Sarah Wefald
Sarah Wefald came to WordPress and Zeek Interactive the long way. She started out as a project manager at a major record label —l the sort of job she had wanted since she had first thought it would be cool to work with musicians. However, that dream was soon met with reality in the music industry: half the company worldwide was laid off after the label was purchased and privatized. Determined that her career would not be over at 23, she went back to school while working temp jobs to learn web development and design.
After finishing the program, Sarah started transitioning from her marketing career to more technical work within the music industry, handling social media and webmaster duties for bands. Finding Steve Zehngut’s WordPress meetup group in Orange County allowed her to take her knowledge of PHP and apply it to WordPress web development. As a result, she has created and launched dozens of websites for brands and small businesses on her own, and runs the OC WordPress Web Designer’s meetup at Zeek’s offices on the first Monday of each month. She has presented at WordCamp Los Angeles (2013, 2014, and 2016) and WordCamp Orange County (2014), and served on the organizing committee for WordCamp Orange County in 2015, 2016, and 2017. She’s very happy that Zeek has allowed her to unite her original love of project management with her enthusiasm for WordPress.
Sarah holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from Mount Holyoke College and a Diploma in Web Design from the Art Institute of Pittsburgh Online.
WordCamp Session Title
Yes, And… Using Improv Comedy for Project Management Success
Why Is This Important?
Project Managers, especially those at small agencies, are often pulled in opposite directions: keeping the client happy by being flexible enough to give them what they want as their wants change and shift, and keeping the project on schedule and on budget. A lot of times, it doesn’t seem possible to do both of these things at once. Using the principles of improv comedy helps to never have to say “no” while also maintaining boundaries.
How Did You Discover WordPress?
I had heard of WordPress but didn’t realize how extensible it could be until I started attending the Orange County WordPress meetup in 2011. When I finished school, I thought most of my income would come from Flash work as well as creating custom content management backends for websites. I was thrilled to find WordPress since it made the custom CMS part of things completely obsolete.
How Do You Use WordPress?
I’ve created and launched dozens of WordPress sites, but these days, I just manage the production of WordPress projects with a team of brilliant developers.
How Has WordPress Impacted You?
WordPress completely changed the trajectory of my life. It was accessible enough that I could start using it while in the music industry, and powerful enough that it became my new career.
What Do You Do When Not Working?
I love hiking, playing music, going to concerts, and long bike rides.
What Is Your Favorite Candy?
Skittles!