Category Archives: Interviews

Shanta Nathwani

Shanta R. Nathwani Interview

Shanta R. Nathwani
Shanta R. Nathwani is speaking at Foundation Friday at WordCamp Minneapolis.

What inspired or motivated you to give this talk at WordCamp?

I’ve attended WordCamps with many of the organizers and I love how they operate. When they approached me, I couldn’t resist! Never been to Minneapolis, so Minnesota will be another state for me to check off the list.

How do you “create intention” in your job, career, or life?

My Students. I drive them to follow what they want to do and what will make them earn a living at the same time. But they have to work for it. Part of that is attitude. Be honest with your clients and yourself. Your intent will show.

If you were a WordPress Plugin, what Plugin would you be and why?

Dare I say it…Jetpack. Hear me out…I’m not necessarily the right person for the job, but I can do a lot of stuff. I might give you the right idea for doing something, though it may not be the ideal way. I can certainly show you something that you probably haven’t seen before and if not me, I’ll probably be able to find you someone who does and specializes in what you’re looking for. I am the connector.

If you were not doing your current job, what profession would you be in and why?

Travel Photographer. No question. Everywhere I go, I carry a camera and I love to travel. As I write this, I’m actually in Mumbai and have already taken a few pictures. Some of the best I’ve taken have been over the last few years at WordCamps. I’ve been all over the world and only seen a fraction. But I’m not done yet…

What professional and/or research resource(s) can’t you live without?

Slack—I’ve always got it fired up and I’m always learning something. It’s also one of the few places that I’ll actually keep quiet most of the time.

Julie Kuehl Interview

Julie Kuehl
Julie Kuehl is a trainer at Foundation Friday (workshop) at WordCamp Minneapolis.

What inspired or motivated you to give this talk at WordCamp?

I love being involved with WordPress and giving back to the community.

How do you “create intention” in your job, career, or life?

By keeping focused on the end goal, and knowing what you won’t do.

If you were a WordPress Plugin, what Plugin would you be and why?

Theme Check, because I like to learn about themes and make them better

If you were not doing your current job, what profession would you be in and why?

Harley-Davidson associated, because that’s another passion

What professional and/or research resource(s) can’t you live without?

wpbeginner.com – because it’s not just for beginners

Jim Barrett

Jim Barrett Interview

Jim Barrett
Jim Barrett is speaking on Improvisation: How to Unleash Creative Ideas and Build Stronger Teams at WordCamp Minneapolis.

What inspired or motivated you to give this talk at WordCamp?

I love sharing the fun of improvisation and have just started learning WordPress. A perfect match.

How do you “create intention” in your job, career, or life?

Staying in the Moment

If you were a WordPress Plugin, what Plugin would you be and why?

An Improvisational one, you never know what will happen next!

If you were not doing your current job, what profession would you be in and why?

On Saturday Night Live

What professional and/or research resource(s) can’t you live without?

LinkedIn and Wikipedia

Justin Foell

Justin Foell interview

Justin Foell
Justin Foell is speaking on Where do I go from here? at WordCamp Minneapolis.

What inspired or motivated you to give this talk at WordCamp?

“Where do I go from here?” was born out of frustration of the growing knowledge gap between those getting started with WordPress and those that are doing WordPress work professionally as writers, strategists, designers, and developers.

How do you “create intention” in your job, career, or life?

While I was never a “stick and ball sports” type of kid, I do enjoy competition as I feel it helps us move forward in our pursuits. After high school I joined a drum & bugle corps which is essentially the highest level of competitive marching band. I learned many lessons there, one of which is that to succeed you must respect and trust one another, even the people you may not like personally. If you think managing a 53-member football roster is big, imagine getting 128 members working towards the same goal. The best part is one person cannot do it alone, it takes the entire group to make a lasting impact. I still am involved with the local drum & bugle corps “Minnesota Brass” and I hope to spread the idea of success in numbers to all.

If you were a WordPress Plugin, what Plugin would you be and why?

I would be something simple but useful like WP Migrate DB. Something that is great at something, and is easy to use, but doesn’t have a lot of extra features. Plus I think as developers we should be more formalized in our change management—and this is one plugin that can help put an end to cowboy coding.

If you were not doing your current job, what profession would you be in and why?

I would be in urban planning and development. I have strong opinions about the environment we’ve built and ways we can do to improve it for the next generation. A lot of it is boring stuff like city code and parking requirements, but the fun stuff is bike lanes, “granny flats” and making sure there are opportunities for local entrepreneurs more than mega-franchises. To partly fulfill this desire (while keeping my day-job) I serve as a volunteer on the Fridley Environmental Quality and Energy Commission.

What professional and/or research resource(s) can’t you live without?

I have a standard stream of blog subscriptions, podcasts, and followed twitter accounts, but I can’t keep up with it all. I rely heavily on my peers to bubble up the relevant information to the top. As much as I love the freedom that working from home provides, I encourage people to remain connected in-person. See each other at meetups and make time to connect face-to-face.

James Archer

James Archer Interview

James Archer
James Archer is speaking on Designing for Intention: Getting Users to Do What You Want at WordCamp Minneapolis.

What inspired or motivated you to give this talk at WordCamp?

I think there’s tremendous opportunity within the WordPress community for people to accomplish more for their own sites or for their clients by applying the basic principles of design.

How do you “create intention” in your job, career, or life?

There’s a saying that “Discipline is remembering what you want.” I start with the end goal in mind, then evaluate what I’m doing right now based on whether it aligns with or distracts from that goal.

If you were a WordPress Plugin, what Plugin would you be and why?

Wordfence Security, because I work hard to try to prevent people from making mistakes that hurt them in the long run.

If you were not doing your current job, what profession would you be in and why?

UPS driver. Get tons of exercise, everyone’s happy to see you, and your work is totally done at the end of the day.

What professional and/or research resource(s) can’t you live without?

http://zombo.com