Shanta R. Nathwani is the Customer Success Manager at Coastal Drone Co.. She is a project manager, instructor, and community leader with decades of experience teaching and building with WordPress. She spent ten years teaching WordPress at Sheridan College and has delivered more than 50 WordCamp talks, covering everything from data architecture and custom post types to beginner-friendly introductions. She is a qualified Level 1 Complex RPAS/Drone Pilot and Flight Reviewer certified with Transport Canada.
She was the lead organizer for the inaugural WordCamp Canada in 2024. Known for her passion for teaching, Shanta brings both technical expertise and creativity to her work, helping newcomers and seasoned professionals alike find their “satori” breakthrough moments with WordPress. At WordCamp Canada, she’ll be leading two beginner-focused workshops designed to help first-time users get hands-on with WordPress and start their journeys with confidence.
Q&A with Shanta
Who or what helped you find your footing in WordPress, and how do you try to pay that forward today?
I was at a point in my life where I was looking for work and unsure where to go next. I had a diploma and a background in web development, but I had been away from it for a couple of years. Over lunch, my good friend Carolyn Van suggested that WordPress might be a practical way to get back into the field, since development skills were helpful but not always required. She was renting space from a company that did WordPress development, and that same day I went to the bookstore and picked up the 8-in-1 WordPress for Dummies book by Lisa Sabin-Wilson. I started reading, experimenting, and figuring out how it worked. Thanks to Carolyn, I kept going. Today, I try to pay that forward by teaching others how to use WordPress, not necessarily from a development perspective, but through talks on information architecture and organizing content, as well as beginner talks helping people get started in WordPress, much like she did for me.
If you could engineer one connection at WCEH 2026 — a conversation, an intro, a collaboration — what would it be?
A conversation that can help us figure out a new model to make it easier for organizers, speakers, sponsors and attendees to hold both meetups and conferences, especially around funding. The attention going to the flagships is taking away from the grassroots events and the localization of the WordPress Community. Not everyone can afford (nor does everyone want) to attend the larger conferences. But when sponsors need to get the return on their investments, they look to the larger ones and don’t bother with the smaller ones, leaving those camps out in the cold. Plus, trying to find enough organizers to contribute without burning out.
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?
WCEH 2024 when I was lead organizer. Seeing all the people that came from all over when we asked for help, and those that attended to make it such an amazing event.
What does the WordPress community get right that other tech communities don’t. What could we still do better?
The only thing I can think of is how they fund their events, such as FITC. We need to come up with a better funding model for our meetups and conferences.
What’s a form of contribution you think is undervalued, and why does it matter?
Speaking and organizing. We are the ones that bring the community together and sometimes are the first point of contact for WordPress. When they can’t talk to “support” they come to us. That needs to be recognized, which includes putting the funding behind WordCamps that it deserves, especially to draw in the talent to organize, to speak and to make sure that the attendees get the most out of their experience.
A lot of people want to contribute but feel they’re not technical enough. What would you say to them?
Neither am I. There is no end of what people can contribute to the WordPress Open-Source project. That especially could be documentation! There are so many that are out of date or missing.