. I am allowed to contribute a considerable amount of time in the organization of WordCams, and it's a win-win situation. On the other hand, Plask gets a lot of valuable feedback from the community about their needs and about their product because they strive to improve what they do. So yeah, here I am now, and I am allowed to travel the world, and I don't have to worry about the time I'm contributing to the project if I want, because it allows me at the same time to pay my bills, which is amazing. And so these are the WordCams I was visiting in 2017, and which I'm planning to visit this year, and it's even not everything I'm going to visit, and I made a lot of amazing experiences, so it's so inspiring to meet people from all over the world, and there's some funny story I want to share with you. Very first time for me that I flew into the United States was last year for WordCams Seattle, and our booth, and our swag, and everything we have planned, got stuck at the US Customs, so they are not my friends anymore, and a lot of my team, which I have been with in Seattle, they haven't been involved into WordCams before, and I am a control freak, I can tell you, and it scared me out when I heard the news, and my team was also like super, yeah, not comfortable with the situation, but then I realized again, hey, it's a WordPress community, and I managed to explain to my team that everybody's going to be nothing but supportive, and that nobody's going to make fun of us or be angry that we didn't have the swag that we promised to bring, and that's exactly what happened, and in the end, Seattle was one of my personal highlights of the year because we had so much fun, and we were like presenting our invisible booth, which is probably the most awesome booth you have ever seen, if you use your imagination, and we had so much fun, and we got so much Twitter love, and everybody was supportive, and it was just cool. At WordCamp Cologne, which was the first WordCamp I was a co-organizer of, I got surprised on stage, so during the opening remarks, a friend from the WordPress community came on stage, and they had created a special Vapoo with obviously some characteristics of me to honor my contribution to the WordPress, to the general WordPress community as a newcomer, which I am still, and of course I busted into tears, and yeah, you can imagine. It was really cool, it was overwhelming, and I have these stickers with me, so you have to feel free to grab those stickers, and I got the most awesome birthday present two weeks ago from my husband because he did a pixel version of this Love Vapoo, and he bought all the bricks that were needed to create a Lego piece of art of it. So I was talking in the last 20 minutes a lot about fears, so this is an important message I wanted to share with you. Everything you want lies on the other side of fear, and so the only thing you have to do is to overcome these fears and not to be afraid of changes in your life, and this is not an easy thing to do for a control freak, and I bet I'm not the only one. There's a control freak in here, I see you, and who's struggling with imposter syndrome? Even more, so I think you understand what I wanted to say, but I can tell you it works. The relationship with my husband did also change and in a very good way because I am not locked out of the life he is leading every day, and a problem has become a common strength. So we have new friends, we've found new friends in the Rippers community, we're traveling together, we have more common topics of interest, and we're supporting and learning from each other and we're proud of each other, and so if there's one call to action I can do today is bring your partners, friends, and family to WorkCams because amazing things can happen like it did for me. And I'm not the only example, so all these amazing people allow me to share part of their stories here, so we have Kate and Tofa de Roja, and Kate is like me, not a technical person at all, and she got married to a WordPress developer while she wanted to become a farmer, and then she joined Tofa to WordPress conferences for almost two decades, and in the meantime now she is an editor, a writer, a transcriber, uses WordPress, she's a WorkCams speaker and an organizer herself, and they even bring their daughters, Emma and Sophia, occasionally to WorkCams, and also their daughters made friends in the WordPress community, like they did, and they learned so much about the business opportunities that WordPress creates, which is something that is, I don't think that it's a thing you will learn easily at school. We have here Laura and Kevin Cristiano, and Kevin is a WordPress community deputy, and he got involved into WordPress because of his wife Laura, because she had back in 2007 a WordPress website which had over 100,000 visitors, and he wanted to try to help her manage the website, and he found a WordPress community, and Laura didn't join until 2015 because WordPress conference was only for developers, and when she joined, when she attended the first WorkCams, she got caught by the community bug immediately, like me, and today she's a WorkCams speaker and organizer herself, and they also have their dog kind of involved into the WordPress community, so Scully has their badge from a WordPress in Philadelphia. We have Mark Bansacain. I pronounced the name correctly, yes? Great. So Mark, he is occasionally taking his kits to WorkCams, and he wrote an amazing blog post, and I want to cite Mark and share a quote with you. I want to show my kids that the land of community, both professionally and personally, does exist, and that no matter what they pursue as they get older, they should always seek out communities that are supportive and realize that they need to be equally supportive of the people and communities around them. It's an inspiring and beautiful quote. We have here Manuela van Prien from the Netherlands, and her daughter Kristen. So you can see Manuela on the right side as the lead organizer of WordCamp Utrecht, and while her daughter is volunteering and helping her mother to create a great WordCamp. And last but not least, we have again from the Netherlands, Yvette Sonnefeldt, and some of you might know Yvette because her WordPress story started here in Miami, and Yvette can tell you this for better than I can, so I'm reading what Yvette is wanting to share. About four years ago, I was looking for a way to overcome imposter syndrome. I signed up for WordCamp Miami. As soon as I had purchased a ticket, I got in a total panic stone moment. The organizers of WordCamp Miami were then looking for volunteers. I signed up, helped to haul around boxes and reduce attendees. Within an hour, I was working, chatting, and laughing with other volunteers, focusing on the joint goal, making attendees feel welcome, and right at home, it helped me shift away from my anxiety and towards making real connections. Volunteering and contributing at WordCamps, on a regular basis, has truly helped me grow my self-confidence to a much healthier level. And I met her son, Julian, at WordCamp Nijmegen in the Netherlands last year, and Julian is some kind of an introvert person, and Yvette knew that he could use a boost too. And I asked Julian what he likes about the WordPress community, and he loves it that everybody is just so helpful and supporting, which is not a thing that he experiences at school, where everybody mostly fans for their selves. So, I would like to say thank you, WordPress community, for all the inspiration I got. And I have now new professional and personal goals, and I am making friends every day, and it's still a bonding of Verizon to be a part of this. And I still don't know exactly where my journey is going to end, but I am super happy that I had the courage to leave the life behind me that made me feel I'm happy every day. So, thank you, WordPress community, for having me on board, and for helping me to build a better life. Are there any questions? But I think I'm already... I'm good? Yeah, great. Okay, thank you. You can still come and grab some stickers and speaker cards.