Episode 174 – WordCamp Birmingham Hallway Chats

Introducing Aisha Adams and Marcus Burnette at WordCamp Birmingham

In February Topher and Cate went to WordCamp Birmingham and Topher was able to interview both Aisha Adams and Marcus Burnette in the hallway.

Aisha’s Links:

• https://aishaadamsmedia.com/
• https://wordpress.tv/speakers/aisha-adams/
• https://www.facebook.com/aishaadamsmediagroup

Marcus’ Links

• https://mburnette.com/
• https://profiles.wordpress.org/mdburnette/
• https://wordpress.tv/speakers/marcus-burnette/

Transcript:

Topher: Hey folks, welcome to Hallway Chats. I’m your host Topher. This week we have an interesting collection of Hallway Chats from WordCamp Birmingham. A few months ago, Kate and I went down to work in Birmingham, and I got to talk with Aisha and Marcus. We’re going to listen to both of those interviews in this hour today. 

But before we get started, I want to say thanks to our sponsor Nexcess. They’ve been really good to us and a faithful companion for a long time now. If you’re looking for a good web host, check out Nexcess. 

Hey, folks, this is Topher. I’m at WordCamp Birmingham. I’m here with Aisha, and we’re having an honest-to-goodness hallway chat right here in the lobby of the venue. Aisha, where are you from? 

Aisha: Hi, I’m so excited to be here. Actually, I’m originally from Birmingham, Alabama. 

Topher: Wow.

Aisha: And that is why WordPress, y’all, is so important. 

Topher: Good. You said “originally”. Are you still from here or did you go away? 

Aisha: I actually live in Asheville. Asheville, North Carolina.

Topher: Okay. All right. Awesome. So I don’t know the South. Is that very far away? Do you fly?

Aisha: It’s about six hours away. Have you not been to WordPress AVL?

Topher: No.

Aisha: WordPress AVL. You gotta come to WordCamp AVL.

Topher: Okay. 

Aisha: You gotta try it out. 

Topher: I will do that. Did you drive or fly to get here? 

Aisha: We drove. Actually, my husband… Whenever I do WordCamp, he’s like, “Let me just drop you off.” So he dropped me off and took a trip to Atlanta without me. 

Topher: Oh. That’s not so bad.

Aisha: So I’m here with all my friends and enjoying… Just enjoying being with… It’s been so long since we’ve been together, you know? 

Topher: Yeah. Oh, that’s great. So why are you here? What do you do for WordPress? 

Aisha: Mostly just have a good time and meet people and learn a lot of things. But I like to get back to the community that gives so much to me. So today I spoke on diversity, equity, and inclusion. And when I’m not speaking on DEI, I’m probably talking about being an influencer using social media marketing to promote your blog. So I have a WordPress blog that has 64,000 followers. And then I also have my business on WordPress site as well.

Topher: How are you measuring followers on your blog? What tool do you use to know that?

Aisha: I actually use my Facebook because it has the highest engagement. I’ve been very lucky… Facebook recently picked me up to do performance bonus.