WordCamp Phoenix: Being Intentional with Your Actions
In this episode, Kathy and Michelle are together at WordCamp Phoenix where they were both speakers and representing Kadence as sponsors. They enjoyed a little of that amazing Phoenix weather, recording outside the venue to talk about the experiences at WordCamp Phoenix and the intentions they share. Both Michelle and Kathy have distinct goals that motivate them to work in the WordPress community. While not exactly the same, their parallel goals and activities support each other other in dynamic ways all for the same cause: to empower others to live their dreams to the fullest potential. This weekend was magical in that regard, and this glimpse into our experience highlights why we do what we do.
Episode Transcript
Speaker 0 00:00:00 Start your week smiling with your friends, Kathy’s aunt and Michelle Ette. It’s time to get ready for some weekly motivation with WP Motivate. Hi Kathy. Hi Michelle. Happy Saturday.
Speaker 1 00:00:14 Happy Saturday. We’re in Phoenix, Arizona. Phoenix. This is so
Speaker 0 00:00:20 Fun. It’s so fun. And this is the first time we can, I, I do mine too. , we’re actually broadcasting. We’re in the same place, obviously. Is crazy. Usually we’re seeing each other over, um, zoom. Yeah. And we both zoomed to be here. on a plane. That is, I know. I’m pathetically the dad jokes. I’m a woman, I’m a mom, but I have the dad jokes in spades.
Speaker 1 00:00:43 , we, we should just start to hashtag mom joke.
Speaker 0 00:00:45 Oh, I like that. We should do that. Okay. Yeah, you got it . Anyway, so Yeah. So we’re, we’re here Phoenix. And it’s been, I dunno for you, it’s been amazing experience.
Speaker 1 00:00:55 It’s been amazing and a little, a little overwhelming. Cause it’s like coming home to my Phoenix family here,
Speaker 0 00:01:02 You know? Yeah. You were an
Speaker 1 00:01:03 Organizer. I was an organizer. Not this year, I’m a speaker, but past two I was an organizer here. Yeah. Lots of memories, lots of love here.
Speaker 0 00:01:11 So, and it’s been really great for me because you know your way around and I’m just like, I’ll follow along.
Speaker 1 00:01:16 Too. I laid on my way around. I’m faking it for the day.
Speaker 0 00:01:19 Well, you’re faking it well enough for me. Yeah. . But it’s been, it’s been really heartwarming here.
Speaker 1 00:01:26 Yeah. Really hard. And the weather.
Speaker 0 00:01:29 Oh my gosh, the weather’s been so much better. I love Rochester. If you’re, if you’re in the New York and you’re watching or listening, you’re awesome. But the weather here really is awesome. .
Speaker 1 00:01:38 Yes.
Speaker 0 00:01:39 This is so once
Speaker 1 00:01:40 And the sun just keeps sun shining. It does. It’s pretty wonderful. It’s been sunny every day. Oh my gosh. We need to drink a lot of water, don’t we?
Speaker 0 00:01:46 No idea. Kevin’s like, make sure it’s really drying out here. And I’m like, I’m not in the sun because like the only time in Rochester is if you’re in the sun. Oh no. It’s just the air here has no moisture in it at all.
Speaker 1 00:01:56 Yeah. You’re in the It’s started to hit me. I’m like, gosh, I just, I’m thirsty. All good. Oh, the desert thing. I remember when I
Speaker 0 00:02:02 First
Speaker 1 00:02:02 Moved to just someone keep drinking. Yeah. Someone said, just keep drinking water. Even if you think you’re not thirsty. Cuz as soon as you get to the headache part you’re like dying. Right. It’s
Speaker 0 00:02:09 Too bad. It’s too late. It’s
Speaker 1 00:02:10 Too late. Yeah. So I could feel like that kind of feeling happening and I’m like, oh yeah, I
Speaker 0 00:02:14 Remember this. You don’t have to be that person crawling across the desert going
Speaker 1 00:02:17 Water bugs Bunny. Yeah.
Speaker 0 00:02:19 It’s another eating water. Yeah, for
Speaker 1 00:02:21 Sure. I just need to make it to Albuquerque.
Speaker 0 00:02:25 Um, so work camps are always like coming back to family for both of us because we know so many people in the WordPress community, but you know, a lot of people locally here too from time that you live here and the times that you’ve been here. So what’s that been like to reconnect with people?
