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Agnes Talalaev
She is the head of marketing in WebARX. She loves to sing, loves to play an instrument and loves animals. She shared her experience that how she met with WordPress.
Introduction
I am Agnes. I am a music and animal lover, who is deeply interested in learning psychology and digital marketing. I have a project management and business management background. I like to learn by practice.
I work as a head of marketing in WebARX (we secure and protect websites from plugin/component vulnerabilities – and especially WordPress sites.) I am also a co-founder of a co-working space and my hobbies include singing and playing several instruments.
Q. How did you come into your current field? Share a bit of the background?
A. I “met” WordPress when I started working as a leader of a volunteer center. In addition to writing projects, meeting partners and doing a lot of other things I also had to manage the volunteer centers’ website.
It was that time when I started to learn what WordPress is and how to manage and work with it. I remember I got comfortable it very quickly, but also I only needed to write posts and updated pages at that time.
Q. What’s the most interesting project you have done to date in WordPress?
A. I think the one I am currently doing is by far the most important and interesting project to date. We at WebARX are building much more than a platform and plugin for websites (and WordPress) security.
We have big plans, and this is something that pushes me out of bed every morning with excitement about what is this day going to bring me.
We are planning to eliminate the WordPress plugin vulnerability problem in two ways, but it’s something I can not speak about yet. It will take a lot of time and work, but I am confident that we can make a change.
Q. Have you ever been to any WordPress meetups or WordCamps? If yes did you learn anything useful?
A. Yes, I have organized several WordPress meetups. I also organized one during the WCEU last year in Berlin.
Since my work is focused on making websites more secure and that also includes WordPress, we were shocked to find out there were no topics about security at that WordCamp. That is why I booked a place, invited panel members and made a WordPress meetup solely on the topic of WordPress security.
We had a great time, and a big part of the security providers of the WP ecosystem was present. So I was very happy to give something to make the WordCamp more diverse in terms of topics.
Q. What does your workstation look like?
A. My everyday work is from Forwardspace. It’s a local co-working space I co-founded together with 5 people. We created the co-working space because there were none in our city and the ecosystem for startups, freelancers and small businesses was non-existent.
Today we have more than 100 people on our community, we have different pieces of training, speakers and events.
I can see that the last two years have changed our small city so much in terms of having a strong community to find help, to get inspired and to help each other in the journey of becoming better entrepreneurs.
Q. What kind of tools/software do you currently use for your creations?
A. I mostly use tools for analytics, design, and planning. For marketing I use all the various options Google has to offer (Optimize, Trends, Analytics, Ads, Drive, etc.) and also Semrush and Ubersuggest. For the design, I mostly use Adobe programs (Ps, Lr, Ai), but also Sketch. In communication, I use tools like Slack.
Of course the important tools last – password management. For that, I use tools like LastPass or Keepass. These are my essentials.
Q. What interesting feature do you think you would like to see in WordPress and is currently missing?
A. There are so many plugins for almost every feature I could think of, but the problem with plugins is that the more you have the more possible vulnerabilities your site has.
That is the main issue I am facing every day, so this is something I believe needs some more work.
Q. Out of the current plugins and themes which one do you like the most and why?
A. Well, I am not a big plugin and theme user. I only have some bare essentials and most of the stuff is custom on the sites I manage. But if I had to choose I’d have it simple anyways – it’s WebARX.
The mission, the vision, and the people. I am part of it and I am truly grateful for the opportunity.
Q. Which WordPress hosting do you use and would you recommend for your clients and others?
A. I am not using any hosting platform. I have my own private server.
Q. Do you like/love what you currently do in WordPress?
A. Yes, absolutely. Security is a painkiller not a vitamin.
Q. What would you like to do in the future in the current field or somewhere else?
A. I would like to focus more on music and I would like to volunteer as a planner in some field on WordCamp.
Q. Can you give us some reference for whom we should conduct an interview next and why?
A. Yes, Ryan Dewhurst. He is doing such an important job in the WordPress ecosystem.
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