When your keynote speaker doesn’t mind you bombarding her with “getting to know you” questions the day after an exciting, but exhausting, Wordcamp event – in this case, Miami – you know you’re in for a treat. Such was the case with Mika Epstein, better known as @Ipstenu across the Twitterverse.
Let’s dive right in to our Q&A and get to know our keynote speaker!
Q: Why WordPress?
For me personally it was all about the timing. After a few years of writing my own code, I realized I’m not really all that at everything. I wanted comments and auto-updating links, and MovableType had JUST changed their license structures, so it was the perfect time to switch 🙂
Why should YOU use WordPress now?
It’s the proof that ‘free doesn’t have to suck.’ It advances, it does the hard research for users so we have decisions and not a bajillion options people don’t understand. It’s flexible and iterative, so you can literally make it do anything! It’s always keeping up with the Jones, to the point that it’s surpassed everything.
Q: Why Wordcamp(s)?
True story! I was terrified at my first WordCamp (WC Montreal, 2011) and I was too scared to speak even though I was asked. But at that one WordCamp, I learned about how WordPress was more than just blogging software or a website management tool. WordPress is the community behind it. I knew things I thought I didn’t, I knew more than some people and less than others. But I was able to have the same conversations in person as I had online. Suddenly I had a face to the community, and contributing felt way less terrifying.
Q: Add-ons, plug-ins, tools and or widgets that no WordPress site/business should be without?
As a user, I’m pro-Jetpack all the way. That and Akismet are installed on every site I run.
But absolutely the one tool no WP site should be without is a good backup service. If it’s VaultPress, rock on. I do full server backups every night. Never go without them! Backup backup backup!
Q: Best music to design/develop to?
I like listening to techno when I’m writing code.
If I’m writing code posts I like 90’s grunge/garage bands (Green Day) or 80s pop (Wham!).
If I’m writing my novel it’s all ‘music by women’ which right now seems to be a lot of Sara Bareilles and Colbie Callait, with Indigo Girls and Alanis thrown in for ‘retro.’
Q: Your chosen post WordPress project victory beverage?
I’m a whiskey kind of girl. I have some Japanese whiskey, along with various presents people have given me through the years. Straight up with ice, or maybe a whiskey and water, are perfect for me. I’ll have one, small, glass, and be happy for days.
Q: Your go-to comfort food when a project gets wonky/ goes off the rails?
Thin Mints.
Q: 7. Early bird or night owl? Why?
Both?
I love being up early. Six AM rolls around and I’m UP no matter how much I try to sleep in. I’m good at triaging and writing long emails about how someone’s _doing_it_wrong(), or deep diving into a random problem that cropped up while I was asleep. That’s my favorite kind of morning, since no one else is really awake to pull me out of my train of thought too much.
I get my best coding in between noon and five PM. That’s when I just GET it.
Night time, when I log off the nets, I get the best writing in. Curled up on the couch with my iPad, I love just letting my brain flow the non-WordPress juices.
I’m really up and awake right away though, though everyone in my family would say I’m a lazy morning person. But once I’m up and moving, that’s it. I’m ready for my day in 30 minutes or less.
Q: How does your half elf heritage add to the wonders of your WordPress world?
I sneak up behind problems and stab them in the back before they get too wild. I’ve been silently wiping out issues before the rest of the WordPress world even knew they were in danger for five years 🙂
And there you have it!
A deeper look into what makes our keynote speaker tick, and possibly dance, while she wiles away the day the WordPress way. We can’t wait to hear what she has to say in March. How about you?
Visit her site to learn more!