Karmen Kendrick is a product marketing manager at LearnDash. Before this role, she worked as a freelance marketing consultant helping new small business clients improve their website’s conversion rate optimization and create go-to-market plans for their launch. Karmen holds a decade of experience in digital marketing, eCommerce, and web development. When she’s not working, you can find her volunteering, skating, and saving interior design ideas on Pinterest.
Michele: What do you do in the WordPress ecosystem?
Karmen: I am the Product Marketing Manager for LearnDash, a course building plugin for WordPress.
Michele: How did you get involved with WordPress?
Karmen: I launched an eCommerce store on Shopify selling beauty products for ethnic women. Shopify became too expensive so I started looking for other alternatives and landed on WooCommerce. WooCommerce and WordPress enabled me to build an even better site than the one on Shopify. I later became so comfortable with using WordPress that I began offering web design services for other businesses.
Michele: Please tell me one story of someone who has inspired you within the WordPress Community.
Karmen: Aurooba Ahmed. I found Aurooba on Twitter and I love how she contributes to the WordPress community with projects like Quickpost that lets you create new posts and duplicate your current post right from the Block Editor, even when you’re in fullscreen mode.
Michele: What does the Open Source Community mean to you?
Karmen: The WordPress Open Source Community means everything to me. It gave me opportunities and helps so many people thrive doing what they love and helping others do what they love. It’s not just a licensing system, but a way for people to collaborate and build together.
Michele: Please name some of your favorite plugins.
Karmen: LearnDash, RankMath, All In One WP Migration, WooCommerce
Michele: Do you have a favorite theme or framework you like to use?
Karmen: Kadence WP
Michele: If you could change one thing in WordPress, what would it be?
Karmen: It would be to make WordPress easier to use and maintain for nontechnical users. I really hate when I hear users say they loved how their website looked and functioned, but the maintenance was too much. I think more plugins should offer hosted solutions with maintenance to make things easier.
Michele: What is your most memorable WordPress moment?
Karmen: My most memorable WordPress moment was WordCamp Atlanta 2019. I connected with a lot of the attendees beforehand on Twitter and felt comfortable seeing them in person. It felt like I was talking to old friends but in real life which we don’t get often because everything we do is online!
Michele: What is one piece of advice you would give to someone just getting started with WordPress?
Karmen: Don’t give up! There are lots of people who are happy to help. Join Twitter communities, Facebook groups, and signup for WordPress.org.
Michele: What do you think is in store for the future of WordPress?
Karmen: I think WordPress will continue to grow and remain the top CMS and website builder for all.
Michele: Just for fun, share one memory that makes you proud to be a part of the WordPress Community
Karmen: I’m proud of seeing all the people who take their dreams and ideas, then create amazing things with WordPress that helps other people achieve their goals.
You can find Karmen Kendrick at Karmen.Work
Karmen on Twitter
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In addition to her work at StellarWP, Michelle is the Podcast Barista at WPCoffeeTalk.com, cofounder of underrepresentedintech.com, creator of wpcareerpages.com, the president of the board for BigOrangeHeart.org, Director of Community Relations and contributor at PostStatus.com, author, business coach, and a frequent organizer and speaker at WordPress events. Michelle lives outside of Rochester, NY where she’s an avid nature photographer. You can learn more about Michelle at meetmichelle.online.
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