Today we are featuring Maestro Stevens from Cleveland, OH. Black people in WordPress are consistently building, designing, and moving the open source project forward. In this series, we highlight members of the BlackPress Slack channel who are doing amazing things with WordPress.
What do you do? What are you passionate about?
I service small businesses and help them develop customized web experiences for their brands. I also support minority-owned businesses with my eLearning platform by giving them free DIY strategies, tools and resources so they can grow their business on a frugal budget.
I’m passionate about being a resource for minority entrepreneurs, creating long-term assets, watching movies, traveling, embracing technology, building automations/systems, listening to music, cooking, exercising, being around water and nature.
How and when did you get started with WordPress?
I started working in WordPress in 2019 after coming from Squarespace and Builderall. I wanted to use a common platform built for scalability and flexibility so I could efficiently grow my small creative agency. I’m such a systemization, customization, and automation NERD.
WordPress was the answer that matched my technical, creative skillset so after years of resistance I finally dove in and never looked back. Tid bit: I actually purchased my first WordPress plugin from Appsumo called Analytify before I even started my own first WP installation. I’ve gotten so passionate about WordPress that it’s a blessing to see other people who look like me involved in the space.
How do you use WordPress?
I use WordPress as a central hub for a lot of my business marketing operations and customized or personalized experiences.
How has the WordPress software or community helped you to grow or helped you accomplish a goal?
The first community I joined focused on WordPress was Adam Preiser’s Facebook group called WPCrafter. I don’t have an exact time but most of my beginner learning curves was overcome with the tips, strategies, recommendations from Adam and his community members.
What is something you’d like to do or build with WordPress in the future?
I’d like to build my own members community utilizing the BuddyBoss theme and plugin.
