Meet 5 Remarkable Women Changing the WordPress World

Is there still a gender gap in technology? Yes, but it is narrowing. More women are building careers in tech, and more of them are visible in open source. WordPress is one of the places where that shift is easy to see.

The old stereotype of tech as a “boys-only” field has been fading for years. A big reason is that women who came before have mentored, spoken at events, and opened doors for the ones coming after. #GiveToGain

In this post, we introduce five women from the WordPress community. They contribute to the software, organize events, translate, test, teach, and lead teams. Before we meet them, let’s look at a few numbers.

Women in tech statistics

The tech industry keeps growing, and so does the conversation about who gets to build it. Here are some statistics from when this list was first published.

• Businesses with balanced management teams are likely to be up to 25% more profitable.
• Women make up about 33% of the tech workforce.
• More than 50% of women in tech leave their jobs because of harassment and sexism.
• Female founders receive only 2% of VC funding.
• Black women CEOs earn 38% less than white male CEOs.
• 50% of women leave tech by the age of 35.

The numbers are not easy to read. Still, the women below kept showing up, kept contributing, and made the ecosystem better for everyone using it.

Women in WordPress: Featuring 5 wonder women

For each of them, we cover what they do for the community and the platform, how their journey started, and what advice they have for other women who want to get involved. We have also linked their social channels, so you can follow them and learn from their experience.

Tonya Mork, WordPress Core Contributor and Educator

Tonya Mork is a developer and engineer from the US. She spent two decades as an electrical and software engineer in automated manufacturing, including time as a chief engineer at an industrial automation firm, before WordPress became her professional focus.

She first used WordPress for her engineering firm’s intranet. Later, drawn to how openly people shared knowledge in the WordPress community, she started the WP Developers’ Club, which led to Know the Code, a learning resource for developers. In her words: “I was amazed to see people sharing so much information freely with one another.”

In February 2021, she joined an international company in the WordPress ecosystem and began working closely on Core. She served as Triage lead for WordPress 5.6 and 5.7, became a Test Team Rep in 2021, and was both Core Tech Lead and Release Coordinator for WordPress 5.9, the release that introduced the first major implementation of Full Site Editing.

Teaching remains her mission: “I’m on a mission to give back and make a difference. Teaching is how I will do it. And in WordPress I have found my professional home.” Read more in People of WordPress: Tonya Mork.

Michelle Frechette, Executive Director of Post Status

Michelle Frechette is the Executive Director of Post Status. She is also the Podcast Barista at WPCoffeeTalk.com, cofounder of underrepresentedintech.com, creator of WPSpeakers.com and wpcareerpages.com, an author, and a frequent organizer and speaker at WordPress events. Matt Mullenweg once called her “the busiest woman in WordPress” at WCUS 2022.

She attended her first WordCamp in 2014, but her WordPress story started before that. Today she lives outside Rochester, NY, and enjoys nature photography.

When did you first get in touch with WordPress?

The first WordPress site I ever logged into was for a nonprofit that my best friend and I founded. Her husband built it and gave us logins to add content. It felt like walking into someone else’s house and trying to find where everything was, but I loved it. The site and the organization no longer exist, but it sparked my love for WordPress and then the community.

When did you start contributing to WordPress?

I attended my first WordCamp in 2014 and was in awe of the community. I couldn’t believe a full-day conference cost $25, including lunch and a party. The next year I applied to speak and joined the organizing team. I’m now a WordCamp and meetup mentor; I’ve been on the WCUS organizing team for years, and I moderate the WordPress Photo Directory, where I’ve contributed over 100 photos. I love connecting people in WordPress to each other and to solutions. Helping people in WordPress is my passion.

What changes do you want to see in WordPress?

I’m excited about the accessibility features being added. WordPress needs to be accessible both for site visitors and for people using the dashboard. I’m also excited about multilingual support coming to the dashboard. If we mean it when we say WordPress democratizes publishing, it has to be available to everyone, whatever language they use.

What is your advice for women who want to thrive in this space?

Find your passion in the space, then connect with others who share it. Our community thrives because we help one another. Reach out. Sometimes it feels scary, but it’s always worth it.

Devin Maeztri, Community Engagement Specialist at Automattic

Devin Maeztri is a Community Engagement Specialist at Automattic. Her WordPress journey began in 2016, when she volunteered at WordCamp Denpasar in Bali. That experience made her more curious about WordPress and its community, and she became a regular at WordCamp events.

Since then, she has shown how WordPress can be used locally and encouraged others to translate it, so it can reach more diverse audiences.

Before WordPress, Devin worked for international development organizations on everything from campaigning to policymaking. In her words, her work on the ground usually involved “researching, movement building, and community empowerment.”

For anyone still thinking about getting started, she says: “It is not that hard to fall for WordPress if you have a chance to experience WordPress. For me, it took a WordCamp.” You can read more in her People of WordPress interview.

Sunita Rai, Head of Ideas and Chief Editor at SiteSaga

Sunita Rai is the Head of Ideas and Chief Editor at SiteSaga, a blog that helps beginners build their online presence with WordPress. She started in 2015 as a Junior Content Writer at a WordPress development company, with no prior WordPress experience, and learned on the job with the help of supportive colleagues. She later worked at ThemeGrill, and she has written for leading blogs like WPBeginner.

In 2015, she also attended WordCamp Nepal, which introduced her to the WordPress community and its culture. In 2016, she made her first official contribution by speaking about content writing at WordCamp Kathmandu. In 2022, she joined the WordCamp Kathmandu organizing team as a Speaker Wrangler, and she spoke at WordCamp Asia 2023. Most recently, she was part of the Communications team for WordCamp Asia 2026 in Mumbai.

She describes the community as diverse, respectful, and welcoming, with room to grow, especially in encouraging more women and minority groups to take part. Her message to women and girls: “Come to the industry with confidence and great ambition, as I firmly believe you can succeed.”

Monika Rao, Product and Quality Assurance Manager

Monika Rao is a Product and Quality Assurance Manager from Udaipur, India. She was born in Rajasthan, where, as she recalls, there was some resistance to girls’ education in certain subjects. With her parents’ support, she graduated in Computer Science Engineering.

She started working with WordPress in 2015 and began contributing that same year through the Theme Review team. Her first contribution to Core was in the WordPress 4.7 release in 2016. She also joined the Polyglots team and became a General Translation Editor for Hindi, helping make WordPress available in her native language.

In the community, Monika helped organize WordCamp Udaipur 2017 and 2018 and WordCamp India 2021, and she also contributes to the Meta and Theme Review teams. In November 2019, WordPress Executive Director Josepha Haden called for an all-women and non-binary release squad. Monika said, “I’ve always felt that not enough women take part in WordPress, so I decided to jump in.” She served as Test Lead for WordPress 5.6 and continued in the WordPress 5.7 release.

Her advice to anyone who wants to contribute: “Find your own area of interest, regardless of your background, be it marketing, content writing, designing, or any other field. The WordPress community welcomes contributions from people of all backgrounds and skill sets.” Read her full story in People of WordPress: Monika Rao.

What else?

Women’s empowerment is about self-worth, the freedom to make your own choices, and the freedom to change them. In recent years, women’s rights have become part of major global movements, and days like International Women’s Day keep gaining momentum.

The women in this list started from different places: a nonprofit website, a WordCamp ticket, a content writing job, a testing team. What they share is that they took the first step and then helped someone else take theirs. If you are thinking about joining the WordPress community, attend a local meetup, pick one area that interests you, and start there.

To all the women in WordPress, and to everyone supporting them: we wish you a prosperous career. Keep shining every day.