Session Information
Vicki DeLuzio
When we decided to move from Connecticut to Surprise, Arizona, I wanted to make sure that activities for our three young children would be plentiful and fun! Our three children, “Munchie”(7), “Giggles” (5), and “Dimples” (4), and I often ventured out to find fun places for them. The goal of my blog is to help families find fun places to go, support local businesses, encourage partnerships between businesses and meet new friends along the way.
About me-I’m a 36 year old wife and mom of three children. My awesome husband (who is my technical support for this site and has his own business Surprise AZ Web Services) and I were married in 2008 and moved to Surprise from Connecticut. Along with running Surprise AZ Mom (the blog is not a franchise blog, but has lots of friends with other fabulous mommies everywhere!), I currently write for Spouselink.org (a national military spouse blog), contribute to our neighborhood newsletter and Surprise Today newspaper as well.
Tyler Golberg
Tyler has been tinkering with code and digital projects since college but it all changed when he discovered WordPress in 2012. Tyler and his team at CYBERsprout specialize in WordPress to help businesses build their online presence.
In his spare time, he enjoys renovating a century-old home and playing with his kids.
Tim Strifler
I’ve been creating websites with WordPress for about 7 years now. It started out being something I was just dabbling in, and never anticipated that it would become a focal point of my career. My Dad is a Graphic Designer, and I grew up watching him create packaging, signage, and everything else that goes a long with print design, before he transitioned to web. I never thought I would be interested in what he does, and I think if it wasn’t for the internet taking over, I probably wouldn’t be. What I love about creating websites with WordPress is it’s not purely design. And it’s also not purely development either. You get to marry the two and do both. Or just focus on one and outsource the other. I love that WordPress empowers users to do things that used to require a team of people with all different skill sets to do. It’s that empowerment that eventually led me to open up Tim Strifler Online Solutions to create WordPress websites for small to midsize business owners. It’s the experience I’ve learned along the way that I hope to share on WP the Podcast, as well as in the future online courses that David and I will be creating. Additionally, I have a product business called Divi Life, which sells plugins and child themes for the Divi theme framework. Divi Life allows me to create something that gets used by thousands of people which is a pretty great feeling. Additionally, I share my passion in two popular WordPress focused podcasts, WP the Podcast & Divi Chat.
Tanya Moushi
Tanya Moushi is a Good-Business Enthusiast, Lead Consultant at Moushi.co, an interdisciplinary firm that believes that business gets better by applying functions of philosophy and art, and Chief Empathy Officer (the other kind of CEO) of AKOS Web Marketing. She’s an avid supporter of Downtown Phoenix, believes in the power of generosity and cites Seth Godin as one of her most influential mentors.
Steve Zehngut
Steve founded Zeek Interactive in 1995 and he has been the creative technologist behind the Huntington Beach based company since its inception. Under his direction, Zeek has grown from an apartment bedroom to one of Southern California’s leading WordPress and mobile development shops. Steve is the organizer of the OC WordPress Meetup and has helped build the community to over 1,500 members. Steve is a frequent panelist and speaker at industry trade shows, including SXSW, the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) and various WordCamps. He has been aa Adobe Advisory Board Member, a member of Producer’s Guild and an Advisory Board member at the Art Institute. In addition, Steve has participated as a mentor in the American Film Institute eTV Workshop. Steve has also taught interactive development courses at University of California Irvine, University of Southern California, and California State University Long Beach. Steve has a BA in Film from Cal State Northridge.
Sheila Hoffman
Sheila Hoffman has had her own business since 1988, first as a print designer, then on the web. She’s been designing in WordPress since 2009 with the benefit of visual theme frameworks at Hoffman Graphics. Sheila leads a monthly Freelancer Meetup in Seattle and has volunteered at 6 WordCamps in various capacities, including co-chairing WordCamp Seattle the last two years. When she isn’t using WordPress you will find her tandem cycling with her husband, and hanging out with her co-housing community.
