I wrote an essay for HeroPress that follows my journey into the world of design, development, independent business ownership, and ultimately WordPress. In it, I explore how my growing involvement in the community intertwined with a tumultuous personal life, and how each shaped the other to become the thing they are today.

There are dozens of chance interactions that shaped my entire world, and many people I am grateful to have met and been influenced by during that time, several of whom I directly call out in the essay.

It was extremely difficult as well as therapeutic to write, and perhaps in the future I’ll continue to revisit the story, but for now I hope you enjoy if you want to know more about what brought me here and keeps me going.

Read the full essay on HeroPress

“This sounds like a great place to victoriously scribble “The End” to my story, but it’s difficult to see it as an end at all. For one, I’m only 29. I still struggle with a lot of emotional turmoil that I need to process, I still suffer from severe bouts of inadequacy, creative block, and existential crises both career and personal, and I still don’t necessarily know where I am going in life. To me, it’s just the middle of a longer story, or maybe even the beginning of something new. But rising above all of that, I know that my love of design, development, and especially WordPress have afforded me an opportunity that many only dream about: being empowered to lead myself down my own path.

My entire life has truly been transformed by WordPress, and for that I am eternally grateful.”