Speaker 1 00:02:40 It’s, it makes me wonder why I moved because it’s like, here’s what’s like Yeah, well, I mean, COVID kind of, obviously the pandemic made things a lot harder to get back, but, uh, yeah, I just, I’ve, I miss Phoenix. Oh gosh. Don’t tell anybody in my family. Like, I’m thinking of like, how do do I move back?
Speaker 0 00:02:59 How do I get back to Not
Speaker 1 00:03:01 Yet, not yet. I got a few things to do still in Texas and, but it is really nice to be back and it’s so good to see so many fa family. They’re more family. They’re, they’re part part of a family. Yeah. It’s, it’s a really unique community because lots of word press communities have like people who come in and organize and then they get a little burned out and then you’re like looking for new people to help do things and everything. But there’s core people here who have stuck with WordPress community for so long mm-hmm. and they’re like anchors to this space. And there are new people who come in. Yeah. Um, lots of California people who have moved to Arizona and they’re like bringing the California WordPress vibes in. I love it. So, yeah. It’s so cool. Um, so yeah. It’s just, it’s really good to be back and, um, it’s weird. It’s, and I keep saying, oh remember last year, but that was three years ago. , it’s so
Speaker 0 00:03:49 Quick. I know. We to train our brains to say last time. Yes. Not last year. Yes. Right. For sure. Yeah. It’s weird. And you gave a talk yesterday.
Speaker 1 00:03:57 I did. It was so fun. I had the best audience in the whole world and I was really lucky cuz I, it was like the first talk on the first day, so I got to like leverage everybody’s excitement of being there. I’m like, Hey, is everybody excited to be here? And everybody’s like, woo, yes we are. And then that just kind of created Yeah. A really fun talk cuz everybody was so engaged and I kept bringing them in and asking questions and because
Speaker 0 00:04:19 It was the first talk and people were arriving, I couldn’t go listen to your talk. So I have to listen to it later. Um, I gave you the first talk today. You did. And because it was quieter, you were able to be in the audience and it was so nice to look out and see your smiling, supportive face. But, um, yeah, it was great. I had such, such a good audience. You
Speaker 1 00:04:35 Did. Uh, just, and we were just sitting here and we had somebody come up basically saying that they, you brought them to tears with your talk. I just make ’em laugh. You bring ’em to tears. It’s a little more powerful there.
Speaker 0 00:04:46 Come hear me talk. I will make you cry.
Speaker 1 00:04:48 . I’ll just make you laugh.
Speaker 0 00:04:50 I’ll make you laugh and cry. Right. It’s all good. It’s all good. But, um, it feels good to be able to give a talk to help. Um, cause I talk about, today’s talk was about I’m the representation and how we can do better Yeah. And make room at the table level, the playing field. Like all of the, um, little things that we say about that that make it feel trivialized to unt trivialize it, unt tokenize it, and really have true representation of why representation matters. So, um, my favorite talk is, and my favorite part of the talk is when I talk about the vacuum
Speaker 1 00:05:23 Yes.
Speaker 0 00:05:24 And how in the sixties and seventies vacuum cleaners are marketed to men to buy for women because women don’t wanna have to spend money on that at the time. No.
Speaker 1 00:05:34 But
Speaker 0 00:05:34 Men buying that for you in a Christmas present or a Valentine’s Day gift is the least romantic thing ever. And how think about that when you’re marketing to only people that look like you. Yes. So we are two white women saying that right now. . But the truth is that we want to see inclusivity, um, in all aspects of WordPress. And I mean life in general of course. But our, our spheres of influence tend to be within another WordPress community.
Speaker 1 00:06:00 So. Right. Yeah. My my big goal is to arm people who are maybe un underrepresented because I know if I can arm them with information and help them be successful, they’re going to reach out into their communities. Yeah. And then it’s just going to have sort of a ripple effect. Yeah. Um, do those communities. So that’s, that’s my game. So
Speaker 0 00:06:19 You can say we’re kind of making waves.
Speaker 1 00:06:20 We’re making waves, and
Speaker 0 00:06:21 We’re okay with that. look,
Speaker 1 00:06:23 I don’t know if we’re making waves, we’re dropping the puddles and then waves happen because I think the greater influences like a few ripples out True when you’re like affecting like 20 people you’ve never met. But because you, you
Speaker 0 00:06:37 Influenced
Speaker 1 00:06:38 One person, that one person goes and influences 10 people. And then that,
Speaker 0 00:06:44 I’ve dropped a few boulders over there. usually pus, but every once in a while I’m just like, screw it. , here’s a boulder in your pond. You’re about to get splashed to make it work. good for you. I like it. I mean, it does work. Right. So, and, and one of the things that um, you know, that I’ve talked about a lot too, and I said this in my talk today is that we talked about this last week, is it’s not about luck. Like you have to help each other and you have to look up for yourself. And that having inclusivity, having um, diversity making it matter is not something that happens by chance or by luck. Um, you know, one of the things I said is like, I didn’t end up in WordPress because somebody ran into me as supermarket and said, Hey, you wanna work in tech?