Shayda Torabi
Shayda Torabi is a storyteller, digital marketer, and lover of all things WordPress. From the people to the platform, she’s been using WordPress since 2004 and hasn’t looked back. Working at WebDevStudios as Director of Marketing, Shayda focuses on building authentic relationships with the amazing people who make up the WordPress community. Having been to over 30 WordCamps all over the world from Sevilla to Chicago to San Francisco, one thing has remained constant, the generosity of the people of WordPress. She likes loud music, is an Austin native, and chronicles her life adventures through her food blog, www.DineWithShayda.com.
Scott DeLuzio
Scott DeLuzio is a WordPress plugin developer from the Phoenix, AZ area. He began working with websites while in college in the early 2000s while studying to be an accountant. After graduating college, Scott worked in accounting for several years while serving in the Army National Guard and continued to build websites in WordPress. Scott has since made development his full-time job and has 14 plugins on WordPress.org, as well as Conditional Checkout Fields, WP-CRM System, WP1099, and WP In-Post Ads.
Sarah Wefald
Sarah is a project and product manager based in Long Beach, CA. When not making (simple) WordPress sites herself or leading teams to build sites and apps using WordPress, she’s serving on the organizing board for WordCamp Orange County. Send her a tweet at @sarahwefald.
Sally Strebel
I have built a privately funded tech company with the biggest household names by remembering the golden rule, listening to my clients, having market foresight, and hiring passionate A players. I am the COO and I have the best and most skilled team of any hosting company. They know their craft and I set the atmosphere for them to fulfill their greatness. They form a partnership with our clients to help them reach their goals. We provide diagnoses and recommendations helping our clients get to the next level. That can require conversations, recommendations, and even patches with 3 party suppliers of plugins, themes, etc in order to help them scale to our clients needs. What brings me energy and joy is hearing a client say that we are even better than they thought. My superpower is delivering heart to people who may feel like a number elsewhere and creative problem solving that is not dictated by industry norms (Did I mention that Pagely invented managed WordPress hosting to shake up the hosting industry?). Thanks for taking the time to read my bio.
Nathan Ingram
Nathan is the Host at iThemes Training where he teaches WordPress and freelance business development topics via live webinar.
He is also the creator of ADVANCE Coaching, working with WordPress business owners individually and in groups to help them become more successful in their businesses.
Nathan has been a freelance web developer since 1995, and is based in Birmingham, Alabama where he is the lead organizer of WordCamp Birmingham and co-organizer of the Birmingham WordPress Meetup.
You can learn more about Nathan at https://nathaningram.com.
Mike Jones
Remarkable brands require authenticity and a die-hard commitment to values and purpose. Mike Jones passionately pursues these beliefs as the Managing Partner of his brand agency – Resound. (He also gets kinda preachy about branding as co-host of the podcast AZ Brandcast.) In recognition of the work he’s done, this Arizona native has been named one of the state’s top entrepreneurs under the age of 35. He lives in the very sunny city of Mesa with his wife and two kids. If you want to connect, Twitter’s usually where you’ll find him – @remarkamike.
Mike Demo
Mike “Demo” Demopoulos is a longtime lover of Open Source Software. He currently works at BoldGrid (a WordPress Site Builder) as an Evangelist. He has spoken at numerous open source events around the world. Mike is also a contributor to Huffington Post as well as other publications. He also volunteers as Treasurer for Open Source Matters.
Michael Veenstra
Michael Veenstra is an information security researcher, writer, and white-hat hacker with the mission to make the Internet a more secure place for everyone.
He is a certified Web Application Penetration Tester, and a Global Information Assurance Certification advisory board member.
In his current role as a Web Security Research Analyst with SiteLock, Michael analyzes malicious code in order to train automated scanners to detect and clean new threats more effectively.
When he’s not buried in a project, Michael can be found planning D&D campaigns, playing guitar, or hanging out with his wife and daughter.
Machielle Thomas
After nearly a decade in finance, Machielle Thomas turned her love for content and social media into a more fulfilling career. Machielle has written content for small agencies and major corporations, such as Golfsmith and 11 brands for Starwood Hotels. She currently manages all things content and social for Bluehost. Machielle believes that great content starts with strategy and ends with analysis.
Her life passions are wedding and portrait photography, spontaneous travel, and the oxford comma—it is not optional. A southern girl at heart, Machielle lives and learns in Austin, Tx.
