My WordPress Career: Amanda Gorman

My WordPress Career is an employee spotlight on the StellarWP blog. In each edition, we highlight a different team member’s professional journey. 

While each story is unique, they all demonstrate that there isn’t one single way to arrive at a career in WordPress. Our team members come from different backgrounds, and each person brings a different type of expertise to their role. And we think that’s pretty stellar.

Today, we’re talking to Amanda Gorman, Director of Customer Success for StellarWP.

StellarWP:  What was your very first job? Tell us what your duties entailed.

Amanda Gorman: I was a hostess at an Italian restaurant. 🙂 I ended up becoming a server after a year of hosting and served for several years through college. 

What’s your current job at StellarWP? What do your duties include now?

AG: My current role is Director of Customer Success for StellarWP. I work with all of our StellarWP brands to help root a customer centric ethos to ensure the success of our teams and customers. I believe strongly that as we empower our teams to live their values at work; the more equipped they are, they are able to help our customers experience success with our products. 

My duties now include the management of several Customer Success Managers across our brands who answer presale questions, provide onboarding support, and manage the feedback loop. Much of my work involves supporting my team to fine tune their listening and communication skills to strengthen customer relationships and learn from every interaction with the goal of improving our product and support. 

When did your career shift toward WordPress?

AG: I was working as a server part time and full time at a law firm as a paralegal, desperate to get my feet in the WordPress world. I was building WordPress sites in my “spare” time under Michelle Frechette’s mentorship and I knew this is the direction I wanted to take. Without experience in the tech industry it felt daunting, though Michelle extended an opportunity at GiveWP where my customer service experience came in handy and ultimately landed me a job as Customer Success Manager in GiveWP’s brand new Customer Success department in 2018!

Is there anything you learned on your first job that you carried with you to your current role at StellarWP?

AG: Absolutely! My first jobs were focused primarily in customer service and providing value to someone via a service. I learned how to communicate with people in a multitude of experiences: Happy and pleasant celebrations (eating a fancy meal) to highly stressful, life altering events (buying a house). I learned to listen to the needs of the person that is in front of me, to hear beneath their words and feel what they are feeling (their hopes, desires, expectations). I learned how to juggle many different tasks at once, at one point I was managing 200+ house purchase files at one time. I learned how to manage my time, communicate with necessary parties to keep everyone informed, and how to embed myself in a process that keeps work flowing from start to end. 

How is working in WordPress different from other jobs you’ve had? What do you like best? Are there any parts that are more challenging?

AG: As I shifted from my paralegal and server work to WordPress, the biggest difference I noticed was the freedom. WordPress represented possibility and creativity. My previous roles were strictly defined with firm boundaries and little room for expanding outside of that container. 

Once I began working in the WordPress space for GiveWP, I instantly felt empowered (thanks to an excellent manager) to start thinking outside of the box and get curious. The department I started in was new and Customer Success was a foreign concept in the WordPress space at the time. This allowed us to shape what Customer Success looked like while remaining flexible as priorities shifted. We found our “why” and were able to ground that in all activity: treating customers as the valuable partners that they are. 

The more challenging aspect of working in this space versus my past roles is the accountability and responsibility. This role requires initiative and the ability to run with ideas with confidence and curiosity. This work requires internal direction and motivation, where my past roles provided much external expectation and support. This is honestly the part I love the most, though. I want to be challenged. I want to face tricky situations, as I know whatever I face is here to show me where I can grow. 

What do you wish you had known when you first started working in the WordPress world?

AG: Luckily, I had the privilege of knowing someone on the inside, Michelle Frechette, who modeled for me what the WordPress community was and was growing to be. Having that support gave me the confidence to move forward into the WordPress world knowing that my first step was just that, a first step in the direction of a career. I don’t wish I had known anything different, honestly, because at the time I knew that I was doing exactly what I needed to in order to prepare myself for the next opportunity. By being given the opportunity, I knew it was the right step.

What are some of your hobbies, interests, or pastimes outside of work? How did you get started? What is a favorite memory?

AG: I love growing things in the warmer months outside and tending to my indoor plants all year round. It doesn’t come super natural to me, though I’m learning a ton and loving the connection I find through nature and growing things. 

I’m a certified yoga teacher, though not teaching presently. I’m focused primarily on being a student these days as I’ve shifted my yoga studies from the physical experience to more the yoga of the mind. I got started with yoga by being drawn to the physical benefits (and I really wanted to learn to handstand) and over the years the teachings began to sink in to a different level, where I’ve been far more interested in the flexibility of my mind over my body. 

Most of all, I’m a mom to an almost 4 year old and I’m highly invested in emotional intelligence education, nonviolent communication, and peaceful parenting. I love taking my son on adventures outside and to our favorite spots around Rochester (like a play cafe and local libraries). 

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