In Return of the Jedi, Yoda says to Luke Skywalker, “When gone am I, the last of the Jedi will you be. The Force runs strong in your family. Pass on what you have learned.” And this got us thinking…
While some people may work with WordPress for their entire career, others may work with WordPress, get involved in the community, and even speak at events like WordCamp for a short time. No matter what your level of involvement in the open-source project is, one thing is for certain: The power of WordPress is strong. It runs throughout the community and many of us are happy to pass on what we have learned and help those around us succeed.
This sentiment is especially true for our fabulous WordCamp speakers who volunteer their time (and pay their own way) to create and deliver valuable presentations for you.
In this post, we’re introducing you to our fourth round of WordCamp Speakers:
WordCamp Sacramento 2019 Speakers: Round 4
Chris Teitzel
Chris has a passion for technology and its ability to create an impact on lives around the world. He’s dedicated to simplifying security and privacy, working in both WordPress and Drupal to further core privacy initiatives. Recently he’s been appointed to advise the Department of Homeland Security on privacy matters, worked with US/EU Privacy initiatives, and helped form the new Cross-CMS Privacy Coalition.
Natalie Bourn
Natalie Bourn is a Junior at Whitney High School and the Public Relations Officer for the school’s Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) chapter. She’s been blogging for five years and writes about adventures, life lessons, her journey through school and being a teenager, and her friends and family. Natalie began blogging with a free account on WordPress.com and moved to a self-hosted, custom designed WordPress blog one year later. When she’s not busy with homework or adventuring with her family, she loves to dance, read and write, bullet journal, and play games with her brother—she also fancies herself a Netflix connoisseur and a sleep specialist, so feel free to ask her about both.
Jake Goldman
Jake is the President & Founder of 10up, a digital agency that finely crafts websites and tools for content creators, leveraging open platforms like WordPress. 10up has delivered hundreds of digital projects for some of the largest brands in the world, including Microsoft, Google, Starbucks, The New York Times Co, and AMC Networks – to name a few. 10up’s projects have earned multiple Webby Awards, and 2 Emmy Award nominations. Part marketer, part engineer, and part UX designer, Jake has been making websites since the 1990s, is a core contributor to WordPress, has spoken at dozens of conferences, been quoted in publications like Time and CNet, and built plugins that are still active on hundreds of thousands of websites. He bootstrapped 10up from a 1 man operation in 2011 to more than 160 full timers around the globe.
Natalie MacLees
Natalie MacLees is an web developer and UI designer. She is founder + principal of Digita11y, an accessibility-focused interactive agency. She is the author of jQuery for Designers, now in its second edition. She was the lead organizer for WordCamp Los Angeles 2013 and 2014. She founded Website Weekend LA, a 48-hour hackathon matching web professionals with nonprofits in need to websites. Along with Nathan Tyler, she’s a founder of N Squared – a tiny software company that has made Draw Attention, Simply Schedule Appointments, Plugin Detective, and other awesome WordPress plugins. She makes her online home at nataliemac.com.
Michelle Schulp
Michelle is an independent graphic designer and front-end developer in Minneapolis. Prior to beginning her career, she studied Visual Communications, with minors in Psychology and Sociology. As her work progressed, she also branched into front-end development and user experience design to round our her skillset. This combination of disciplines led her to adopt a strategy-based approach to design, focused on solving tangible problems and achieving real goals based on how people think. She loves the open source community, and when she is not working on projects she speaks/volunteers/organizes at events and workshops around the country. Her passions are communication and empowerment, and she believes in the power of “Why?”
Jeremy Ward
A native of St. Paul, Minnesota, Jeremy first got his start in web development as a hobby, when he learned to build static websites for his bands and friends. This part-time curiosity blossomed into interests in database queries and server-side languages, and by 2013, he began a full-time career in computer programming. Today, Jeremy works as a Senior Back-end Engineer at WebDevStudios, where he’s passionate about software architecture, modular design, sussing out acceptance criteria for website features, and promoting the merits of the hottest new board games.
Billy Young
Billy Young is a corporate techie turned entrepreneur who enjoys solving complicated problems and the challenge of bringing new software products to life. He is a co-founder/partner at FastLine Media LLC, the makers of Beaver Builder. When not tackling strategy and wrangling efficiency in the business, he enjoys spending time with his wife, three kids, and dog.
Michele Butcher-Jones
Michele is a WordPress Technical Specialist at Thrive Internet Marketing Agency and runs her own WordPress shop at 13Core. When not working her jobs, Michele is an organizer for WordCamp St Louis, WordCamp US 2019, and the Lead Organizer of the Southern Illinois WordPress Meetup. When not logged in to her computer, she loves traveling with her family, enjoys reading, taking pictures, and a lover of fine food and better drinks.
Stay Tuned!
If you’re getting as excited as we are about WordCamp Sacramento 2019, make sure you sign up for the email updates about the event. That way you’ll get all the details about the call for volunteers, tickets, the schedule and sessions, and more.