Lindsay Halsey
Based in Basalt, Colorado, Lindsay Halsey is co-founder of WP SEO Hub, a do-it-yourself WordPress SEO platform, and partner of webShine, a search engine marketing agency. She graduated from Dartmouth College with a degree in Economics and spent several years in the outdoor industry as a mountain guide and ski patroller. In 2008 Lindsay made the leap into search engine marketing. Her primary interest is search engine optimization for WordPress websites. Outside of the office, Lindsay is a mom, wife and enthusiastic skier and biker. She also is the founder of a nonprofit in Tanzania, To Return.
Lance Willett
Lance Willett is a software engineer, product manager, and team lead focused on creating high-quality and engaging experiences for people who use WordPress.
When unplugged, Lance can be found nose in a book at the local library, studying foreign languages and geography, playing tennis, or trying to find the perfect espresso. Born and raised in Mexico, he can roll a fresh corn tortilla like a pro.
Jason Knill
Jason is partner and head of finance at WordImpress, a WordPress plugin company who developed GiveWP.com. Jason has worked on Brand development, advertising and finance since joining the company in 2015. He’s a WordCamp speaker, an Open Source fanatic and tries his best to be child-like when taking on the day to day. Outside work you will find him fishing, golfing, hunting, running and enjoying music.
Jason Bahl
My name is Jason Bahl and I’m a Senior WordPress Engineer at Digital First Media in Denver, CO. I’m also the creator and maintainer of the WPGraphQL plugin which provides a GraphQL API to any WordPress site. I’ve been working with WordPress full time for about ~8 years.
J.R. Farr
Isaac Irvine
A cheerleader for small business owners and buying local, Isaac “loves the heart and soul that local businesses put into their products and services.” He’s especially interested in helping people build their personal brand using stories on social media. When he’s not at work, you can usually find Isaac and his kids riding their bikes at the local skatepark or sampling local coffee offerings. You might recognize Isaac and his son from a recent Facebook viral video. The video has over 70 million views and has been shared by CNN, Buzzfeed, George Takei, and others. Isaac is a native of Northern California who transplanted to Phoenix 11 years ago to work for GoDaddy.
Felix Arntz
Felix is a WordPress freelancer based in Germany, where he has been implementing client solutions and plugins for several years now. He is a backend developer with a major focus on multisite environments.
Aside from occasionally creating open-source plugins to give back to the WordPress project, he is also involved in core development, where he has been a component maintainer for Multisite, Capabilities and Post Thumbnails for a while, and became a committer in late 2016.
When not doing WordPress stuff, he spends his time producing music and playing the piano as well as soccer. He does all of that while drinking a lot of Mountain Dew.
Dwayne McDaniel
Dwayne has been working in tech and open source sales since 2005. He knew as soon as he started working with Java middleware developers he never wanted to work outside of open source ever again. Dwayne first started building in Drupal and WordPress for the San Francisco Improv teams and projects. He fell in the love the community and then found a position at Pantheon at the end of 2013.
As a Community and Agency Success Manager he has had the privilege of presenting at Stanford DrupalCamp, Drupal Northern Lights (Iceland), WordCamp Europe and many other conferences.
Outside of tech he loves producing and performing improv theater, reading webcomics and singing karaoke!!! Reach out at https://mcdwayne.com or on twitter @mcdwayne
Dennis Dinsmore
Dennis Dinsmore is a WordPress developer originally from Salem, Oregon. He got his start in the creative field over 20 years ago as a screen printer. Dennis moved to Tempe, Arizona to attend Collins College in 1999 where he graduated with a degree in Visual Communications with a focus on multimedia.
A Flash developer in the 2000’s, Dennis transitioned to building WordPress sites in 2010 and never looked back. He has worked as a developer for small and large agencies in the Valley of the Sun, but now works for his freelance venture, Lights Out Interactive.
When he’s not building WordPress websites, Dennis enjoys golfing, playing FIFA, riding his beach cruiser, or just chilling at his condo with his cat, Shakespeare.
