I come from a transitional generation, and somehow, I’ve ended up as a hard core non-tech person in a heavily tech-driven space. Fitting into a box has never really been my thing.
And perhaps, that has been the point.
How often do you think you’re lost?
We often mistake not seeing a path for being lost.
We grow up believing that a meaningful life comes with a roadmap: choose a direction, follow it, and eventually arrive somewhere. But what happens when you can’t see the road ahead?
Sometimes, the path doesn’t exist yet.
My own journey has rarely looked linear. I started blogging on WordPress at 16 because I wanted somewhere to put my thoughts and my poetry. I studied law, organised events alongside it, and while pursuing my passion for public speaking, discovered my love for community building.
And eventually, through a rather topsy-turvy turn of events, I found myself turning my legal background into entrepreneurship.
From the outside, these may look like a lot of deviations. Even to me, there were moments when the future looked bleak and hazy. I wondered whether I was falling behind while people around me seemed to have “figured it out,” found their direction, and were already excelling.
I found myself feeling lost.
Regaining control by finding a pattern
But looking back, and eventually connecting the dots, I realised there was a constant. A pattern I kept coming back to: people, ideas, purpose, and the desire to contribute.
The mediums kept changing. The underlying pull did not.
And that’s when it hit me:
Sometimes, not fitting into the box isn’t the problem. Rather, it is the answer.
Who am I and where it all started
So, let me start again.
My name is Astha, and I discovered the WordPress community back in 2023.
I was a law student who happened to stumble upon a WordPress anniversary meetup, where conversations were already underway about WordCamp Bhopal happening again after quite a while.
I started as an organiser, partly because of the sheer joy of doing what the job demanded— the knack for managing things… and people.
We had two broad purposes: reignite the WordPress ecosystem in town and show attendees a glimpse of Bhopal in the best possible way.
And then, WordCamp Bhopal happened.
WordCamp Bhopal felt like a family reunion, except that you’re meeting those people for the very first time.
Read my experience as an Organiser at my first ever WordCamp | WordCamp Bhopal 2023
What next after organizing the first WordCamp?
I had an incredible time, but also, I had no intentions of dwelling any further.
But credit to the people I met here— WordCamp Mumbai happened.
And somewhere between Bhopal and Mumbai, something shifted.
The fire these two events ignited in me was insane. By 2024, I found myself thinking much more consciously about the gap I saw between my own field and the technology ecosystem, and between technology and the larger society around us.
I started looking for ways to bridge those gaps wherever I could.
I began seeing community events differently.
Not just as events.
But as opportunities to bring people together around something that could potentially make a difference.
I think community events are a great way— a stage from where you could bring a change. It’s an opening for you to utilize, to serve a purpose.
Outsider to Builder
I was supposed to be an outsider. I was one.
But the cordial, welcoming, “just a smile away” setup of this community had me, for good.
I think the give-and-take in my case sums up as perspective.
Witnessing grandeur of the OG Camp
And then came the ultimate, Crown of Jewels, Camp of Camps: WordCamp Asia.
I had an opportunity to emcee at WCAsia. Absolutely loved the energy. That’s probably the least I can say, because words still don’t quite justify how I felt at that moment.
Exposure is so important— culturally, professionally, and in all the other ways possible. For me, WordCamp Asia was exactly that.
Some people knew of my presence there. A majority did not. The people I knew helped me connect with the people I didn’t. But there were also those who came by without knowing me at all— just a smile or a kind word away.
I can’t seem to get over from WordCamp Asia!
It reminded me, once again, how simple yet profound human connections can be.
I came back apart from a sore throat, with a rejuvenated sense of self, and perhaps a little more courage… which led me to lead EmpowerWP Bhopal 2025.
Shifting focus from What → Why : EmpowerWP Bhopal
This time, the question wasn’t simply what event can we organise? It was who are we organising it for?
This was the time when Women In WordPress were organising women’s day event across the globe. We wanted to bring women in Bhopal into the conversation who weren’t necessarily already part of the ecosystem— homemakers, women looking to upskill, women on career breaks, small business owners, and women who had, for one reason or another, found themselves somewhere outside the active workforce.
