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The WP Minute brings you news about WordPress in under 5 minutes -- every week! Follow The WP Minute for the WordPress headlines before you get lost in the headlines. Hosted by Matt Medeiros, host of The Matt Report podcast.
Eric Karkovack (00:01)
Hi everyone, and welcome to the WP Minute. I'm Eric Karkovack. This episode features a segment from my interview with Mary Job. Mary stopped by to discuss community leadership and building sustainable practices. Now you can catch the entire interview over on our WP Minute Plus channel. Visit thewpminute.com for all the details.
Eric Karkovack (00:25)
I have to admit, I went back and read your Heropress essay from, I think it was 2017. And I loved your story because a lot of us in the WordPress space, we don't start out in technology necessarily. And I see that you studied philosophy in school, which is awesome. So.
Mary (00:30)
Yes, it was way back.
Eric Karkovack (00:45)
how did you come to WordPress and how do you think your studies maybe helped you along the way?
Mary (00:52)
Okay, so this is interesting because ⁓ usually there's this common saying back at home that when you find people studying philosophy, history, ⁓ heart related subjects, it's usually because they were given that subject. like in our part, when you're going to the university, you have to pick like your first and your second choice, right? And growing up, I always wanted these administration, you know, and then I had to ask myself at a point like what exactly
business
administration I suck at math so why am I even trying to do business administration so I was like no so I took the broker and I was like let me see where I fit in right and I read all of the subjects that I could study in university because like a universal broke here for Nigeria and I found philosophy was like oh wow this sounds exactly like why this is this is me and I remember telling my dad like I'm not in this admin again I'm philosophy my dad was like
Are you sure? He asked me like multiple times like, are you sure? I'm like, yeah, I'm very, sure. I want to study philosophy. So that's how I got into philosophy.
Eric Karkovack (02:02)
Well, that's great. I can relate to that as a father. Are you sure you want to do that one? But I mean, it's something you obviously you have a passion for it. ⁓ How has that helped you in community building? Do you feel like it's given you ⁓ a different perspective on it maybe than somebody else might have?
Mary (02:07)
You
yes like i said just knowing what the costume for
⁓ I could totally connect to it. I could like, yes, this is so me. it for me, it wasn't like I was given the cross. I chose the cross and I chose it because it reflects who I am as a person and who I am today. Like it's it's literally like the foundation of my life, you know, and everything that I've been doing. So it sort of followed me all the way ⁓ even today. And I mean, philosophy is the foundation of all this.
So yes, it's followed me all the way and up till today into what I do is, know, the principles, everything about it just flows into ⁓ being human, being a part of a community, know, and stuff like that.
Eric Karkovack (03:19)
Well, I think ⁓ that's nice because in technology we tend to dehumanize each other sometimes in technology. think philosophy might actually be, we probably need more philosophers in tech. I don't know what you think about that.
Mary (03:33)
yeah,
yeah. No, no, I agree. Because when you look at the ethical bit, the ethical angle, that's actually like we need, and that's what I'm exploring these days. Like we seem to have forgotten that at the bottom of who we serve as people, whether you're a business owner or you're community person or whatever you do, people are at the center of it and we seem to be forgetting that, right? So I think we need a reminder and coming from that past, from that
Eric Karkovack (03:59)
Yes.
Mary (04:03)
field it helps me to remind myself like people are at the bottom of everything you're doing you're here for people I mean what's life without making an impact on people I don't know what kind of life that would be if you haven't impacted anybody in any small way it doesn't have to be big
Eric Karkovack (04:23)
Exactly, exactly. you know, I mean, there's a lot of pursuit of money and things like that, but really, if you're not impacting people, then what good is it if you can't make someone's life better?
Mary (04:32)
There's nothing wrong with the pursuit of
money. Yeah, there's nothing wrong with the pursuit of money. But who's going to pay you that money? People. Right? People, not systems. I mean, people, humans are still going to pay that money.
Eric Karkovack (04:40)
That's a great point.