David Blackmon
My journey has been a long and exciting one. My career path has had many twists and turns, but all along the way there were signals and signs encouraging me to explore the digital communications and web development fields. Once I finally did, and put 100% of my effort into creating an entrepreneurial venture, I realized that I’d found my calling (even though my calling had been calling me all along). As well as creating bespoke website solutions for a number of happy clients, my companies Aspen Grove Studios & Divi Space develop unique and functional products including child themes and plugins to better server the greater WordPress, Divi and Extra communities. Additionally, I share my passion in two popular WordPress focused podcasts, WP the Podcast & Divi Chat.
Dashon Hawkins
When I believe in something, I take it on wholeheartedly. As I believe in the power of transformation, I decided to make a career change after 25 years as a DJ and a small business owner. I’m finally pursuing my love for computer science as a Full Stack Web Developer/Software Engineer. I’m a recent graduate of the Galvanize – Phoenix’s 1st Full-Stack web development cohort. My immediate goals are to start a career in technology, learn as much as possible, and grow as a company grows. My hope is to do work that using the power of technology creates a positive impact on society. Currrently, I’ve thrown my hat into the entrepreneurship ring and started my own boutique agency where we are a minority owned, employed and operated full-service development agency that is a hot bed of diversity and talent across the entire software development lifecycle. We cover big and small using a plethora of tools including WordPress. We are more focused on using the right tool for the job as compared to holding one tool, language or framework superior to the next. We strive to do what’s right and beneficial for others, grow, learn and have fun along the way!
I’m a native of New Orleans, Louisiana and has resided in Arizona almost 17 years. I’m a proud father, grandfather, son and citizen. I personally champion to make diversity not and issue, but a norm.
Cyndie Shaffstall
On the heels of her first ten business and software books, Cyndie founded ThePowerXChange, the world’s first company dedicated to the international distribution of graphic design and print extensions software. Taking aim at the same audience, she published X-Ray Magazine, to which she also contributed as editor and writer of feature articles. She has released two series of eLearning videos on desktop-publishing software, and has written hundreds of eBooks, case studies, white papers, blog articles, and other online content for clients, her companies, and online magazines such as Target Marketing Magazine, Book Business Insights, and others.
Cyndie has enjoyed a successful career at the helm of more than a dozen companies, including ThePowerXChange, Sassy Strapps (for which she also holds the patent); and currently, international marketing company, Spider Trainers. She sits on the Hidden Star Advisory Board, and chairs the Pinetop-Lakeside Chamber of Commerce. As a public speaker, she has presented to audiences across the globe on software, publishing, writing, and automated marketing for companies such as American Marketing Association, Act-On Software, Target Marketing Magazine, Data.com, Salesforce, WooCommerce, and many others. As a best-selling author, she has recently completed her first fiction series, which includes an Amazon® best seller, Willows: The Creole.
Chris Klosowski
Chris is a Software Developer primarily focused on PHP and WordPress with a specialties in eCommerce and Social Media. Chris is a Lead Developer and Partner at Sandhills Development, the team behind Easy Digital Downloads, AffiliateWP, and Restrict Content Pro. Currently he resides in Queen Creek, Ariz. with his family.
“I like good coffee, good beer, and good code. If you want to chat about any of those, hit me up!”
Chris F Lema
Chris Lema has been building online stores since it was possible. Over the past twenty years, things have gotten a lot easier, but there’s still tons to know about launching your online store with WooCommerce. He is a blogger, public speaker, an eCommerce consultant, and the VP of Products at Liquid Web, where he’s been leading the development of a Managed WooCommerce Hosting product.
Chris David Miles
Chris is a Product Manager for Bluehost in Salt Lake City, Utah. He has done freelance web design and front-end development for over a decade. He discovered WordPress in 2011 and has used it to built sites for clients and non-profits ever since.
Chris Carson
Chris was born in Ottumwa, Iowa, and grew up in Tempe, Arizona. She spent a majority of her career in the legal field, and has done everything from product demonstrations, murder mystery dinner theater, and computer tutoring, to teaching various subjects in adult education and creating custom crocheted items. From the age of 5, her first love has always been writing. Ms. Carson has a B.A. in English from Arizona State University, and she describes herself as a compulsive copy editor. She recently published a book on the “Law of Attraction” from a Christian perspective and is presently developing a course to go along with it.
Carl Alexander
Heya! I’m Carl.
