As WordCamp NYC approaches, we are featuring some of our speakers on the blog. Be sure to get your tickets before they sell out! 

What do you do?

I’m a user experience designer and information architect, helping lead product innovation at idfive, an integrated marketing firm in Baltimore. I build websites, but more importantly I work with clients and end users to figure out what a website (or other digital product) needs to be—what it should do and how it should feel.

Why do you use WordPress?

Many reasons. I started using WordPress because it was flexible for a variety of project types and because I believe in the quality an open source community produces. However, I fell in love with WordPress when I joined the meetup community.

When and how did you start using WordPress?

I was volunteering with a student club in college and wanted to swap out the static HTML page. I’d been teaching myself PHP via bulletin boards like phpBB, but it wasn’t quite the type of site I was going for, so I tried a handful of lightweight PHP CMSes and landed on good ol’ Miles Davis (WordPress 1.0).

What’s your favorite thing about WordCamp?

I tell people it’s unlike any other tech conference. There are topics for everyone. I also tout the diversity of speakers and attendees.

What advice do you have for anyone wanting to start a WordPress based business?

If you’re building WordPress sites, consider productization. There are a lot of small businesses that can’t afford the services of a design agency. Fortunately, WordPress multisite will let you create a great example site for a specific market segment—say local restaurants—and to use one well-built site with all the right features, to serve multiple sites at a much lower cost per site. With scheduled maintenance fees, you can create a sustainable business that helps many local businesses at great prices and without the ebbs of stress or overbooking project-to-project work often brings.

Tell us something awesome about yourself that’s not WordPress related.

I grow chili peppers and make my own hot sauces and barbecue sauces. I’ve not entered them into competitions myself, but one of my friends wins smoker competitions using them.

Name someone in the WordPress community who inspires you.

Aaron Jorbin is one of the most genuine and kindhearted people I know. I’m glad I met him through WordPress and I continue to learn from his talks on community, accessibility, and inclusiveness.

What’s your favorite WordPress related resource?

My local meetup group—the organizers, the regulars, and the great new faces I get to meet.

What will attendees learn in your talk?

There’s a how-to component, but it isn’t the focus of the talk. The greater talk is hopefully inspiring. If attendees walk away excited to try something new with WordPress, I’ll be very happy.

Where can we find you online?

Twitter: https://twitter.com/anthonydpaul
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anthonydpaul/
Blog: http://www.stickielab.com
Slideshare: http://www.slideshare.net/anthonydpaul

1) What do you do for a living (company you work for, official title, daily responsibilities, etc.)
I’m a Technical Product Manager living in Austin, Texas. I currently work at WP Engine, a managed hosting platform for websites and apps built with WordPress. I spend most days working to make the lives of WP Engine customers better. I listen to customer feedback, investigate new features, track down bugs, and help drive our product forward. My current focus is improving the developer tools we offer at WP Engine, making it easier and more efficient to develop WordPress websites on our platform. You can learn more about me and my background on my personal website: taylormccaslin.com, or by following me on Twitter: @Taylor4484.

2) How did you get into WordPress?
WordPress actually paid my way through college. I studied business, digital art & media, theatre, and computer science at UT Austin. That mix of studies provided me with a lot of great opportunities to engage Austin businesses—like local theatres—to help them build websites, powered by WordPress. I started a freelance business during college which ultimately helped me graduate college without any debt, and some extra cash in my pocket to fund my new technology habit. WordPress has always had a special place in my heart for the opportunities it opened up for me during my college years. WordPress has been my platform of choice now for over 5 years. I’ve built websites, mobile apps, ticketing systems, ecommerce sites, and headless backend systems on WordPress. I have yet to find something I couldn’t make WordPress do.

3) What’s a great experience you had at a WordCamp?
This is a tough one. I’ve had so much fun this year traveling to so many WordCamps: Seattle, Las Vegas, Boston, Scranton, Philadelphia, Toronto. I love traveling to new cities, meeting the awesome people in those local WordPress communities, creating new connections, or finally meeting someone I’ve only previously known digitally. My current favorite experience is probably WordCamp Las Vegas’ closing session. It was an awesome open Q&A where speakers, sponsors, and attendees just asked and answered questions. It was a really cool event and open discussion about how people were using WordPress and what struggles they were having. Overall it was just a very unique and special session that I really enjoyed being a part of.

4) What are your non-WordPress, non-Computer related hobbies?
Well if I’m not playing with whatever new technology that’s captivating me at the moment (August Lock, Vessyl, Apple Watch, Nest, etc) I can be found experiencing the rich Austin, Texas art scene. Having studied theatre in college, I always enjoy attending a local theatre production. Anytime I’m traveling to a new city I always check out what’s on stage at the local theatres.