As we countdown to WordCamp Asia 2024, each week we’re inviting you to go behind the lineup and get to know the folks who will be taking to the stage. In today’s post, we chat with Hannah Swain Løvik, senior manager at Automattic responsible for people management within WooCommerce and Happiness Engineering.
Q. Firstly, welcome to the lineup! We’re so glad to have you here. Can you start by telling us a bit about yourself? Where will you be joining the event from, and what does your day-to-day look like?
I’m excited to be traveling from Stockholm, Sweden to visit WordCamp Asia!
These days, I lead teams of Happiness Engineers supporting WooCommerce at Automattic. I spend large chunks of my time talking to people: how are you doing? What’s working? What’s not working? Part of that is so that I can support them personally, while some of that is so that I can help them better support our products and our merchants. I work across Automattic Happiness to smooth the way for our Happiness Engineers, for example around communication, expectations, recognition, etc.
I still carve out time to focus on my own projects and interests – I’m always looking for ways to be more efficient, to better understand and set priorities, and how to balance work and life. That’s particularly tricky in the Open Source world as it often feels like work and life blend together.
Q. We’re lucky to be welcoming a diverse range of speakers to our program in 2024. What interested you to apply to WordCamp Asia as a speaker?
I want to speak at WordCamp Asia to connect with a different part of the community. Pressure to perform is high across the world, but particularly high in Asia – I hope that my session on moving from FOMO (the fear of missing out) to JOMO (the joy of missing out) plants some seeds that help people.
Q. What can audiences expect to learn from your talk/s? Are there any advance sneak peeks or knowledge bombs you can offer us?
The idea for this session sparked from a random comment during a conversation. I thought it was neat and wanted to build on it, so fleshed it out and submitted it to WordCamp Asia in September. Now that I’ve been looking for them, it’s surprising just how much material there is around the concept of JOMO (the joy of missing out) – simply being aware that a different approach is possible has helped me find so much inspiration.
For example, did you know that if you live to be 80 years old, you will have lived for about 4000 weeks? What will you have done – or not done? – with that time?
Q. What are you most looking forward to at WordCamp Asia 2024? Is there someone you’re looking forward to rubbing shoulder with, or a local delicacy you’d like to sample?
The people! I have so many amazing people to meet that I haven’t gotten the opportunity to connect with in person before.
I am also deeply curious about the food. Iron eggs?! Bring it on! I’d also love to try a night market.
Q. Tell us something about yourself that we might not know. Party tricks? Secret hobbies?
I’ve recently discovered graphic novels – Saga is amazing, and I can also highly recommend series like Descender.
Bonus edition: I love hats! I have a whole collection. Which one will I be wearing at WC Asia?
Q. Lightning Round!
Most-visited website: self-hosted RSS instance
Must-have gadget: Onyx Boox Page (ereader)
Most-read book: can’t choose just one, but recently enjoyed Hero Forged by Josh Erikson
Go-to podcast: I struggle to focus on podcasts
Find out more about Hannah’s appearance at WordCamp Asia 2024 here.