The #PressForward Podcast

Today I bring you Michelle Frechette…

This series of podcasts is intended to bring some perspective in this time of great change. It’s unrehearsed and largely unedited, it’s just people telling their stories about how they’re managing right now.

Some are helpful, others just plain fun, but they’re all intended to foster one thought… in a time when we’re being asked to stay apart, there are ways we can stay together.

Interviewed by Nathan Wrigley.

We hope you enjoy the show, please do subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. We’re always looking for feedback, if you have any thoughts or comments, please do reach out.

And remember… stay safe… stay together.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today I bring you Julio Andrade…

This series of podcasts is intended to bring some perspective in this time of great change. It’s unrehearsed and largely unedited, it’s just people telling their stories about how they’re managing right now.

Some are helpful, others just plain fun, but they’re all intended to foster one thought… in a time when we’re being asked to stay apart, there are ways we can stay together.

Interviewed by Nathan Wrigley.

We hope you enjoy the show, please do subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. We’re always looking for feedback, if you have any thoughts or comments, please do reach out.

And remember… stay safe… stay together.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

So, today we’re speaking with Swaahili M. She works for BlogVault in Bangalore India in their marketing department. We have a wide ranging chat today about a multitude of subjects. To start with we discuss Swaahili’s passion for reading and how it shaped her early years. In recent years, she’s devoured 300 books per year, which is rather remarkable I think. We then go on to talk about the tech scene in India and Bangalore in particular. Bangalore you see is like the Silicon Valley of India. Start ups are popping up all over the place and the tech industry is booming. As everywhere else where tech jobs dominate, it shapes the city itself. Costs rise, there is tension between the former way of living and the new way of living, in which many feel the pace of change is too fast. How do key workers such as teachers and nurses keep pace with the high salaries that some people in tech are expecting to earn? We then take the conversation in a different direction. Talking about Swaahili herself and her role at BlogVault. How she ended up in marketing, which by her own admission was not a career path that she imagined for herself. We end with a lengthy chat about how Swaahili manages her ADHD. How it’s impacted her life and how her company has been able to assist her in the expectations that they set for the work that she produces. It’s a lovely conversation and I always enjoy learning about life in other parts of the world. Sadly, the quality of the audio on Swaahili’s side is not all that great. It’s certainly listenable, but the audio gremlins were definitely out in force on the day that we recorded this podcast episode. If you’ve been impacted by any of the issues raised in this podcast, please reach out to us by using the chat on the wpandup.org website. Interviewed by Nathan Wrigley. We hope you enjoy the show, please do subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. We’re always looking for feedback, if you have any thoughts or comments, please do reach out. And remember… Together we can #PressForward Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today I bring you Carole Olinger… This series of podcasts is intended to bring some perspective in this time of great change. It’s unrehearsed and largely unedited, it’s just people telling their stories about how they’re managing right now. Some are helpful, others just plain fun, but they’re all intended to foster one thought… in a time when we’re being asked to stay apart, there are ways we can stay together. Interviewed by Nathan Wrigley. We hope you enjoy the show, please do subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. We’re always looking for feedback, if you have any thoughts or comments, please do reach out. And remember… stay safe… stay together. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

So, today we’re speaking with Daniel de la Cruz.

He’s on the podcast to tell us his story from childhood through to the present day. There’s a lot in there!

We start right back at the beginning at a time when Daniel lived in Germany. A mixture of difficulties with his family life and trouble at school lead to problems with drugs. At this point Daniels’ life seemed to be following a certain trajectory and there was no real way out.

But, as we find out, there were some positive influences during this time too – other family members who Daniel was able to look up to.

The key moment was when Daniel moved away from the town of his early childhood and was able to completely reinvent himself, unencumbered by the shadow of his former self.

We hear about how things started to work out for him and eventually he came to the UK where he attended university and started up some of his own businesses.

It was not all plain sailing though, troubles with money and a sense of purpose still dogged Daniel, but he got through those times too.

We end with when Daniel is now working in a successful digital community of like minded people who are all trying to assist one another along the way.

It’s a very frank discussion and Daniel is very honest and forthcoming. As so this is a trigger warning that in this episode of the podcast we do touch up on the subject of substance abuse.

If you’ve been impacted by any of the issues raised in this podcast, please reach out to us by using the chat on the wpandup.org website.

Interviewed by Nathan Wrigley.

We hope you enjoy the show, please do subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. We’re always looking for feedback, if you have any thoughts or comments, please do reach out.

And remember… Together we can #PressForward

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

So, today we’re speaking with Kim Doyal.

She’s a content marketer, blogger, podcaster amongst many things and has been extremely active in promoting the WordPress cause.

We talk today about a wide variety of topics and I’m sure that you’ll find Kim both engaging and entertaining. The conversation begins with a discussion about her general attitude towards life and how people from different parts of the world might view situations differently.

We then go on to talk about two episodes of bereavement in which Kim lost her husband and her mother. We talk about the impact that this had on her family and how she came to rely on those around her.

We also get into how Kim makes use of a therapist to assist her and how this has really helped over the years.