When we envisioned EmpowerWP Bhopal, we knew it had to be inclusive— not just for the conventional attendees, but also for the very women who have shaped our lives. Trying to make digital opportunities feel a little closer to home. It went beyond our expectations in the best possible way.
Read about EmpowerWP: A journey of Growth and Inclusion
And then came the WP Build Tour.
Touring across the State: Igniting the fire amongst students
If EmpowerWP was about creating a bridge for women, WP Build Tour took the idea of access beyond the city.
We went across Madhya Pradesh, our state with 55 districts but just one active WordPress chapter, reaching more than 1,700 college students and helping them build their own websites in a day.
WP Build Tour 2025 was never just about code or content. It was about confidence. About potential realised. About futures being built— one student, one website, one breakthrough at a time.
The idea was rooted in something I had been thinking about for a while— the gap between what the industry needs, what students are taught, and what students actually get an opportunity to do.
So we took WordPress to them.
Bhopal Hosts WP Build Tour 2025: Empowering 1700+ Students Across Central India
The WordPress community had given me the space to try these things— to experiment, to bring in ideas that perhaps didn’t fit the conventional definition of a tech event, and to push boundaries.
And for that, I remain deeply grateful.
Organising events is one thing, and adding purpose to them takes it to another level. For us in Bhopal, organising events has never been just about the “event.” It’s about going a step further and sparking change, no matter how small.
The realisation at WC Pokhara
WordCamp Asia had felt like a peak, and I was quite happy simply soaking in its afterglow.
Then, out of nowhere, I heard whispers of WordCamp Pokhara happening in Nepal. And just like that, something stirred again.
I had no plans. But this one felt like it had plans for me.
There was another thought that kept ringing in my mind:
When I’ve had the privilege of being on both sides– non tech in tech, why not support the people who are still somewhere in the middle? So I wanted to talk about what we can do for the community and also how the community supports us.
Packed up and flew to Nepal. And what did I find? My alter ego, perhaps.
I didn’t go looking for a community this time. But by the end of it, I knew— I belong here.
Read about WCPokhara: People and Purpose
The Ultimate. The Calling. The Answer.
Just made me realise how our calling is not always something we discover at the beginning. Sometimes, it is the urge that keeps bringing us back, again and again, even when we try to walk somewhere else.
And how a community can make that uncertain journey possible: giving us people who encourage us, opportunities we couldn’t have seen alone, and sometimes simply the reassurance that we are not the only ones without a map.
Thanks to constant supporters in this journey including (but not limited to) Aditya Shah, the WP Bhopal community, the global WordPress Community at length, and Yoast! From celebrating WordPress anniversaries together to honoring WP Bhopal’s decade long journey… It’s been worthwhile to grow along.
It got me friends, and somewhere along the way, it got me a life!
What’s up with me now?
Now, I am a lawyer turned entrepreneur, in the tech space. Building Ariham, a people-first agency, with WordPress at its core.
And when I look back at the 16-year-old who simply wanted somewhere to put her thoughts and poetry, I realise I couldn’t have possibly mapped this journey out. I don’t think I was supposed to.
To so many firsts… first time making a website for somebody else, to the first international trip to the Philippines, to first time being a speaker at a foreign land… the WordPress community has taken me places, and I am so excited to see what we’re gonna be up to next!
A lesson I would like to pass on
Maybe the unconventional path isn’t a lack of direction.
Maybe it’s a different way of finding direction.
Maybe your calling isn’t always something you recognise immediately.
Maybe it’s the thing that keeps pulling you back.
The idea you can’t let go of.
The work you keep returning to.
The thing that, even after you’ve tried to walk away, somehow finds its way back into your life.
Because sometimes, the road not taken doesn’t look like a beautiful path waiting for you.
Sometimes, it looks like there is no path at all.
Maybe you’re not lost. Maybe you’re early. Or maybe you are the one building the road.
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