{"id":1309,"date":"2015-03-11T21:45:44","date_gmt":"2015-03-12T02:45:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/2015.stlouis.wordcamp.org\/?p=1309"},"modified":"2015-03-11T21:30:49","modified_gmt":"2015-03-12T02:30:49","slug":"speaker-interview-mary-baum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stlouis.wordcamp.org\/2015\/speaker-interview-mary-baum\/","title":{"rendered":"Speaker Interview: Mary Baum"},"content":{"rendered":"

We know there’s been a lot of posts being published and shared to your inboxes in such a short time, but we’re a little half-way through our Speaker Interview series<\/a>. We really hope you’ve enjoyed some of them and have learned something behind each individual.<\/p>\n

This interview is with well-connected local, Mary Baum. Mary is a really spunky lady with a lot of knowledge of St. Louis and even design. You can find out more about her in her speaker bio<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Mary is scheduled to present – Structure, Style, Story: What Goes Where?<\/a><\/p>\n

\"wcstl-speakerinterview-marybaum\"<\/a><\/p>\n

NILE FLORES:<\/strong> What got you interested in WordPress?<\/p>\n

MARY BAUM:<\/strong> I was involved with a hardcore direct marketing group, and it was becoming clear I needed to be able to design for WP – it was a problem that I’d never done anything with the platform to speak of.<\/em><\/p>\n

Suddenly, the summer I turned 50, I had three WP projects: A news site for the mayor of U City, a blog for my SIL and the branding of your pal and mine, Retail Rich.<\/em> (Note: Mary and I worked with Retail Rich.)<\/p>\n

As freaked out as I’d been over turning 50, suddenly I had a whole new challenge: PHP. (And at that point I was only fair to middling with my CSS.)<\/strong><\/p>\n

Further, I had started using a purported no-coding solution for functionality – commerce, email marketing, events – and was paying a fortune for no support, even when something broke. Also, their no-code\/shortcode system was plenty convoluted – it’s really just as simple to learn PHP and to tweak plugins.<\/em><\/p>\n

NILE FLORES:<\/strong> What is the most interesting WordPress-related project you\u2019ve worked on?<\/p>\n

MARY BAUM:<\/strong> Porting Frontenac Racquet Club<\/a> to Genesis in fall 2012 from static html. I was doing it for my own reasons, so the design needed to look exactly like the previous version. It took me two tries and some CSS3 nth-child shenanigans, but it lives and breathes.<\/p>\n

NILE FLORES:<\/strong> Name 3 WordPress plugins that have always been on your MUST install list, and why.<\/p>\n

MARY BAUM:<\/strong>1. Reveal IDs, because I like to be SURE what categories (etc) I’m targeting for blog-page and other layouts. <\/em><\/p>\n

2. iThemes Security, because: I really don’t ever want to hear about a hacking from the client.
\nAlso, my fighter pilot did get hacked – while another security plugin was running. And, while I know he’s left iThemes, Chris Wiegman is a Twitter bud. He’s often the only one to answer when I have a question or make comments on my VERY twisted perspective. And he’ll politely tell me when I’m wrong.<\/em><\/p>\n

3. Regenerate Thumbnails, because I change image sizes a lot.<\/em><\/p>\n

NILE FLORES:<\/strong> What is something interesting about you that the WordPress community doesn\u2019t know?<\/p>\n

MARY BAUM:<\/strong> Everybody on Twitter knows how proud I am of my daughter the sportswriter<\/a>. <\/em><\/p>\n

Well, the apple didn’t fall too far from the tree: <\/em><\/p>\n