I’m a PHP developer from Montréal, Canada. I live and breath advanced programming topics (and memes). I share a lot of my passion for those topics on my website where I publish articles on a regular basis.
It’s my way to help you with these hard-to-learn topics. That’s also why I’m excited to speak at WordCamp Phoenix. It’s another way for me to help you.
Besides that, I’ve been a WordPress Montréal organizer since 2010. I also help organize other WordPress events during the year. You can find me on Twitter and GitHub.
Brandon Payton
Brandon is an experienced software developer who loves the open web. He recently joined Automattic as a JavaScript Engineer working on WordPress Core, especially Customization and Gutenberg. When not working on WordPress, he enjoys reading, playing guitar, and spending time with his wife and four daughters.
Ben Moore
Ben Moore is the founder of SkyPress, a web app consulting and development agency, and the Customer Experience Operations Business Intelligence Developer at WP Engine. He is known for his thought leadership on coding Brainless and is the creator of the WAR framework. With over 7 years of WordPress development experience, Ben specializes in helping his clients with their web application and business intelligence needs.
Ashten Fizer
Starting a career in Social Media Strategy by necessity is no easy task. Ashten began as a Deejay, and knew that she had to find new ways to create a following for herself. Once she realized she had a gift for staying a couple steps ahead of the next person, she took her Social Media Strategy skills to the Chicago political realm. It was in this function that Ashten began to flourish as a thought leader in her field. In her time, Ashten has been called on by the likes of Clear Channel nationwide to help manage On-Air Talent communities, as well as held deejay residencies for industry giants like Google and CISC. She currently works at GoDaddy in Phoenix, Arizona which she lends her Social Media and Web Hosting expertise to the Web Design Department and the GoDaddy GoTeam to engage users with targeted content.
April Wier
April helps individuals and businesses become the best versions of themselves. This may come in the form of a new, or better, web site or coaching to break through self-imposed limitations. She specializes in helping high-performers reach their goals online. She is heavily involved in Atlanta WordPress community, as a co-organizer of the Woodstock WordPress meetup (an official WP meetup) and as a former organizer for WordCamp Atlanta.
April Holle
With two decades of experience creating online and incredible stories from SXSW to Burning Man—it’s fair to say that April Holle lives at the corner of creativity and innovation. As Principal of Made Better Studio, April provides strategic marketing services using WordPress to help nonprofit organization’s do-good businesses spread their great work.
Andy Fragen
Andy Fragen has been using WordPress since 2007 and in that time has become a proficient hacker, contributor, plugin developer, and hobbyist of WordPress. Andy is a former trauma surgeon and is currently the Chief Medical Officer of a nearby 350 bed Southern California hospital.
He has several plugins in the Plugin Directory and has contributed to many others. His plugin contributions have over half a million downloads.
“WordPress provides a problem-solving sandbox that intrigues me and allows me a creative outlet from my normal job. I enjoy helping others and helping them find solutions to their problems.”
Amber Pechin
I have a short, but comprehensive bucket list. 1. Go all the places 2. Meet all the people 3. Tell all the stories I’m happiest when I’m telling stories, whether on stage as a stand-up comedian, in print or around my kitchen table over pancakes with friends and family. I love to connect people through food and stories, wherever I am in the world. My previous experience working in a large ad agency in Phoenix working with enterprise level brands led me to my current position as co-founder of Amplitude Media, where I combine letters into words to tell stories for clients.
AJ Morris
AJ a Product Manager for Liquid Web, a fully managed hosting company. Here he work on various WordPress products and initiatives focusing on open-source, community, and spreading the love of WordPress. He has been involved with the WordPress community since 2006, working with theme and plugin companies in support and project management positions. In my spare time he loves to travel and spend time with my lovely wife and daughter.
Aaron Campbell
Aaron is the WordPress Security Team lead, has been a regular contributor to WordPress for more than ten years, and is currently funded by GoDaddy to work full time on the WordPress open source project. He has over seventeen years of web development experience and worked with clients ranging from small local businesses to Google, Yahoo, Disney, and Harvard. He’s been called both a coffee snob and a beer snob, but considers both to be compliments. When not buried in code, he enjoys spending time with his wife and son, riding his motorcycle, and reading sci-fi/fantasy books.