Around this time last year, I abruptly found myself with a lot of time on my hands and little motivation. Candy Crush Saga became a welcome companion and the perfect distraction. After a couple of weeks, something unexpected happened. Through the repetitive and seemingly mindless activity of crushing candies, I began to observe things, familiar…
In the week before I officially started in my role as Director of Delivery, I typed, “How to be a director” and “What is a director” into Google. Yes, seriously. I was disappointed to find that the results were all about movie directors. I tried other variations, adding words like “corporate” and “agency”, but came…
People often ask me, “how do you stay organized?” As someone who works in technology it might surprise you to learn that I’ve always preferred a pen and paper when it comes to staying on top of my workload. And as much as I love the minimalism and simplicity of to-do lists, I need more….
It’s an understatement to say that the last year has been challenging. What makes it stand out from all the rest is that it hasn’t just been challenging for me, or those close to me. It’s been challenging for everyone, everywhere. But I can’t look back and remember a year that wasn’t challenging in some…
On June 21, I had the pleasure of speaking in front of a packed room at the Estrel in Berlin, for the 7th annual WordCamp Europe. Below is the full transcript of my talk entitled, Doing It Wrong. Or you can watch the full talk on WordPress.tv. I was interviewed by a local media outlet…
Where does the time go? It’s been one year since I accepted a permanent position at Human Made as a Senior Project Manager, after 15 years of freelancing and a year-long sabbatical. These are some of the things I’ve learned. Enterprise-level clients are not that much different from small business clients I kept hearing this…
I was seventeen and class was being held outside, under the tall pines at Fort Miley near Land’s End, atop sharp cliffs overlooking the ocean. We sat in the shade of those trees, their dried needles creating a billowy cushion on which we formed a circle and discussed the day. She was upset, though that…
My parents collected wine for as long as I can remember. In the apartment I grew up in on Noe Street, they built a wine rack in the hall closet that could hold upwards of 80 bottles, though it was never full. When I got to that curious age of wondering what the fuss with…
On several occasions in the months leading up to WordCamp Europe, which was held a few short weeks ago in Paris, people approached me to say that they’d heard things weren’t going well. “Oh?” “Yeah, I’ve heard that organizers aren’t happy,” was the short version of what I was told from these people outside of…
“OMG it burns!” The pain shot up through my right nostril and landed squarely an inch above my right eye. I wiped the water off my face and with only my left eye open, peered around to see what was happening nearby. Sure enough, I was not alone. Others were having similar bad experiences to…
