After reviewing more than a hundred and fifty speaker applications, we’re thrilled to start introducing the fantastic people from DC and beyond who will speak at our second WordCamp DC!
Without further ado, let’s meet our first group of speakers:
Joe Howard
Hi! Joe here. I’m the Head Buff at WP Buffs, a 24/7 WordPress website maintenance service for serious website owners and white-label partners. Whether you’re looking after 1 site or 1000, we’ve got your back! I also run WPMRR, a robust video course that teaches WordPress professionals how to implement, sell and execute ongoing care plans for their clients and increase their revenue every single month. Or you can just tune into The WPMRR WordPress podcast entirely focused on growing successful WordPress businesses and monthly recurring revenue. Boom!
Mel Choyce
Mel Choyce is a wicked awesome product designer based in Boston, Massachusetts. Not only is Mel a WordPress Core Committer and former Release Lead, she is a regular core contributor and speaks frequently at WordCamps on design, typography, and user experience. When Mel isn’t designing products at Automattic, she enjoys cold brew coffee, craft beer, and rocking out in her band. Say hi to her on Twitter at @melchoyce, and visit her site at choycedesign.com.
Tiffany Bridge
Tiffany Bridge has been building websites for over 20 years, sometimes for herself, sometimes for others. Along the way, she has honed her skills in digital strategy, cat-herding, and checklist development. After years of experience in recruiting, associations, and the federal space, now she’s helping interesting organizations and individuals have an excellent experience with WordPress as part of Automattic’s Special Projects Team.
Romona Foster
Romona Foster is a highly endorsed social media trainer and consultant teaching small businesses and nonprofits how to leverage and brand their businesses through the use of social media. She trains groups and individuals on how to use LinkedIn, how to market their business on Facebook, all about Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, WordPress, Google My Business, the best practices of Email Marketing, Online Marketing, Affiliate Marketing, and Personal Branding.
Katherine Ong
Katherine Watier Ong is an online marketing trainer, public speaker, and consultant. She has over 20 years of experience in communications strategy and online delivery of communications messages, including thirteen years of SEO, social media, SEM, and web analytics management. Katherine is an accomplished trainer on online marketing strategy and tactics and has provided online marketing strategy and training for a number of clients, including: Fisheries.NOAA.gov National Cancer Institute (Cancer.gov) (HHS) Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (HealthIT.gov) American College of Cardiology Legends of Learning New York Health Benefits Exchange (NYStateofHealth.gov) Cleveland Clinic RollCall.com Razoo.com FedEx IBM Dignity Health Conagra Express Scripts Caris Life Sciences National Honey Board GHI International Environmental Working Group WattAgNet.com Cystic Fibrosis Foundation Westat Ms. Ong is most proud of the fact that she has trained (often from scratch) a total of 16 young people on her various teams that are now employed as digital strategists at various online marketing firms around the country.
John Cornthwait
John Cornthwait is the Partner + Director of Products at Firefli and an Adjunct Assistant Professor at Virginia Western Community College. He holds a MS in Information Architecture and UX from Kent State University. John has presented “How to Win at Information Architecture” at WordCamp DC and WordCamp Raleigh. He works across industries with regional and global companies to design products that drive business. John’s work has been recognized by The Webby Awards, American Advertising Federation, and Public Relations Society of America.
Mika Epstein
Mika Ariela Epstein is better known as Ipstenu, the WordPress Half-Elf Rogue. Working for DreamHost as a full stack WordPress developer on DreamPress and managing the WordPress.org Plugin Review Team, Mika helps make the internet safer for everyone. When she’s not writing her own code, she’s helping WordPress developers write something better. The cofounder of LezWatch.TV, the greatest database of queer characters and shows, she develops software and trawls queer representation on television to make the data visible. Passionate about code, open source technology, open data, and mindful development practices, Mika may watch a lot of TV but it’s for a good cause. You can find Mika travelling internationally to speak about the intersection of software, fandom, and humanism.
David Wolfpaw
David is a professional web developer focused on WordPress theme and plugin development. He emphasizes helping small businesses, providing ongoing maintenance and support, and educating users through his service FixUpFox.
Donata Kalnenaite
I am a data privacy and technology attorney based in Chicago, IL. I’m a Certified Information Privacy Professional and the President of a software company that has generated thousands of Privacy Policies. I am also the newsletter editor of the American Bar Association’s e-Privacy Committee and the chair of the Chicago Chapter of the International Association of Privacy Professionals. My passion is web professionals comply with complex privacy laws. I excel at breaking down complicated topics into actionable tips and hope to share my expertise with WordCamp D.C. attendees.
Ryan Sholin
Ryan is on the Business Development team at WordPress VIP, where he connects publishers of all shapes and sizes with the best people, tools, and companies in the WordPress community. A WordPress user since version 1.2.2, Ryan brought blogging into newsrooms and then spent a decade in digital product and portfolio management at GateHouse Media, Gannett, startups, and nonprofits before joining Automattic in 2017.
Chris Ford
Chris Ford spent the first seven years of her career collaborating with talented project managers to deliver sites for clients including Wynn Hotels and Gateway Computers. The next 12 years she was a freelance designer: managing client expectations, running discovery meetings, keeping track of budgets and deliverables, while also squeezing in designing and building sites. Four years ago she pivoted to project management. For the last two and a half years she’s been a project manager at Reaktiv Studios. She’s also an Asana ambassador and is happy to talk your ear off about designing efficient processes. In her spare time she enjoys kerning type as meditation, playing and building guitars, and hanging out in Slack drinking bourbon while talking about reading the huge stack of books in her Goodreads backlog.
Bud Kraus
Most WordPress site developers are not instructors and not really interested in teaching WordPress to clients that want to learn it. That’s what makes Bud Kraus very different. As he likes to say, “I don’t just make web sites. I teach too.” Bud brings over 20 years of experience teaching best practices with WordPress (in New York City and beyond) to every project he gets involved with. From startup sites to site re-designs, it is his experience and professionalism that clients have come to depend on. No matter the project, Bud is willing to work with clients the way they want to work and not the other way around. He finds the best ways to collaborate with others to accomplish their goals. He always encourages every student to learn whatever they want with WordPress. His students have become web site clients, and some site owners have become his students. Bud is very active and well known in the WordPress community in and around the New York City and Northern New Jersey areas. His Joy of WP site – joyofwp.com – includes 2 free courses with over 60 WordPress videos which has been used by over 1,000 people in 2019 to learn WordPress the world over.