Category Archives: Interviews

Erica Schaaf Interview

Erica Schaaf
Erica Schaaf is speaking on Intentional Design at WordCamp Minneapolis.

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

I feel that Design needs to be an essential session of WordCamp. Anyone can learn how to build and design a website using WordPress, but do they “know” the right and fundamental concepts to utilize for their clients’ online presence?

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

By assessing each project and providing the questions and answers that my clients’ haven’t even considered yet.

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

Administrative Assistant/Event Coordinator

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

Makerbook, Pinterest, Usertest,

T-Rave

T-Rave Interview

T-Rave
T-Rave is speaking on Offer the best darn support at WordCamp .

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

Everyone has questions and when you have the answer you should share. More importantly you should be proactive to provide the answer before the question is asked.

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

Find the things that are broken and fix them. If you can’t fix them, surround yourself with great people that can help.

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

“What the Status Code” (completely made up) Displays cheeky reasons why your site is busted. It’s how I spend most my days.

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

Storytelling through video or a park ranger

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

Stack Overflow, Dash App for docs

tracy apps

tracy apps Interview

tracy apps
tracy apps is speaking on Designers != pixel pushers at WordCamp Minneapolis.

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

i recently saw someone posting an article about being a pixel pusher and i started yelling at my computer screen. so i figured it would be a bit more productive to talk about this in front of people instead. 🙂

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

professionally it comes down to planning, sketching, researching, collaborating and planning some more. a well planned out site/product will ensure all the elements are intentional, and never just an afterthought stuck together with chewing gum and duct tape. also, not just adding things because “it looks cool” (like, “hey, i could make very thing blink and animate!” nope. nope alllllllllll the nopes.)

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

probably Bacon Ipsum. because, bacon.

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

maybe taking photos for those travel books. that sounds fun.

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

um… the google.

Joe Casabono

Joe Casabona Interview

Joe Casabona
Joe Casabona is speaking on Have Empathy when Teaching at WordCamp Minneapolis.

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

I find a lot of people (perhaps even more in the tech community) try to downplay the difficulty of things for the sake of making things seem easy. I was guilty of the same until I was teaching my students the difference between posts and pages, and thankfully one spoke up and mentioned I wasn’t doing a great job. I realized I forgot what it was like to be a first-time WordPress user.

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

Have passion! I know it sounds simple but I’m lucky enough to do what I love as my job and my hobby. Solving problems and helping people through programming & teaching is an amazing opportunity. I love doing it, so I’m very passionate about it.

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

I think I would probably go with CMB2. I’m pretty well known among a specific community of WordPress folks but don’t have mass appeal, I’m hard working, and my coworkers love me.

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

I’d like to think Photographer because it’s a genuine interest of mine; perhaps that or writing (which I do a bit of anyway). I mean, unless you mean dream job. Then it’s, “guy who travels to Disney parks and tests stuff.”

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

I hope I don’t get flack for this, but StackOverflow can be a great tool if you’re selective enough and try to understand what’s going on, not just copy and paste code. I find myself going to that well, the WordPress Codex, and lately the jQuery API a lot.

Daniel Espinoza


Daniel Espinoza is speaking on Using the WooCommece REST API at WordCamp Minneapolis.

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

I enjoy building ecommerce sites with WooCommerce and think the REST API is one of the most useful features.

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

I’m an ENTJ on the Meyers-Briggs type indicator so I’m very good at finding a goal and working toward it. Unfortunately I’m also good at finding goals for other people and forcing them toward it (even when they don’t want to be forced).

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

I’d be one of my custom plugins that is an integration of some sort. Like EDD (ecommerce) and Xero (accounting). I like bringing people and systems together!

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

I’d be a videographer making movies or films about different parts of the world.

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

I can’t live without my mastermind group. It is a group of 4 that has been meeting weekly for over a year. It’s a place of encouragement, accountability, and friendship.