Genesis Community Livecast Reboots With WordPress Co-Creator Mike Little

After a brief hiatus, the Genesis Community Livecast is set to reboot next week, featuring an interview with WordPress co-creator Mike Little and Genesis community leaders Anita Carter and Sandee Jackson. 

The main issue up for discussion during the event will revolve around both the contributions members of the Black community have made to WordPress and Genesis, as well as the significant challenges they continue to face within the larger tech world and the WordPress and Genesis communities specifically.

(Note: Don’t mistake this Genesis Community with the Genesis Community Management, which is a homeowners association, nor Genesis Community Health, which is an organization that tackles homelessness. Both these nonprofit organizations have nothing to do with the Genesis WP framework.)

While both WordPress and Genesis continue to include an increasingly diverse group of contributors, innovators, and leaders from around the world, members of the Black community remain underrepresented, and greater efforts to support them need to be made both in WordPress and in Genesis communities.

With the issues of racial and social justice now at the forefront of so many discussions, this edition of the Genesis Community Livecast comes at a particularly poignant time. 

“We are honored to dedicate the first rebooted episode of our Genesis Community Livecast to both recognizing the contributions of the Black community to the WordPress and Genesis projects, but also to acknowledge the ongoing issues members of this community still face across the larger tech world,” said David Vogelpohl, who leads Genesis efforts at WP Engine, and who is one of the Livecast emcees along with Brian Kenney from WP Engine’s Represents employee resource group. 

“My hope is that we’ll walk away from this discussion with actions we can all take to help confront these issues head-on.” 

In addition to supporting diversity initiatives specifically in the WordPress and Genesis communities, WP Engine is dedicated to combatting systemic racism, bias, and violence experienced by members of the Black community and other underrepresented groups.

In June, we announced we would engage with three organizations—Black Lives Matter, The ACLU, and Black Girls Code—which work to advance social justice, create opportunities for all in technology, help community organizers address racial inequality, and offer solidarity with BIPOC communities. 

From June 19th through July 19th, WP Engine matched every dollar donated by employees to each of these three organizations and ultimately donated a sum total of $43,507.50. 

In addition to our engagements with the above organizations, WP Engine is committed to fostering an open and accepting work environment where discussions around the issues of race and inequality are encouraged. We’re also committed to looking for ways to take action as we address these issues. 

WP Engine has also joined and is donating to the Notley Tide initiative, based in Austin, TX. WP Engine’s Chairwoman and CEO Heather Brunner, along with several other CEOs signed the initiative’s Racial Justice Action Open Letter, the goal of which is to amplify their impact as business leaders by communicating a unified commitment to take action to advance racial justice. 

Visit WP Engine for more information about our employee-led efforts to positively impact both inside and outside our organization. And don’t miss next week’s Genesis Community Livecast with WordPress co-creator Mike Little and Genesis community leaders Anita Carter and Sandee Jackson.