Karen Arnold has been an active member of the WordPress community since 2010, co-founding the Albuquerque WordPress meetup and co-organizing four WordCamps. A global speaker in both English and Spanish, she has presented at events from Phoenix to Buenos Aires and Rio de Janeiro, including a pioneering WordPress for Kids session. Karen spent nearly a decade at Automattic building their Talent Acquisition function from the ground up. Today, she serves as Head of Operations and Events for the WordPress Project, bringing her deep love for the community to shape its continued growth and success.
Q&A with Karen
Who or what helped you find your footing in WordPress, and how do you try to pay that forward today? If you could engineer one connection at WCEH 2026 — a conversation, an intro, a collaboration — what would it be?
My brother told me about WordPress in 2006, then a friend made me see that, as a stay-at-home mom, I could earn a side income building sites for other people. Another friend and I started the Albuquerque WordPress user group in 2010 and the first ABQ WordCamp in 2011. The intros I love are when someone is trying to find a way to do a thing and they meet the person who can help them do it.
WordPress powers 43% of the web, but it’s the people who keep it alive. What’s a moment in this community that reminded you why you stay? What does the WordPress community get right that other tech communities don’t. What could we still do better?
The moment is every time I see someone realize they can solve a problem with WordPress. Especially kids, working out what it could mean for their lives. What WordPress gets right is permission. You belong here as soon as you show up.
What’s a form of contribution you think is undervalued, and why does it matter? A lot of people want to contribute but feel they’re not technical enough. What would you say to them?
A lot of people are already contributing without knowing it. The friend who told me I could build sites for a living was contributing, and neither of us would have called it that. So if you don’t think you’re technical enough, start by finding out what someone is trying to make and connecting them with whoever knows how. Then show up at a local user group, take a few Learn WordPress courses, and find your area in Making WordPress Slack.