Speaker 0 00:07:31 Yeah. Right. , it doesn’t work that way. Yeah. Um, and when somebody says, well, you were in the right place at the right time, it’s like, not fucking put myself in the right place at the right time. It wasn’t about just happenstance. So, um, if you’re out there and you’re trying to figure out how to make things better for you, don’t expect that things are gonna come your way. Um, and don’t expect things to change. And if you’re somebody who has the ability to help things change for other people, do it. Because it’s amazing when that happens.
Speaker 1 00:07:57 Yeah. It really is. But yeah, you have to put yourself in. It’s just showing up, you know? Yeah. Seeing a need and showing up and filling that need being of service. Mm-hmm. . And then something happens when you show up in, in the mindset the intention of how do I be of service? How do I take what I know and share it so that other people are empowered. Magic starts to happen and then other things sort sundi serendipitously start showing up. Yeah. Yeah. I’m here for that. Yeah. Cause I like the magical things of like, I, I could have never put all of these pieces together, I just showed up for this, but then all of these other things show up too. Yeah. And it’s just kind of like the, the wheels of the universe kind of get into motion and mm-hmm. then the right person shows up.
Speaker 1 00:08:41 But you have to show up in service Yes. And absolutely. With an intention of I am going to be of service and mm-hmm. and then the side effect of that is your influence. Yes. I think that’s would say that. Yeah. Yeah. Like if you show up up and you’re like, okay, I’m gonna be an influencer, I’m going to do all of these things and I’m going to be amazing and wonderful , it just kind of falls flat. But if you’re like, okay, how do I, how do you, you work with WordPress and like finding out where they’re at and okay, how can I be of service to this one person where they’re at? Yep. And then being of service, then the magic happens, but you can’t make magic
Speaker 0 00:09:15 Happen. Agreed.
Speaker 1 00:09:16 But you have to show up to be of service
Speaker 0 00:09:17 Mm-hmm. with the right intention. Yeah. And that’s one thing I said in my talk is that yes, it has to be intentional. Yes. Things don’t happen. Stance just fall into the right place. Right. They have to be intentional.
Speaker 1 00:09:27 Yeah. So what are you intentional about?
Speaker 0 00:09:30 Uh, well, tomorrow I’m intentional by getting home .
Speaker 1 00:09:33 Yeah.
Speaker 0 00:09:34 Today I’m intentional about maybe getting a good night’s sleep tonight, but in general I’m in my intentions are always to help others find jobs Yeah. And find a foothold in the parts of WordPress that they want to Yeah. Find, um, and when you fi when you do so you don’t always get the confirmation that the work you’re doing is good. Right. So like every week I tweet out 10 companies that are hiring in WordPress and I didn’t know if it was doing anything. It’s a lot of work. Yeah. And it’s about an hour to accumulate all that stuff every week to tweet it out. Um, and I didn’t know if it was having an effect. And so I tweeted out, I’m like, Hey, if you’ve ever gotten a job because of this, and I had one person reach out and say, I have the position I have because of those tweets, and I had somebody else say, I hired somebody because of those tweets. Amazing. And so that was good. And then today on the whiteboard of like, who’s hiring, who’s not, somebody wrote wp career pages.com at the top
Speaker 1 00:10:30 And I was like,
Speaker 0 00:10:31 It’s making a difference. And so, but you don’t always get that confirmation. Right. So it’s, I’ve been doing this for WP career pages for two years, three years. I started in 2020. Yeah. And so this was the first time that I had like spontaneous confirmation that it makes a difference. And that’s, you don’t see it auto, you don’t see it automatically, you don’t see it immediately. But to know that it actually makes a difference helps you continue to move forward, I think. Amazing. Isn’t that cool? That is so cool. Yeah.
Speaker 1 00:11:01 Really cool. I’m so proud of you.
Speaker 0 00:11:02 Thank you. I’m so proud of you. I, I have watched people come to Cathy all weekend be like, oh my God, it’s so good to see you. And, and then also just like repping the product. Like sh you, I said she, she like,
Speaker 1 00:11:16 Listen, let me tell you about this woman .
