WebDevStudios team members give back to the WordPress open source project and other open source projects in various ways. Contributing to open source tech projects is a great way to stay in the loop with the latest direction of your project, sharpen your skill set, and work on issues affecting the overall user experience of the software alongside a diverse, passionate community. You’re not sitting back, waiting for things to happen. You are in a position to steer the ship, and that’s pretty amazing.
It is also an opportunity that doesn’t happen at companies using proprietary software. The time you give allows you to make a real difference in software that millions of people use every day. Another fantastic thing about open source is that you don’t have to be highly technical to contribute. End users, marketers, project managers, content creators, and others can contribute meaningfully through community organizing, testing, documentation, translation, and more.
With nearly 1,500 hours tracked to Five for the Future contributions, let’s look at how some members of the WebDevStudios team contributed to the WordPress open source project in 2024.
2024 WordPress Open Source Contributions
WordCamp Organizers
JC Palmes, Principal Technical Manager at WebDevStudios, has been deeply involved in organizing WordCamp events across Asia. She led WordCamp Iloilo in 2018 and 2019 and has held various leadership roles in WordCamp Asia, including Global Lead in 2023, Contributor Day Lead in 2024, and Local Lead for the upcoming 2025 event. Aside from her contributions to WordCamps, JC has participated on many other teams, such as Core, Plugins, and Polyglots.
Similarly, Alfredo Navas, a Senior Front-end Engineer at WebDevStudios, has played a pivotal role in the WordPress community in Costa Rica. As a WordPress Costa Rica community co-founder, he has organized, spoken at, and volunteered for WordCamps in Rome, Nashville, Miami, Managua, and Mexico City, in addition to his hometown of San José, Costa Rica. Alfredo is the lead organizer for WordCamp San José 2025 and contributes to the polyglots team.
Project Manager Leo Torres is relatively new to the WordPress community but has dived in head first with his infectious community spirit and organizational skills. Leo helped organize his local meetup and assisted with WordCamp Managua, working on the sponsorship team.
Plugins and Themes
Principal Engineer Sal Ferrarello has many diverse talents. He has spoken at many WordCamps up and down the Eastern seaboard and is also a plugin author. Some of his plugins, which are free for the WordPress community to use, include Stop Emails, Modify Comment Parent, Require Auth Users REST Endpoint, and Block X-ray Attributes.
Principal Engineer Amor Kumar contributes to the WordPress open source project in many ways. He is a core contributor who shared an open source block theme starter on GitHub.
Community Building
Current Canadian Front-End Engineer Jennifer Farhat (who hails from Venezuela) and Project Manager Xavi Aguilar (who is from Nicaragua) contribute to the polyglots team, making WordPress more accessible to those who speak Spanish as a first language. Additionally, Jennifer contributed to the 2025 WordPress theme, adding a new block pattern called Search—Big heading and search form. Style settings were also added to the core/search block on the theme.json.
Some of our team members have contributed and presented for over 10 years. Account Manager Laura Byrne and Director of Business Development Jen Miller were founding members of the WordPress marketing team in 2016 and have organized and spoken at many WordCamps and community events. These days, Laura contributes to the GatherPress team. GatherPress looks to provide an Open-Source alternative to Meetup.com. Jen contributed to the WordPress Media Corps in 2024.
Ultimately, we all contribute to WordPress because we believe in the power of open source to drive innovation, collaboration, and accessibility. While many others at WebDevStudios also play vital roles, this is just a glimpse into how some of our team members are making an impact. Together, through our diverse contributions, we’re proud to help strengthen the WordPress ecosystem and ensure its continued growth and success.
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