Nine years of HeroPress: a review of the past.

This week marked one year since I woke up one morning to an email from the owner of the company where I worked (Dave Rosen, XWP) telling me that he had removed me from the XWP team because he wanted me to do something special for WordPress. I asked him what exactly that was, and he said, "It's your journey of discovery." And what a journey it has been!"

I never would have imagined that this kid who grew up in a house without electricity would be part of a project that allowed him to travel to 9 countries, make friends all over the world and immerse himself in dozens of cultures. Friendships that opened my eyes to new ideas, communication patterns, cooking and more. All this while passing on unsuccessful stories''others and bring inspiration to those who need it, wherever they are.

For me, HeroPress has always been a place of empathy and dignity. I return to it often because spending time here is always a satisfying experience filled with stories about us WordPress people.

Watch with me to see what we've done so far and what may await us in the next phase.

For many years, HeroPress was a website that published essays written by members of the community, and HeroPress.com remains so to this day. Since the first essay by Rarst was published, we have published over 260 essays in 28 languages. Among them, 125 essays are written by men, 128 by women, and 3 by non-binary people, and their authors come from 59 different countries.

HeroPress gives us''An amazing knowledge of WordPress people from all over the world. It's an absolute pleasure to read all these stories, especially the stories of little known people.

Our family circle of authors motivates me to go outside my comfort zone.

In 2020, we went from "me" to "we." We had a desire to fulfill some ideas we had accumulated over the years. Kat was getting ready to enter the workforce, Liam and Tara were ready to move away from Hallway Chats, and we needed to choose a direction. Did we decide whether to continue with separate projects or combine them all under HeroPress? "

The conditions were even, and we chose option A: big but scalable.

We created a network of customized resources that can be developed, sold, or closed at any time. В''As a result, we have a collection of sites - HeroPress.com, WPPodcasts.com, PressItWP.com, WPPhotos.Info, HallwayChats.com and WP-Wallpaper.com - that are linked through the HeroPress Network platform.

After 3 years of this experiment, however, we're not sure if this is the real future of HeroPress.

HeroPress has allowed me to see the stories that create WordPress. It allowed me to discover the people who truly inspire this project, not just code and pixels. Because WordPress is a source of people.

When I'm having a hard time, I visit HeroPress and connect with the many and real stories of how WordPress is making an impact on the world. It's inspiring and energizing''me.

Nine years is a long time for a project like this, and it has really thrived. Like any living thing, it requires care, sometimes that means downsizing a bit to make room for new opportunities.

We're developing a plan to trim some things and merge the rest into HeroPress.com. We are looking at changing the branding and creating a new goal description. We've always wanted to lift others up, but have we clearly articulated that?

Whatever the future holds, HeroPress will be here, at least for now. And we hope you'll be by our side as we move toward 10 years of inspiring each other.

The stories from HeroPress have motivated and encouraged me to come out of my shell and chase my dreams. For several years''back when my career was in dire straits, reading inspiring stories of people from around the world achieving success through WordPress resurrected my hopes and dreams, literally leading me to where I am today. Forever grateful to HeroPress!

Big thanks to Tremie, Hari, Matt, Barbara and Tammy for their words about HeroPress.

The top image on the banner is a CC0 licensed photo taken by Javier Casares of WordPress Photo Directory.