Speaker 0 00:11:19 So what Kathy does, um, no, but Kathy really believes in whatever it is that she’s doing. So
Speaker 1 00:11:24 I can’t live otherwise, I just, no. Right. I, I see some people like affiliates, not our affiliates, but like in the affiliate marketing world where they’re like able to wrap something that I know that they don’t like fully use or believe in. And I’m just like, how do you do it? I have to believe in what I’m doing. I’m really happy I have what I have
Speaker 0 00:11:42 Because you’re just such passionate about it when you explain it stuff. I love that.
Speaker 1 00:11:45 And I love, I love Cadence. I love the Cadence community. I love Ben, I love Hannah. The, it, it makes it so much easier when you are working with people who have so much integrity and they’re doing, and I think all of our intentions are, are so similar because we’re really trying to help people do things with WordPress to uplevel themselves. Maybe not necessarily to get a job, but to build a business or to build profitable income. Yeah. I hear all of these stories. The next Cadence Beat podcast, we’re actually interviewing someone who’s making like boku bucks, like nice just blogging. She’s doing so well. I’m so excited to share her story. Those kinds of things. That’s like my intention when I hear that story and I know that our product and everything that we’re empowering helps somebody do that. Yeah. I can sleep at
Speaker 0 00:12:34 Night. That’s pretty awesome. And and it’s go back to that ripple effect, right? So if you’re empowering designers and agencies and developers Yes. They’re working for their clients to help them succeed. Yeah. And their clients are probably selling or doing something that helps their clients succeed. So it’s like, yeah. You throw that little pebble in the pond and you never know how far those ripples go. Yeah.
Speaker 1 00:12:58 Ca Cadence is the big
Speaker 0 00:12:59 Ruler though. It is. It’s so cool. It is very cool.
Speaker 1 00:13:02 Thank you Ben. I know you’re probably not watching cuz you’re like coding or doing something amazing or playing with your kids . But thank you for making cadence because it gives me fun stories to hear and fun, fun stories to talk about.
Speaker 0 00:13:14 So yeah, it’s been fun to introduce it to people who haven’t heard of it this weekend too. Yes. Isn’t that cool? Cause we
Speaker 1 00:13:20 Get, there’s no like, oh yeah, I tried. Cadences didn’t work for me. There’s, I haven’t heard that. I have heard, oh my gosh. Cadence has changed my life. Yeah. And I’ve heard what is Cadences. So it’s like, I’m like, oh, I can’t talk to you about this. This is so great. So
Speaker 0 00:13:34 I had one, uh, gentleman come up yesterday when you were talking, I think. And uh, so what is Cadence? And I explained what it, what cadence is and how it works. And he said, well, you know, like why should I use Cadence instead of like, I’m not gonna name names, but the other page builders that are in here. I said, well cuz you can try it for free. It’s, you know, it’s, it’s free to use and then you can just upgrade or whatever. And um, at, at lunch today, before you, before you sat down, he pulled out his iPad and told me that he installed Cadence on a website on his iPad. Yeah, yeah. And how easy it was and how he’s already joined the Facebook group and you already let him in. Yeah. Yes.
Speaker 1 00:14:11 So he came by too to make sure I knew. Sorry.
Speaker 0 00:14:13 He
Speaker 1 00:14:13 Installed it using his iPad as well. . I’m like, you are so much braver
Speaker 0 00:14:17 Than me. He had like Glee. It was a test. It’s a test site of these building. Yeah. And like if it blows up, I’m thinking he can start over again. But, um, he’s like, I’m not a convert yet , but I’m gonna give it a chance. And I’m like, that’s pretty cool. And we’re not sponsored by Cadence by the way. We’re just, just love it. . So I mean our lives are kind of sponsored by it because we work for the company but yeah. The podcast isn’t so, yeah.
Speaker 1 00:14:41 Anyway. Although maybe tough.
Speaker 0 00:14:43 Hmm.
Speaker 1 00:14:44 .
Speaker 0 00:14:46 Anyway,
Speaker 1 00:14:46 The site is built with Cadence though, isn’t
Speaker 0 00:14:48 It? It is. Yep. The site is built with Cadence. Absolutely. And I I love it. I’ve built several sites now. I like
Speaker 1 00:14:53 It. It’s the only, it’s my go-to.
