Shout Out to Caspar & A Happy Birthday Too🤩

Not the friendly ghost, Casper from the Famous Studios theatrical animated cartoon series. I am writing to celebrate an heaven sent friend and brother, Caspar!

I met Caspar on the streets of Twitter sometimes in 2017 when I tweeted my frustration and resulting depression at not being able to get an interview, much less, a job.

Let us go back a little to the cause of my frustration. In 2016, I had decided to focus my energy on earning an income online, left the streets and stress of Lagos, for my village, where I set up my office in the living room, of my parents’ house. After about 18 months of learning WordPress enough and building sites for a living, I started applying to WordPress companies for work from home jobs, but nada, nothing came forth.

Beyond that glass is the studio where I and Caspar had our first Zoom call where he helped review my resume and cover letter.

Home office in disarray sometimes in 2020

One of the first acts of friendship Caspar did was to get on a Zoom call with me, a new friend, where we spent the next few hours reviewing my resume and drafting a cover letter that had all that was needed. I shared some of the tips he taught me in this post and here. Caspar is also one of our first supporters at our village hub project, Uwani Hub, and up till this day, does all he can to see us grow, we can’t wait to host you in person, Caspar.

Fast forward to 2019, I had applied to different jobs and for the first time in my life, I submitted applications and got invitations to interview, I was excited at just getting a chance to interview, was in different interviews, some left a good feeling, one left a bad taste in my mouth, aargh, and I was spent from all the interviews, because, somehow even though I did great and made it to the last round of interview, I got dropped for the other person who knew more PHP, sighs.

Just as I was really spent and frustrated, Jason and Kim of Paid Memberships Pro (PMPro), gave me a chance. I won’t forget to mention Femi, who literally was on my case to apply for this role, I was really down from all the rejections and told him, it would end like the others, series of interviews and I am told it won’t work. He insisted, and I am happy I listened, it has been 2 years & 3 months and I am so grateful for the growth and my colleagues, and I hope I have not let my Bosses or any of my colleagues down 🙂. This is a story on its own, soon to be told.

Caspar, I remember picking up this gift you had sent while we had WordCamp Lagos in May 2019. It had a $1 with this note, I still have all except the sticker and the glasses thanks to Bree. This book was absolutely insightful and helpful on my journey, thank you.

In 2019, I was to speak on the WordCamp Europe stage, but did not get my visa, oh girl, I cried about it here, I remember Bree telling me not to cry more as I watched the livestream. You have no idea how upset Caspar was, a lot of people were upset, some were surprised some of us live in countries with passports that limits where we can go, Taco of Yoast was upset too, kept calling the embassy up till the day of the event, sighs.

Anyway, would you believe what Caspar did at this event, he went round every company stand, picked a swag for me, and shipped it all the way down to Nigeria. I was speechless.

WCEU 2019 Swag

If I were to write all your good deeds in the time we have met, I would not stop writing.

Today, I celebrate you Caspar, with this post, and of course I have more physical gifts in store for you that I cannot wait to hand over.

Thank you Caspar.

Notes

• If you have a WordPress website, and are looking to add a membership functionality to this, where you can restrict content, charge for membership, or don’t charge at all, try PMPro today.
• I want to say a big thank you to everyone who has made my life happier, most especially within the WordPress community, you all rock!
• Last but not the least, I pray for Ukraine and hope Putin receives some sense, war is not always a last resort.