Episode 167 – A Chat With Iolanda Sequino

Episode 167, Iolanda Sequino

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Episode Transcript

Topher: Hey folks, welcome to Hallway Chats. My name is Topher. This week we have another hallway chat that was actually recorded on-site at a WordCamp. This one was recorded at WordCamp Italia in Milan and we were outside in a beautiful courtyard at an ancient university.

My guest is Iolanda Sequino. She works for Yoast and was there at WordCamp working the booth and we got into a great conversation and I said, “Hey, we should record this.” So here we are, and you get to listen in. 

Hey everybody, this is Topher, I’m at WordCamp Italia in Milano. Today I’m here with-

Iolanda: Iolanda.

Topher: Iolanda. Tell me why you’re here. 

Iolanda: To have fun! No, I’m kidding. I mean, we have lots of fun in WordCamps-

Topher: Oh, yeah. 

Iolanda: …so it’s not entirely false. I’m here to be part of the Yoast booth. So we talk to people, we answer the questions, we collect questions actually also. It’s also a valuable feedback moment. We also collect the compliments. 

Topher: Oh, yes, yes. 

Iolanda: And we play games and give prizes. 

Topher: Oh, nice. How long have you been in WordPress? 

Iolanda: I would say five years.

Topher: Nice. 

Iolanda: A couple of years as a content writer, and then now with Yoast as a developer of the plugin.

Topher: Oh, okay. How long have you been with Yoast? 

Iolanda: A little over three years now. 

Topher: Okay, quite a while.

Iolanda: Yeah. Yeah. 

Topher: Developer the whole time?

Iolanda: I started as a researcher because I’m a linguist originally. And then, since we, I mean, we need the language, linguistic proficiency to be able to develop the assessments, then we basically grew. My team and I, we grew into this developer role. We’re all linguists actually.

Topher: That’s really cool. 

Iolanda: Thank you. 

Topher: So you’re here at a booth, are you also in marketing at all or do you…?

Iolanda: No. 

Topher: No. You got picked? 

Iolanda: Yeah. 

Topher: Did you ask to come or did they tell you to come?

Iolanda: I was asked to come. 

Topher: Okay. This is your first WordCamp?

Iolanda: No. 

Topher: Oh, good. 

Iolanda: No. 

Topher: So you know what you’re coming to? 

Iolanda: No, I was eager to come.

Topher: What were your past WordCamps? 

Iolanda: Netherlands. Actually Italy already, but then we were in the online ones. 

Topher: All right, yes. 

Iolanda: And already there you got this feeling of how energizing it is to interact with the people. I think it’s the best thing about meeting in person. When you work with technology, I mean, you don’t have that many contacts with people all around the world. And then finally, you get this chance to see, to talk, which is invaluable.

Topher: How far did you have to travel to come here? Where are you from? 

Iolanda: So I’m from Italy, originally but I live in the Netherlands. 

Topher: Quite a ways.

Iolanda: I mean, it was a short flight. Doable.

Topher: I forget how small Europe is

Iolanda: Actually, the size of China. We looked it up this week.

Topher: Oh, that’s cool. 

Iolanda: Yeah. It was also in fact checking what the size of Europe like. And it’s like China. 

Topher: All right. All right. Well, thank you very much for chatting with me today. 

Iolanda: Thank you for having me. 

Topher: Yes, I will see you. 

This has been an episode of Hallway Chats, a part of the HeroPress Network. This episode was recorded in person at WordCamp Italia in Milan, Italy. Your host was Topher DeRosia. We’d like to thank Sophia DeRosia for the music and Nexcess for hosting our network. If you liked the episode, please subscribe and mention us on social media. 

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