Speaker 0 00:14:55 Yep. Absolutely. So, um, any clothing, clothing, clothing
Speaker 1 00:15:00 Box, hopefully
Speaker 0 00:15:02 Speaking of clothing, oh, can I show this? Yes, please. So the speaker gift this year, um, here was a jersey cuz it’s March Madness I guess. Yeah. And so, um, it says speaker on it and it’s hard for me to come by clothing that fits my size and speaker gifts almost never fit my size. So I was like, well never gonna be able to wear it but I don’t wanna give it away cuz it was my speaker gift. So I actually got, I’ve got hundreds of signatures on it already. Um, and I’m gonna put it in a case in my office. Yeah. So it’ll be there with memories of the people who
Speaker 1 00:15:32 Were here. So, and right behind us is where the Phoenix Suns actually play like right across the
Speaker 0 00:15:37 Street here from this. I did not know
Speaker 1 00:15:39 That the building with all the wavy, that’s where they play. So when
Speaker 0 00:15:42 I walked, walked by Sunrise.
Speaker 1 00:15:43 Yes. . Yes. And, and so that’s all like the Phoenix, Phoenix Suns colors. And the reason that they chose that is cuz the Suns are kind of making a comeback this year and they’re doing good and it’s sort of like the WordPress. I love it. WordPress and Word camps are making a comeback and Perfect.
Speaker 0 00:15:58 We’re
Speaker 1 00:15:59 We’re, uh oh darn it. Clancy’s gonna be mad cause he’s had like this whole speech like this yesterday morning about it, about why they chose this theme and basketball and everything and um, it’s not a comeback, it’s um, it’s something else and I can’t remember
Speaker 0 00:16:14 The word. Look it up Phoenix Word camp.org/yes.
Speaker 1 00:16:18 2023 . And the cool thing is, so I’m from Chicago, Michael Jordan grew up with Michael Jordan playing, watched him play for the Bulls, watched him play here in Scottsdale Oh cool. For the Scorpions when he was playing baseball for those few years, the few years that Michael Jordan,
Speaker 0 00:16:32 That trial
Speaker 1 00:16:33 got pictures like actually like had to take him to like get them, develop pictures of him playing baseball. But his number was 23. Oh perfect. And so to me that that’s kind cause his basketball and it’s, you know, I do miss some things about Chicago not the weather necessarily. I can’t
Speaker 0 00:16:48 Understand that. Yeah. for sure. Yeah. So, well my part parting thought is get involved, right? Yeah. So if you haven’t been to Word Camp before, highly recommend it. Um, go to word camp.org and look at the schedule. There’s a lot coming up this year. Uh, probably find one local to you or you know, if you have the budget and the wanderlust travel to one that looks interesting to you and, and meet a few people cuz it’s, it’s really worthwhile
Speaker 1 00:17:10 And tax deductible cuz you’ve traveling for business, right? Oh
Speaker 0 00:17:13 Yeah, for sure. That’s a yeah, that’s a good reminder.
Speaker 1 00:17:16 so much is changing with WordPress, you know, with full site editing or site editing and, and so much we’re kind of in this very transitory, long transitory position where it’s gone from like mostly a blagging platform into like building sites and doing so many fun things. And this is the place where you get to hear what’s cutting edge. Mm-hmm board camps are the place board, camp, speaker selection committees are looking for the latest, the greatest what is going to prepare people for the future. Mm-hmm . So this is the place you come to really prepare yourself for the future. Yep. To make connections in the hallway with people who are doing interesting, creative things that uplevel your business. Mm-hmm , there’s so much that happens here. And if you’re in WordPress and you are not at a Word camp, um, if you are not up loving your education with what you can do with WordPress, you’re missing out. Yeah. And you’re also missing out on fun cuz it’s a great time too. Yeah,
Speaker 0 00:18:05 For sure. I guess that’s it from Phoenix. We will, we gotta zoom next time. We gotta a zoom next time. Right now
Speaker 1 00:18:12 You’re coming to Oklahoma sometime?
Speaker 0 00:18:14 I am
Speaker 1 00:18:15 Because that’s kind of close to Texas. So
Speaker 0 00:18:16 I could, I’ll be in Oklahoma City for my brother’s graduate high school graduation in end of May come see you. That will be okay with me . Absolutely.
Speaker 1 00:18:24 We can grab some, some older Oklahoma WordPress people. Maybe you can have like our little secret word Camp party. Ooh. Okay. Unofficial.
Speaker 0 00:18:32 We, we have plans to make now, so we will, uh, see you next
Speaker 1 00:18:35 Week, . Bye.
Speaker 0 00:18:39 This has been WP Motivate with Kathy’s aunt and Michelle Fette. To learn more or to sponsor us, go to wp motivate.com.