I live outside of New Orleans, Louisiana with my husband and 3 daughters. I spend most of my time doing things with my family (translate: shuttling kids around and being wife/mom). I really enjoy watching my children grow and experience new things, it’s my main hobby in life right now.
My favorite place to be is outside somewhere. Even if it’s just weeding my flowerbeds or garden. I like good food and find cooking it very therapeutic. Finding new flavors and food combinations are exciting. I squeeze in the rare murder mystery novel when I travel, I love Agatha Christie and the Scarpetta series.
Michele: What do you do in the WordPress ecosystem?
Kimberly: I am the CoFounder of a Professional Website Management company. My job is less WordPress these days, my title is CEO so I spend a lot of time doing stuff surrounding the company and personnel needs.
Michele: How did you get involved with WordPress?
Kimberly: What feels like a bazillion years ago, I applied to work product support at WPMUDEV. I had no clue what I was doing, only my own WordPress site that I had crashed a dozen times. I cited that as my ‘real world’ experience and Mason unwittingly hired me.
Michele: Please tell me one story of someone who has inspired you within the WordPress Community?
Kimberly: My most vivid memory of getting hooked on the community is less inspirational and more warm fuzzy feels. My first WordCamp was in Miami. I was in awe that whole trip. I remember towards the end of the camp I heard Pippin talk. The overarching theme was about helping each other helps the community at large. It was such a warm message at a tech conference and I thought “this is really the nicest largest group of people ever, I’m not leaving it”.
Michele: What does the Open Source Community mean to you?
Kimberly: I knew nothing about Open Source when I found WordPress. Open Source and GPL were new terms I’d never heard of. My investment in these communities is the time I’ve spent working among the people and learning the ecosystem surrounding Open Source. It’s an amazing source of opportunity and attracts some incredibly interesting
Michele: Please name some of your favorite plugins.
Kimberly: Any plugin that is coded with best practice and well supported with frequent updates.
Michele: Do you have a favorite theme or framework you like to use?
Kimberly: Genesis has always been kind to me, I’m not a developer.
Michele: If you could change one thing in WordPress, what would it be?
Kimberly: Tough, because if you change anything you change the nature of the community and its essence. But if I had to pick I’d like to see more of a global community focus on customer service. I believe that exceptional support from all corners and types of WordPress businesses could really create a name for WordPress in higher and larger spaces.
Michele: What is your most memorable WordPress moment?
Kimberly: The first kids camp I helped with. Those are all my favorite memories.
Michele: What is one piece of advice you would give to someone just getting started with WordPress?
Kimberly: Try stuff. Break shit. Ask questions. That’s three, sorry…
Michele: What do you think is in store for the future of WordPress?
Kimberly: I think this depends on the community’s ability to think big and adopt change. The market in WordPress is moving upwards on a curve that is leading away from commoditizing and the DIY blogger stereotypes. More commerce, higher pay, a general shift in the outside world’s view of WordPress is on the horizon.
Michele: Just for fun, share one memory that makes you proud to be a part of the WordPress Community.
Kimberly: What I do for a living is a mystery to many folks in my life. Being able to talk about my experiences outside of the traditional office setting, the people I meet from across the globe, and the team we have built at Valet makes me incredibly proud.
You can find Kimberly Lipari online at Valet.
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