I am built on WordPress.

The first time I put my hands on a computer was in kindergarten. Once a week we’d go up to the top floor where no other regular classes were held. Inside, there were dozens of giant computers (a bit later, shiny new Macintosh Classics) in three long rows. We learned BASIC at 5 years old. We played Oregon Trail and Gertrude’s Secrets. I loved my computer class, and not just because it was always ice cold in the room. That was the only place I got to use computers for years. 

My great-grandmother, not really a fan of anyone, had always liked me. Around this time, she pulled me aside and told me, “Stick with the computers.” She was convinced that was the way to make money. I smiled and nodded. I don’t think she’d ever seen one in person. 

My dad took me to a store in Marine Park when I was in 6th grade. I walked around the store in awe of what was available — and the prices. He bought a Packard Bell computer that had fewer megahertz than our home phone — but it was glorious. I begged for a game not included in the bundle — Myst, which I’d seen my best friend’s mom play. I became glued to my computer. We didn’t even have the internet yet. I’d spend hours on Myst and then printing pictures and articles from Grolier’s Encyclopedia about stealth planes (don’t ask). 

Getting Online

By the time I was in high school, everyone had AOL. Using AOL Hometown web hosting to “expand” your profile was what all the cool kids did. We’d fill it with webrings, poor resolution photos, glittery animations, song lyrics — all a manifestation of our personalities. 

The “cool kid” Samantha wanted to be a writer.

When LiveJournal came on to the scene I started blogging and making online friends — but somehow it still didn’t feel like “my” space (zero pun intended). When I first heard about WordPress, I was jazzed about it. It felt like the grownup version of LiveJournal — and blew past AOL Hometown. But, nobody else I knew was using it. Of course there were others I didn’t know that were, but for me it felt special and unique because my little sphere of the world wasn’t catching on to the “new hotness” yet. It also felt more “me” than anything else I’d dabbled with. I have had many accounts over the years. 

I had taught myself basic HTML to edit my early “sites” and MySpace profile. I’d go through phases. I’d post religiously, hate my work, and then nuke the whole thing. I’d forget I had one for a while. I’d start all over and make something beautiful — only to fall out of love with it. What I didn’t realize is that I kept learning a valuable skill. 

Finding My Path

By the time I was in college, I had all but abandoned the creative bursts of poetry, prose, and short stories. I was going to major in psychology. That lasted as long as the guy who registered me for my first classes told me it would. I fell in love with English. I took as many courses as I could with the professors that encapsulated what I wanted to be — and created another WordPress blog. 

This time I bought a domain, something no one I knew had done at the time. I did a bit of searching and figured out how to point CNAME records to A records. Now I had my own site, and I was going hard on content creation.  I decided I wouldn’t just teach English.

I’d be a poet, and people would come across my site and my words would change them, like the authors I had read changed me. 

And then eventually I deleted that too. Periodically I’d also get dumb ideas that I found very funny, buy a domain, and create a single-use site (I think my favorite was “GeraldoRiverasMustache.com” where the only thing on the page was a cropped picture of his mustache). Deleted. At one point, friends and I started a blog where we actually got to interview a couple of celebrities as part of a larger plan that didn’t come to fruition. Deleted. 

I got certified to teach and began tutoring at another college, eventually getting a position as an adjunct lecturer. There, I also wanted to change people — and my students and I organized a small concert in Coney Island. I made a site, posted updates, and pictures after the event. Deleted. 

Finding WordPress In The Wild

I decided to leave teaching at some point and found a job at an online conference company. One of the requirements was knowing WordPress — lucky, lucky. I was hired. It wasn’t the bulk of the job. I was a glorified assistant that helped edit audio and video, help with online conferences, whatever was needed. But, since I knew WordPress, I could go in and update copy, change settings as needed, make new landing pages for events, and so on. Learning, still — not ever expecting to do more with it. 

Later, I moved halfway across the country to live with my now-husband. We’d known each other for many years from a video game related social blogging site (not WordPress, but the UI was very similar so I was in my element). Now years later, I needed a job. 

I leveraged my experience with computers, education, and WordPress to get a job at a nonprofit.

When they migrated their outdated site — an incredibly long and problematic process — the person who was in charge of that was fired partway through. I was brought in to help. I took a look at the CMS and said to myself … “Is this just WordPress?” It pretty much was, with some membership management component. It was as intuitive and easy to navigate, so I was able to help. 

A couple of jobs (and blogs)  later, I found myself miserable in the midst of a pandemic. Besides not having a creative outlet, my talent as an employee wasn’t really being fully utilized. It wore on me the longer I was there. I could be doing so much more. I threw myself into a digital marketing certification program — knowing all my work is always on computers, I’m comfortable with computers, and my last job was essentially marketing anyway. And then I found a job in WordPress hosting. 

Coming Home

I knew WordPress. Not the dev side, but I could get a lot further than someone who’d never used it before. This was opening a new but familiar door. The certification course helped me learn more about what I wanted to do, but not nearly as much as working in WordPress hosting itself did. 

I’m in content, so I get to read, research, and write about WordPress and adjacent topics. I’m going on two years in this position. I love working in the WordPress space. It’s far less stressful than any other job I’ve worked because it’s familiar and comfortable. Tech was the right space for my skills and my personality. 

Growing up on the internet, I didn’t think about how what I was learning would end up having such a profound impact on my day-to-day life. I was simply trying to fit in and, at times, one-up everyone else’s skills. I never thought the place I used to post crappy poetry would eventually pay my bills. 

The work I do doesn’t just help customers learn and become inspired — working in this space keeps me “updated.” For as many versions of WordPress there have been, there’s as many versions of Samantha. That malleability is innate to WordPress. You can reinvent yourself over and over, and their developers have only made that easier to accomplish over the years. 

Now that I’ve found my comfort zone, something that would have been impossible had I never used WordPress — I’ve also addressed my creative zone again.

My main WordPress site is a satire news blog that brings me joy even if it doesn’t have the traffic that The Onion gets. WordPress has more or less helped me find the best version of me, even if I’m named after Bewitched and not a famous jazz artist.

When Topher put out the request for essays that depicted how WordPress made my life better, I knew he wasn’t going to get a couple of paragraphs from me. I’m still the same blogger that is going type up a Tolstoy and want to delete it. I won’t this time, but, I can also sum it up quickly. I was built on WordPress. 

And yes, Great-grandma. I stuck with the computers.