Hello lovely people! This is our new article in a series dedicated to our speakers. Today is all about Emanuel, who will talk about “How to find peace and change the world“. Let’s get to know him a bit more.

• When and how did you start working with WordPress?

I think it was around 2005. Back then I had a company which developed its own CMS and I was searching for another solution I could use for my personal projects and for blogging. I tried several of them but I fell in love with WordPress on the first sight. What really “bought” me was the Codex which — back then — was just starting up but nevertheless it was light years more advanced than anything else that I’ve seen. As a designer, I finally found a CMS that I could easily integrate and that wasn’t frightening.

• Why did you choose this topic for your presentation?

For years I talked about design and technical topics — from user-centric design to accessibility — and to be honest I am a little tired of those topics. In the past few years, I was heavily invested in finding my own peace or better yet – a perfect work-life balance. And although I’m not there just yet I learned a lot in the process. Personally, this is the topic that gained momentum in the past year or so, as we are all struggling and juggling between work and family while trying not to burn out in the process.

• What will we learn from your presentation?

I will talk about my mistakes and what I learned out of them. I will talk about my low points in life and how I managed to come out of it stronger than before. This is a talk that will give you challenges and that will (hopefully) teach you how to leave your comfort zones and truly enjoy life.

• What do you like to do when you’re not WordPress-ing?

My biggest challenge is being a father to Luka, who will soon celebrate his 6th birthday. He is my true inspiration and I like to spend as much quality time with him as possible. We travel, we explore new things, we go through life together. When I’m not with him I like to spend time with family and friends – and a lot of them come from the WordPress community. They sometimes visit me in Croatia and sometimes I visit them and more often we see each other in WordCamps around the world. I’m really looking forward seeing some of them in Bucharest too!

• Few words for the WordPress Bucharest community

As with every other community, WordPress community means hard work. But being part of it can be beneficial in so many ways. WordPress community is in most of its parts as open and welcoming as it gets. People help each other and giving something to others no matter how insignificant this is to us — that motion of unconditional giving — is what keeps us going. I can’t wait to meet people from the Bucharest and Romanian WordPress community I haven’t met before, to talk about our cultural differences but more importantly – about things that keep us together. I heard so many nice things about Romania and am looking forward to learning and explore even more.

Want to get to meet Emanuel and all the other speakers? Get your ticket now and join us for WordCamp Bucharest.