WordPress has been a beautiful whirlwind for Joe Simpson since 2017. While on a 90-day leave of absence to recover from a heart event, he decided to truly give back, learn WordPress, and grow in areas he’s passionate about (like illustrating Wapuu).
Joe didn’t see anyone onstage or organizing WordCamps that looked like him, so he presented at WordCamp Chicago while starting two Meetups, and created WordCamp Santa Clarita the first WordCamp north of Los Angeles and south of San Francisco since 2014.
He co-founded BlackPress with Destiny Kano-Fox and Nyesha Sweet, most recently was one of the Lead Sextet that organized WordCamp US 2023 in National Harbor and is one of the Team Reps on Make WordPress Accessible.