Author: clrueter

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WCDFW Speaker Spotlight: Keri Chesire

Topic: The Must Do‚’s Before Going Live

Keri spent about 10 years working in customer service in restaurants before she landed her first Account Management gig in Albuquerque, New Mexico. It was there that she met 2 amazing women who took her under their wing to teach her WordPress — and she immediately fell in love. After about a year of that, she decided to move back to her hometown of San Antonio Texas to attended Codeup (a career accelerator for Web Development), and then fell back in love with customer service. Now she gets to do the two things that she loves on a daily basis — Help clients and work with WordPress. She couldn’t be happier 🙂

How did you get involved in WordPress?

I started off my journey as an Account Manager for a Digital Marketing Company that used WordPress to develop websites. It was there that 2 of the website developers taught me about WordPress so I would be able to relay changes and requests easier to them and the support team. That led me to teaching myself a little CSS, and eventually let me to attend Codeup (a career accelerator with for Web Development) where I learned more CSS and how to work with PHP, which has helped me to better understand custom built WordPress websites.

What do you do with WordPress?

I run the support team for WebTegrity in San Antonio Texas. I’m able to mix my love for Account Management and my love for WordPress in ensuring my clients needs are met and issues are troubleshot and resolved in a timely manner. I also head up the Quality Assurance on all of our websites before they go live and are sent to the client for final review.

What has your experience with the WordPress community been like?

The WordPress community is amazing! I love being involved with a group of professionals who just want to lift each other up and make WordPress the best it can be for everyone. I also really appreciate the support and help that I can get from the Forums at any given time.

Why did you want to speak at WordCamp DFW?

As a Texas native, I was excited to apply to DFW WordCamp because I’ve heard great things about WordCampDFW. Also, Dallas and Ft Worth are both so beautiful!

Why did you decide to speak on your topic?

As Director of Digital Support at WebTegrity, something I take pride in is making sure all of our websites are running smoothly. I keep these same standards when I go through my QA list. I’m the final set of eyes on all new website and need to be sure there are no errors or issues with the website. I think Quality Assurance is extremely important because sometimes we get so used to doing something over and over, and we just need a checklist and another set of eyes on our work to be sure we haven’t missed anything. There are also a few plugins I want to speak about that we as a team have found to be extremely helpful for your website, post launch.

What do you hope the audience gets from your talk?

I am hoping everyone decides to use my skeleton QA list and grow it to match their own business. I’d love if everyone was able to allow 30 minutes – 1 hour for QA at the end of every web build, and I’m hoping everyone will continue with monthly site maintenance to be sure it’s always up to date and running at it’s best.

Tickets are now on sale for this year’s WordCamp DFW held on Nov. 10-11. There are also plenty of opportunities to sponsor the event or help run it. We hope to see you there!

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WCDFW Speaker Spotlight: Cate DeRosia

Topic: Finding Work in WordPress When You’re Not a Developer or Designer

In 1994, I left my incredibly small town for what I thought would be a short 4-year tour in Grand Rapids, MI where I planned to pitch a little softball and get my teaching degree. Instead, I met my husband who’d just fallen in love with website development, as well as me, and the rest was a whirlwind I could have never imagined. I exchanged the dreams I had to take on the full-time education of our two daughters. But now, as the youngest graduates this year, it’s my turn. I am embracing this next stage of life full on. Instead of taking a well-deserved vacation, I’m using what I’ve learned from twenty years of contracting alongside my husband to branch out on my own. Recently I soft-launched my business, Paradev.io, where I use my language, communication, and operations skills to make developers lives easier.

How did you get involved in WordPress?

I began as a volunteer at our local camp, WordCamp Grand Rapids (MI). I wasn’t using WordPress yet, but my husband was as a website developer and I wanted to support his interest. In 2015, when I saw a major life shift approaching, I decided to poke around the community and see if there was a non-development place for me. What I found led me to the talk I am giving.

What do you do with WordPress?

I work in developer support. I handle copy editing, communication, and business operations for developers so they can focus on what they do best and enjoy the most, building things. I also provide a seasoned perspective and understanding of the pain points as I have been involved in contracting for over 20 years.

What has your experience with the WordPress community been like?

The relationship began a little rocky. I’m an introvert who’s not overly technical and tends to feel insecure in an environment full of strangers. All of that made it hard to find a sense of belonging. However, I soon realized that I wasn’t the only one. I decided that if I was going to be a part of the community, I had to dive in and intentionally went about meeting people and trying to make them feel welcome and involved. This evolved into a very positive relationship with the community. It’s opened doors I couldn’t have predicted and created friendships that will likely be lifelong.

Why did you want to speak at WordCamp DFW?

I’ve been fortunate to meet members of your community and am excited to meet more. Also, the DFW area is becoming a bit of a second home as my parents have moved to a small town south of there. I’m excited to see what evolves from this first visit.

Why did you decide to speak on your topic?

The opportunity to provide opportunities. Much of my life I’ve felt trapped by circumstance. The freedom and options that can come from working remotely can be life changing and I’ve been fortunate to have the ability to investigate them. I’m thrilled to be able to share my experience with others so they can hit the ground running.

What do you hope the audience gets from your talk?

Options. It’s my new favorite word, but absolutely true. I was fortunate to have others help me as I was getting started and I look forward to passing that along.

Tickets are now on sale for this year’s WordCamp DFW held on Nov. 10-11. There are also plenty of opportunities to sponsor the event or help run it. We hope to see you there!

WordCamp Dallas / Fort Worth is over. Check out the next edition!