Flavia Bernárdez Rodríguez

Get to know Flavia 🎙️

Can you start by painting a picture of what a typical day looks like for you? What fuels your passion for the work you do, and how does it tie into your involvement with WCEU?

My life is quite simple: I do some workouts at the gym, drink a bunch of cups of coffee, and work on client projects. Usually, I manage 3-4 projects at the same time using design sprints, with one meeting per week per client.

This usually takes place in the mornings. Afternoons are dedicated to leisure time—I walk, go to the cinema, read the book I am currently into, or play video games. Meetups are usually in the afternoons too (I co-organize WordPress and Figma ones in Alicante), and formation and talks also occur at this time. They are not always about technology; sometimes they are about comics, video games, or films, because I run a non-profit organization with my partner that focuses on film outreach.

What sparked your interest in becoming a speaker at WCEU? Was there a particular moment or experience that motivated you to share your insights with this community?

I love the WordPress community and enjoy sharing my experiences creating websites and apps with WordPress. I would really like to share some of my latest discoveries with the community. I think the best way to do this is at a WordCamp, and if it’s at WordCamp Europe, even better!

For those awaiting your talk, could you give us a preview of what we can expect to learn from your talk? Any sneak peeks?

I will discuss how we can leverage WordPress core architectural information to build complex platforms. I will also explain how existing plugins, such as LearnDash—which is designed for creating educational content—can be adapted for different types of platforms, like a physical gymkhana, for example. By understanding how Custom Post Types work, we can adapt a plugin originally created for one function to serve another, thanks to the flexibility and simplified content architecture that WordPress offers.

Is it your first time at a WCEU or WordPress event? Any standout memories or lessons learned that you’d like to share?

This is my second WCEU; the first one was in Porto, where I had such a wonderful experience with the WordPress Community. I encountered a mishap with my car, resulting in the loss of almost everything inside, including my laptop, iPad Pro, etc., which I use for work. Nilo Vélez and Rober Tuñón started a crowdfunding campaign to help me address some of the losses from this incident, and the response was incredible. The laptop I am using to write this interview was funded by the WordPress Community. Now, I feel a strong obligation to give back to the community that supported me.

Do you know the saying ‘give back to WordPress what WordPress gives to you’? Now I feel like I’ve taken on an ‘eternal mortgage’ with all of you. Haha.

Looking beyond the scheduled sessions, what do you hope attendees will take away from their overall experience at WCEU? How can they leverage the event to enhance their professional development or personal growth? 

Apply this to all the parties and activities that WordCamp and sponsors organize. Laugh, be happy and kind, greet the people you follow on social media, and meet new ones. Please consider following new people who are ‘not like you.’ The WordPress Community is incredibly diverse, and WordCamps provide a great opportunity to step out of your comfort zone. If you usually follow men, try following women. If you are white, follow racially diverse colleagues. Lastly, I recommend exercising considerable thoughtfulness when asking something in a public situation. Remember, a question is just a question, not an opportunity for an opinion or to display ‘expert knowledge’.