She/Her, USA
Web Design, Art History, And Staying Resilient Through Tech Change
My story inspires hope in the minds of website builders everywhere. I started in art, studying art history and working in the art world. Then I found web design and WordPress, and my work shifted toward the internet. Over time, I noticed that my career was following the same pattern as my passion for art: new tools were making new kinds of work possible. In art, artists use new tools to explore new mediums. On the web, I used WordPress to build websites in new ways. The tools were changing, and so was the work.
Now the web has changed again. Building a website is no longer a special skill for a small group of web designers. It has become a basic tool for entrepreneurs, artists, and businesses. More people can make websites than ever before. Art has gone through a similar change, with more multimedia work and more artists combining different technologies to create experiences. Looking at both histories gives me confidence about what comes next, despite the ongoing platform wars.
Bio:
Rachel Winchester, or Win for short, is an independent product designer, public speaker, and the founder of The Focus Assistants, a peer-to-peer service-based startup. Catch her hosting the Philadelphia WordPress Meetup and The WWW (Work with Win) Livestream on LinkedIn. Win started Visual Webmaster L.L.C., where she pursues a variety of internet projects as well as hosts art & design workshops, showcases, and related events. She always looks to collaborate with other technologists, creatives, and entrepreneurs in innovative ways.