It’s a lovely chat with a wonderful lady.

If you’ve been impacted by any of the issues raised in this podcast, please reach out to us by using the chat on the wpandup.org website.

Interviewed by Nathan Wrigley.

We hope you enjoy the show, please do subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. We’re always looking for feedback, if you have any thoughts or comments, please do reach out.

And remember… Together we can #PressForward

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

So, today we’re speaking with Kathy Zant. Kathy has been working with WordPress for many years, in the days before WordPress had plugins. She’s a very active member of the community, attending events and speaking at WordCamps.

She currently works for Wordfence, the popular WordPress security platform.

Today we have a wide ranging discussion touching on many aspects of Kathy’s life. We talk about her history with WordPress, how she got involved and her relationship with the WordPress community.

We also talk about her personal life, some of the decisions that she made which affected her life. One, which we focus upon, is her choice to homeschool her children.

This leads to a discussion about how WordCamps are encouraging children to become involved in practical, hands on, Kids Camps. It’s getting a new generation educated in the need for open source web solutions in the face of compelling competition from proprietary platforms.

We also talk about a stressful time in Kathy’s life and how this forced her to re-evaluate the way that she approaches her work and life. She calls this a “Hacker Mindset” and it’s about facing the challenges in a manageable way.

She’s been using this technique for many years now and it’s quite likely not the way that you approach tasks within your life, so there might be something of benefit here.

If you’ve been impacted by any of the issues raised in this podcast, please reach out to us by using the chat on the wpandup.org website.

Interviewed by Nathan Wrigley.

We hope you enjoy the show, please do subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. We’re always looking for feedback, if you have any thoughts or comments, please do reach out.

And remember… Together we can #PressForward

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

So, today we’re speaking with Paul Landa.

He’s a WordPress website builder and agency owner and has a remarkable story to tell.

Paul has been through a lot in the last few years and he lays it all out for us today. It’s a story of incident heaped upon incident. It’s a story of keeping going in the face of enormous adversity, and ultimately it’s a story about a family who managed to get through the most difficult of times.

It’s all in here… worries about his business, concerns about money, relationship, family crisis… everything. Not knowing what the future might hold and having to react again and again to emergencies which cropped up with no warning.

It’s remarkable that Paul is able to tell this tale at all, but tell it he does, and by the end of it all… a lovely ending.

If you’ve been impacted by any of the issues raised in this podcast, please reach out to us by using the chat on the wpandup.org website.

Interviewed by Nathan Wrigley.

We hope you enjoy the show, please do subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. We’re always looking for feedback, if you have any thoughts or comments, please do reach out.

And remember… Together we can #PressForward

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today we’re speaking with Simon Pollard.

He’s a WordPress backend developer working at Illustrate Digital in Bristol, UK. He’s on the podcast today to talk about WordPress Meetups.

You may or may not know that WordPress is far more than just a collection of code that you can download to build a website with. It’s also a real community in which people meet up and share their experience and expertise with other WordPress users.

The most talked about WordPress events are the WordCamps. These are often sizeable events put on in large urban areas. They often span several days and have multiple tracks of talks that you can attend.

Perhaps less frequently discussed are the WordPress Meetups. These are smaller events, which take place more regularly and usually run in the evenings.

Simon has been a key member of the organising team at the WordPress Meetup in Bristol.

We talk about what a Meetup is and how it works, how it is organised and who can get involved.

It might be that there’s one near you and this will serve as great introduction to the ethos of such events and how you might become involved.

Interviewed by Nathan Wrigley.

We hope you enjoy the show, please do subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. We’re always looking for feedback, if you have any thoughts or comments, please do reach out.

And remember… Together we can #PressForward

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today we’re speaking with Leo Gopal. He’s a WordPress developer and has been for many years. Today though, we don’t really dwell too much on that. We talk about Leo’s journey with being bipolar as well as how he lives with chronic insomnia.

At the outset of recording this podcast I had not met Leo, and had never spoken to anyone who has to deal with the things that he does. I was struck with just how positive, kind and thoughtful Leo is.

We talk about what it means to be bipolar, how it manifests itself and what precautions Leo takes to ensure that the ups and downs are easier to manage. We find out that this is not easy and life can be hard at times.

We also talk about how Leo copes with his chronic insomnia. How he has to manage his expectations based upon the length of the sleep that he gets.

He’s built up mechanisms over the years to mediate the impact upon his life. These include medication and writing to his future self with messages that he knows he will need to hear… messages written at a time when he was more reflective and thoughtful.

Lastly we talk about his WP Hugs initiative, a WordPress support network which was recently rolled up into WP and UP. We find out why he started it and why he’s happy with its new home.

It’s such an interesting chat with very likeable guest.

This is a trigger warning that in this episode we talk about depression, bipolar and insomnia.

If you’ve been impacted by any of the issues raised in this podcast, please reach out to us by using the chat on the wpandup.org website.

Interviewed by Nathan Wrigley.

We hope you enjoy the show, please do subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. We’re always looking for feedback, if you have any thoughts or comments, please do reach out.

And remember… Together we can #PressForward

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.