WordCamp Jacksonville is excited to announce our first set of confirmed speakers for this year’s conference! Stay tuned for announcements about the rest of our speakers.
Ruby Escalona
Ruby is a travel addict and has been to over 30 countries. She (and her husband) use WordPress to document their journey to financial freedom as well as their travels within the U. S. and the world. Keen to know more about how they travel for cheap to multiple countries every year? Visit AJourneyWeLove.com. Ian Smith
Ian is the co-founder and CEO of FedSmith.com, a digital news service for the federal workforce with over 400,000 regular monthly visitors. He has been a business owner since 2002 and has been using WordPress since 2012.
Rob Taylor
Rob is the founder of 2TravelDads, the original LGBT Family Travel blog. Focusing on ecotourism and education, 2TravelDads inspires LGBT families (and traditional families also) to go beyond their usual getaways and use travel to learn about and be part of a bigger world. “Traveling the globe and giving the kids a broad worldview.”
In addition to managing 2TravelDads.com, Rob writes for Twist Travel Magazine, GaysWithKids.com and other family and travel publications. In the coming months Rob will have a column appearing in TRAVEL + LEISURE magazine, both in print and online. Other publication projects in the works include You Get What You Give: collaborating with bloggers and influencers (workshop series) and two travel books set for publication in 2019 and 2020.
Rob is also a public speaker and trainer, leading keynotes and breakout sessions in a variety of conferences, both in the private business and tourism sectors.
Current and former partners include IHG, Universal, Royal Caribbean, VISIT FLORIDA, Amtrak, Wells Fargo, Huggies, Hilton Family of Hotels, Chase and more.
Wesley Lewis
Wesley is an experienced speaker, leader, and WordPress enthusiast who, after unexpectedly losing his job several years ago, set out on a journey to do WordPress full-time. Today, he is the owner of One Eighty Digital, a small boutique digital agency focused on local small businesses and non-profits. He enjoys spending time with his family and helping people and organizations Move Forward!
Alex Sanfilippo
By day Alex is an executive in the aerospace industry. But, he also loves his side hustles: Public Speaking, Digital Marketing, Blogging, and Online Course Creation. Learn more on DailyPS.com and NGUOnline.com.
Christie Chirinos
Christie Chirinos is the Product Manager for the Managed WooCommerce Hosting product at Liquid Web, Inc. Before Liquid Web, she oversaw the growth of Caldera WP’s Caldera Forms plugin to 2 million+ downloads from the WordPress.org plugin repository. Christie started making websites at the age of 14, running her own blog, business websites, and later working professionally on the sites of major national non-profit organizations – on WordPress, of course. Christie has a Master of Business Administration degree from Florida State University and is currently based out of Washington, DC, where she lives with her cat, Snickers.
Aaron Reimann
Aaron is a designer turned developer turned agency starter. He has been working with WordPress since 2008. He has worked on WordPress projects with Dell, Orkin and many other smaller businesses. He regularly speaks at Meetups and WordCamps, helps lead the Atlanta WordPress Meetup and has a podcast at http://wpsquareone.com.
Sheila Oliver
Sheila has been designing websites for entrepreneurs and small businesses for over 15 years. Her passion is teaching beginners how to use WordPress. She is a co-organizer of the Gainesville WordPress Meetup and has spoken at several WordCamps and Geek Girl Tech Conferences.
James Tryon
James is lead ambassador of Wapu.us, founder of Easily Amused and BizTender. He is an organizer of WordCamp Orlando and the Orlando WordPress Meetup group. He been in the creative industry since 1998. James has an eye for design and usability along with the know-how to plan, design, and code it all.
James is married with three children. When James is not working, he is finding something interesting to spark his creativity. An avid collector of random awesomeness and thrift-store artifacts, James is building something, playing with someting, or hanging with his friends and family.
Elizabeth Pampalone
Elizabeth began her journey into the web design world over 18 years ago. In 2007, She started her first company, The Jax Computer Chic. Elizabeth and her husband, Joseph, worked side by side in this company for five years and it was their sole income. As they grew their residential business, she longed to serve the Business Community of Jacksonville.
Elizabeth learned about Business Networking, a new concept to her, and began attending three meetings a day of over a year. She made it her goal to be one of the most recognizable names in Jacksonville, Fla. In 2014, she was named “Queen of Jacksonville Networking” by the Jacksonville Business Journal. During this time, She led 13 meet-up groups per month for almost two years. Her volunteering with SCORE and OLLI has allowed her to stay connected to the small business community.
She is a frequently requested guest lecturer at the Coggin College of Business (UNF) and a regular speaker at the Small Business Development Center. Her Pug Obi-Wan keeps her company as she works. Elizabeth and Joseph love to travel and cruise.