Patricia Brun Torre receives the Yoast Care fund for her contribution to the WordPress community

Meet Patricia Brun Torre, a valued member of the WordPress Community Team! Nominated by Birgit Olzem for the Yoast Care fund, Patricia is being acknowledged for her steadfast dedication, substantial contributions to the community, and advocacy for DEIB and sustainability. Join us in celebrating this enthusiastic WordPress enthusiast’s journey and discovering what makes her passion for the platform so special.

Nominator Birgit Olzem: “I nominate Patricia BT for the Yoast Care Fund due to her exceptional contributions to the WordPress community. As an independent solopreneur, she’s made a lasting impact through community facilitation, event organization, and advocacy for DEIB and sustainability. Since 2013, she’s been actively involved in Geneva WordPress meetup and Swiss WordCamp. Currently, she’s part of the 2024 WordCamp Europe Volunteer Team. Patricia volunteers, speaks at WordCamps events and dedicates 2-3 days every week to WordPress contributions, including event support, mentoring, and sustainability initiatives. She bridges local and global communities, promoting inclusivity and environmental responsibility. Her deep connection to the WordPress community and commitment to open-source principles make her a perfect fit for the Yoast Care Fund’s mission. Awarding Patricia this fund would recognize her invaluable work and support her efforts to foster a more inclusive, sustainable, and dynamic WordPress community.”

Let’s get to know Patricia Brun Torre

That’s quite an introduction, Birgit! We would love to get to know Patricia even better. That’s why we asked her some questions about her work and her passion for WordPress:

Hi, Patricia! What do you do?

I am contributing to the WordPress Community Team by co-organizing events: the Meetup in Geneva (Switzerland) and the WordCamp events in Switzerland since 2016. Furthermore, I’m a co-organizer of WordCamp Europe 2024 to be held in Torino, Italy and of the Switzerland Community Day 2024.

When I’m not an organizer, I sometimes volunteer or speak at other events. I belong to the Swiss, French, and Italian communities. They have much in common, especially the mutual help among organizers and other contributors, the excellent shape, the “no-drama” communication, and their enthusiasm! Certainly, I know this is not the case everywhere, so I feel lucky to belong to those three communities where I made so many friends!

Additionally, I serve as an event supporter, I’m working on the Contributor Working Group, including the Contributor Mentorship Program, and helped revive some meetup groups in my area. In addition, I participate in the DEIB Working Group, led by Birgit Olzem, and the Sustainability Team meetings, bridging ideas back ideas to the Swiss community.

I also joined the GatherPress team at the end of last year. In January, we published a proposal to test it as a pilot program. Last but not least, I translate and record the French voice for WPPodcast, which is a weekly news bulletin by Javier Casares, It was originally in Spanish only, but it’s now multilingual. Doing this, I stay updated on WordPress Make Teams’ activities and learn a lot.

Professionally, I started interaction.site, which is an international community that helps members learn how to create and manage their online presence in a supportive environment. I also offer WordPress care/maintenance plans.

And finally, as a hobby, I’m writing a novel in the sci-fi genre with a touch of erotic romance!

Balancing all these activities with being a mother to three teenagers keeps my days busy!

Why did you start contributing? Could you share your first contribution with us?

When Paolo Belcastro and Jenia Laszlo, who had started the WordPress Geneva meetup group, moved away from Geneva in 2012, we took charge of the group. I had no idea I was “contributing” and I didn’t know about the size of the worldwide community either.

Then in 2013, I heard about WordCamp Europe. It was the first edition in Leiden in The Netherlands, and I joined! The feeling I had at the Contributor Day was beyond words: I, a non-developer, discovered how we can contribute to WordPress besides coding. At this WordCamp, I was also really impacted by Bram Duvigneau, who is blind and uses a screen reader. They showed us how their assistive tool reads a poorly structured webpage. That impacted me, so now I try to be mindful of accessibility issues and learn from experts, such as my friend Anne-Mieke Bovelett. However, I still have a lot to learn on that vital topic!

In 2014, I went to the first WordCamp Switzerland and directly applied as a speaker. I met the Swiss community and made a lot of friends, and the rest is history!

Who is your WordPress hero?

I have many heroes. First, all contributors are heroes, especially the non-sponsored ones; partly because we are giving our free time to contribute or money to attend events. I love to learn from people who know a lot but never show contempt, teach you once then let you learn by doing, who aren’t control freaks but remain there for questions. I try to be like them!

Now, if I have to give just one name, it would be Mike Little. I was deeply impressed, and even moved to tears, by his presentation at WordCamp Europe 2016 in Vienna. How the meaning of “Democratize publishing” resonated in me, and that WordPress enables people who might not have had a voice before the internet era (mostly underrepresented groups) to do so quite easily. I’m not sure we would had the same if Mike had not commented, “If you’re serious about forking b2, I would be interested in contributing” on Matt’s now famous blog post in 2003!

What contribution or moment are you most proud of?

It was an honor to be invited to the Community Summit in the USA in 2023! Even though I had been an active contributor for many years, I believe that event marked a turning point. I got to participate in important topics being discussed at that event, and I really felt the importance of what we do for 43% of the web. I have increased my contribution time since then, and I think it’s a natural reaction to the feeling that my contribution is being recognized and appreciated.

What does WordPress look like in your perfect world?

It’s an interesting question because if you had asked me this ten years ago, I would have dreamed of what we have now with the Gutenberg project and FSE themes! I think it came late compared to third-party and proprietary platforms that attract the younger generation. I also think there is still much to accomplish, but Gutenberg and the FSE themes were such a breakthrough!

And, of course, in a perfect multilingual and multicultural world, WordPress would have been multilingual from the start. Because it was not multilingual, I discarded WordPress as my tool of choice when I started offering web services in 2006. I returned to it in 2011 when I fell in love with Multisite and BuddyPress. Hopefully, phase 4 of the Gutenberg project, with multilingual abilities reaching the core, will not be too far away.

Where may people find you? Online, WordCamp events, other Meetup groups?

You can find me on my WordPress profile. In addition, you can see a list of all events I have attended or will be attending on my “TheWP.world” profile. Besides Geneva, I attend the Lausanne meetup group. You can find all the links on my personal website and my professional project.

Thank you for this interview, Patricia, and for all of your contributions to the WordPress community! Do you know someone like Patricia Brun Torre who also deserves to be in the spotlight? Go to our Yoast Care page and nominate them right away.