Yoast Care fund: An interview with Stefano Cassone

Stefano Cassone got nominated for the Yoast care fund by Laura Sacco. Stefano used WordPress for the first time in 2011, and now, in 2020, he still loves it! Let’s find out about his contributions to WordPress and who his WP mentors are!

How did you know about WordPress?
I used WordPress for the first time in 2011. I had recently started my activity as a web designer and used another CMS, with which I was not very pleased. While reading a magazine I discovered WordPress, so I experimented using it for my website… And it was love at first sight! From that moment, it has become the basis for all the sites I create.

Why WordPress?
I tried many CMSs but they all lacked the documentation to try to study in-depth, finding it often only in forums; this always caused me a problem of speed in the realization of the sites. The passage to WordPress allowed me to find a lot of documentation right away, and after trying it out it made me realize that I could be much faster and take better care of the sites I was building.

Why did you start contributing? Share with us the first time you contributed.
In the beginning, I tried to understand how I could help … and initially, I didn’t consider myself the right person at all; later I approached the Polyglots. I started contributing directly to WordPress in January 2018 as a translator in Italian Polyglots. I was curious to be able to translate a theme I was using for a site and from there, I did nothing but increase my commitment because I feel good and I learn a lot (I’m learning more by contributing to WordPress rather than by following courses).

Who is your WordPress mentor?
I had two mentors, Alice Orrù and Laura Sacco: Alice was the person who followed me in my phase of integration into the Polyglots giving me all possible clarifications, as well as the enthusiasm and encouragement necessary to not give up; Laura was the one who followed me most on Slack in the early days, allowing me to integrate and actively participate in the Polyglots channel. She was also the one that appointed me editor for themes and plugins to my first volunteer WordCamp (WordCamp Rome 2018).

I should, however, mention three other people from whom I learned a lot: Lidia Pellizzaro and Giacoma Allegretta, from whom I learned how to manage the Polyglots meetings, and Paolo Valenti, who is always available to explain the technical aspect in the translations and encourages me to go ahead and don’t be shy.

Where can people find you? Online, WordCamps, other meetups?
You can find me on Slack in the Italian Polyglots channel; I also participate in the Forum channel because I help to translate the handbook. You can also meet me at many Italian WordCamps as a volunteer. I am one of the photographers, so it’s easy to recognize me. You can find me on Twitter as @Stefano_Cassone and on Instagram as @stefanocassone76. I’m also a regular attendee at the Rome Meetup.

Want to nominate someone yourself? Someone who also works hard to make WordPress even better? Visit the Yoast Care fund page and find out how!