Amy Kamala’s path into technology didn’t follow the usual route. With a Master of Fine Arts from UCLA and a background in sculpture, video installations, and experimental work, she gradually found technology moving from supporting her art to becoming the center of her professional life. Since 2018 she’s been an active contributor to WordPress, serving multiple times as a Hosting Team rep and, more recently, as a Core team rep. Along the way she’s worked at DreamHost, InMotion Hosting, Pantheon, Canopy Studios, local government, and now freelances while being sponsored by Elementor for her open source work.
From art to code: how the two worlds connect
Amy’s story shows how tightly art and technology can interweave. Her early creative projects used HTML, PHP and interactivity; she learned Photoshop, video editing, Linux and command-line tools in the course of making installations and working in post-production. That combination left her uniquely positioned to approach web development with a designer’s eye.
She points out the important overlap: art is fundamentally about experience, and so is software. User experience, composition, color, accessibility — the same instincts that make an artwork resonate also make a site feel intuitive and human. Whether you’re designing UI, crafting CSS, or leading product decisions, an art-informed sensibility is valuable and applicable.
A varied career built on curiosity
Amy’s career is notable for range and adaptability. She started in social support at DreamHost in 2015, moved through technical support and into live chat and specialized WordPress support, helping build processes and even product features. Later she became a tech lead at a web agency, managed web development at InMotion (overseeing multiple assets, servers and DevOps pipelines), worked briefly as a solutions architect at Pantheon, then as a web developer for local government. Today she freelances and contributes to WordPress with part-time sponsorship from Elementor.
She credits much of her advancement to curiosity and willingness to learn on the job. Rather than choosing a single narrow specialization, Amy cultivated a broad “umbrella” of skills — DevOps, accessibility, design, team leadership — that made her effective in management and cross-functional roles. She acknowledges trade-offs: breadth means she’s not the deepest specialist in one language, but it’s also what allowed her to lead teams and connect different disciplines.
How she joined the WordPress community
Amy’s open source journey began informally through DreamHost’s push to engage more with the WordPress ecosystem. She joined the newly forming Hosting Team and found a warm, familiar group — many faces she already knew — which made jumping in easy. That sense of welcome was decisive: being received kindly and given guidance made contributing approachable.
From there she expanded her involvement: federating relationships through communities like Ladies of WordPress, attending Core meetings, volunteering on release squads, and eventually running release-related working groups. The progression was organic: she volunteered, built trust, asked questions, and took on responsibilities that led to formal team roles.
Sponsorship and giving time beyond the clock
Some of Amy’s contributions were sponsored by employers — DreamHost encouraged participation, a later agency set aside three hours a week for contribution, and InMotion officially sponsored 10 hours a week after she asked. Today Elementor sponsors her for 10 hours weekly. Still, she regularly gives more time than the formal allocation.
Why does she do that? Partly personality: she’s outgoing, likes connecting with people, and finds great satisfaction in collaboration. More importantly, the work is personally meaningful. Contributing to an open source project offers long-term purpose: building something larger than yourself, forming friendships, sharpening skills, and often creating professional opportunities. Those intangible rewards — belonging, shared purpose, and human connection — often sit ahead of the purely instrumental benefits.
Lessons about learning and failure
Amy embraces learning by doing and isn’t afraid of looking imperfect while she learns. She sees public mistakes as memorable lessons and encourages asking “stupid” questions — they’re the quickest route to growth. Her experience in theater helped reframe the fear of awkwardness: audiences want you to succeed, and community environments are generally supportive.
Practical advice for contributors and teams
– If you want to contribute: start with low-pressure tasks — take meeting notes, update documentation, or triage issues. These tasks build visibility and trust without needing deep technical expertise.
– Don’t be afraid to ask questions. Being outgoing and curious opens doors and builds relationships that lead to more participation.
– If you’re a maintainer or experienced contributor: be welcoming. New contributors benefit hugely from patient guidance and friendly onboarding. That human touch matters more than you might think.
Why the WordPress community matters
Amy describes WordPress contributions as both authentic and generous. The project’s community-driven values produce a culture where people come together to solve problems, teach one another, and build tools that outlast any individual. Events and in-person gatherings amplify that feeling: they turn remote friendships into stronger bonds and make the shared mission feel visceral.
A continuing journey
Amy sees her career as ongoing exploration rather than a fixed destination. She loves the tech industry, collaborative work, and user-focused projects, but she’s open to change. Her pattern has been to jump into opportunities, learn quickly, and follow interests as they evolve — whether that leads to a deeper technical specialty, more leadership, or a return to creative art in some form.
If you’re curious to hear Amy’s conversation in full, the episode is available on the WP Tavern Jukebox podcast. Her story is a clear reminder that open source thrives on curiosity, kindness, and the messy, human work of learning together.