 Hello, it's Rachel Lawson here again for one more time for the Drupal Association Board Member Elections for 2020 and today we are with Subi Gokta, hello Subi. Hello. Hi, how's the weather in, why are you today, you're in Delhi today. Yes, I'm in Delhi in India and it's hot as always. Yeah, it's hot. I wish it was here. Okay, so we've known each other for quite a while I think because we keep bumping into each other in various different places and which is always really great. I don't know if you can remember when we first met. Any memories come to mind? Yes, yes I do remember it was Drupal Developer Days in Lisbon in 2018. Oh that was amazing because we were on like, it was in like a theme park wasn't it, a closed theme park out of scene. No, it was your keynote when I first saw you and I was just entering when you just started with your keynote. Oh yes, sorry I'm thinking of the wrong developer days now. Yes, I was doing that auditorium we were talking. That's correct, yeah, oh my God, yeah. I'm not sure if you have talked about this before. Yes we have, yeah. Yeah, it's just so many people that sometimes one person gets mixed up with another in my little head. Yeah, so you're standing for the position as at-large board member on the Drupal Association. So we should chat about things that are important to Drupal and the Drupal Association and how we can move things forward. So one of the really big things is around building our community. So what can you tell me about building community? For me, community building is something that you're building strength, you know, because it's community which makes Drupal what it is. So basically I am the one who is not coding or using Drupal as a software as such, but I'm still connected and why I'm connected is because of the community. So it is very important that there is a strong community behind any software or behind any common goal wherein you all come together as a group with common interests and move towards the common goal. Yeah, cool, that's really great. And I suppose that counts, especially having come from a non-coding background is you see the wider group of people that make our community work. So all of our organizers, all of our project managers, all of our documenters, goodness me, we need documenters, etc. So yeah, you've got a real insight into some of that which is very useful. You talked there about building community means strength and you talked about how we do have that in the Drupal community then. And it's one of our, how shall I say, sort of really important benefits of Drupal. And I suppose what I'm doing now is advocating for Drupal. And I don't know, so you wrote a lot in your application form about advocating to Drupal. What does that mean to you? Can you tell us a little bit about what that means to you? For me, it's like bringing Drupal to the local people is advocating it to it because on the overall level we are already aware about what Drupal is. And when there is a strong community, there is also a local talent which is not there with the people or with a group of people where there is strength. But there is a raw talent which we are not aware of. So I think we should, you know, like Drupal is an umbrella in which there are small, small regions. Small, small regions having small, small groups, small, small communities, local communities. And why I'm saying about this because I was a part of it. So it's like coming out from there is a big thing. And I really want to give platform to all those people who are having capabilities of doing various things just like me and reaching out to the correct person at the correct time, like it was for me, the right person at the right time. Yeah, so we kind of attracted you into Drupal from the outside. You were not part of the Drupal community, but you were attracted to the Drupal community. So for me, it was like when I started my career, I was an intern in Drupal as a Drupal developer, but that was it. I was aware that I will not go further into coding at all. But it was community where I got connected to Drupal and I stayed for that community. I did not stay for code as such, but I stayed for the community. Ah, that's interesting. Yeah, so you saw because of what you were exposed to things opportunities other than coding. Interesting. Interesting. That's good to know. So you've been around a few years now and you've done some really interesting things in Drupal while you've been involved in the community and volunteering in it and so on. Were there any kind of favorite memories from that time? Oh my God, that is a really difficult question. Yeah. I've been apart since five years now around five years. And there are so many memories like with each event with each little conferences, little meetups, coach friends, wherever I go, there is a moment which is like, you know, wow, a moment for me. But if I have to quote one or two, I would first like to talk about Drupal Europe. There was, it was in 2018 in Germany. And that was like first event where I was working as an organizer as a part of the organizing. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And so what did you do that. Yeah, so I was working as a volunteer coordinator along with one more person, and we were like responsible for all the volunteers there. Not just on site but also who were involved from the beginning as volunteers who were interested to do the websites or do the promotions marketing, etc. So we were responsible of taking care of all those managing all those. And when there was grease note, there was a place where trees called all the organizers on stage, and everyone was like giving a standing ovation. And that was the moment I like, cannot forget. I cannot ever forget in my life. It's really amazing. It's good. It's always right and good to say thank you. So actually, thank you again. I think I was one of those that was stood up actually. So, yeah, you mentioned there about being the volunteer coordinator at Drupal Europe and I think you've done that at Drupal Con Europe in Amsterdam afterwards as well. And it's definitely a skill that you have coordinating and encouraging all of those people to give up their free time to work on something that's probably outside of the outside of their core skill set. You know, these are developers, they're project managers, managers, whatever, but you're actually getting them to do all sorts. I can't even think of all the things that you were having to organize now. And so one of the things that I would like to talk about are the skills and strengths that you bring. Should you be elected to the Drupal Association Board, because we have a, we have a team of 12 or 13 people on the board. And who come from lots of different backgrounds on what we need to do is constantly build up the skills and experience we've got across the whole board. And it's different people, it's a diverse set of skills. So what can you bring to us? What do you bring to the game? I would say I would kind of like act as a bridge for connecting people who are there already and who want to be there. So it's like, it's like, for me, there was no one as such, but I tried to, you know, connect with people on my own because I realized it at the right time. Making people realize it through these volunteering activities is something which is kind of tricky at times, but it is also very powerful. This is true. Yeah. Okay, yeah, so you do have those connections with lots of different people who know that you deliver. And I'm very happy working with you. So that's actually a very powerful thing to have on a board. Being able to connect with the community. So I'm really glad, really glad that you have that. It's really great. Okay, so you're out there in Delhi and meeting with a lot of people there. Are there any, anything else that you want to bring up now about your candidacy? The fact that you're standing that you want people to hear any other messages that you think people should think about when they're thinking, who should I vote for? Why should they vote for you, CB? Again, a difficult question. We have like really fantastic people standing and if anyone wins, it will be like a winning situation because they will be one winner, but otherwise all the rest of the candidates would still be working. So we are not at all losing anywhere. But I would just like to say that I don't want to change anyone's viewpoint. I just want everyone to go through each candidate and whoever suits best according to their needs, they should vote for that candidate. That sounds really great. Let's hope so. To be honest, we have 10 amazing candidates. I'm so pleased this year. It's one of the hardest things when trying to organize the elections is thinking, how am I going to get amazing people to stand and volunteer their time. And it can be a lot of time to be involved, to be a board member. And actually this year people were like, yeah, I'll stand. It was really good. So I'm really pleased because we're going to win whatever. We've got the right people. So thank you very much, CB. I look forward to seeing you again soon. And best of luck to all the other candidates.