Automattic Women: Michelle Langston

Automattician Michelle Langston after completing a dragon boat race.

Welcome to Automattic Women—conversations with some of the remarkable women working all over the world to design and develop Automattic software and make the web a better place. Today’s interviewee, Michelle Langston, is a Tar Heel-born-and-bred web designer and developer who built her first site at the age of 14. At Automattic, Michelle’s a Creative Technologist who works from her home in the Bay Area.

Who are you, and what do you do?

At Automattic, I work on a team that helps interesting people, organizations and projects have an excellent experience with their WordPress websites. I currently lead one of the sub-teams that is responsible for launching new websites. My team does everything from building relationships with our partners to seeing a website project from initial discovery, design, and development all the way through launch.

What’s a typical day like for you?

There is no typical day! As a team lead, my job is to make sure my team members have what they need to be successful in their roles. On a given day, I may be meeting with team members for our regularly scheduled 1:1s, checking on projects, and handling other team administrative tasks as needed. I also collaborate with my fellow team leads for the other sub-teams on overall team processes and strategies.

What drew you to Automattic and what keeps you here?

What drew me to Automattic was the chance to do what I love, which is building websites with WordPress and exploring all of the things that WordPress can do! I joined Automattic in 2011 as a Theme Wrangler, back when remote work was a relatively new concept. The fact that the work was remote was also a major draw.

What keeps me at Automattic are first and foremost, my colleagues. I could not ask for better team members! Next, I appreciate the care that Automattic takes for its employees, and the flexibility that we get when it comes to building work into our unique life situations, which I feel has been a great gift!

Finally, this company is a dream company for introverts like me—I’m so grateful to Automattic for believing in me and my potential as a team lead, even though I’m an introvert!

Michelle relaxes during a tour of Frank Lloyd Wright’s School of Architecture in Arizona—a trip that was part of an Automattic Design Team meetup in 2019.

Michelle relaxes during a tour of Frank Lloyd Wright’s School of Architecture in Arizona—a trip that was part of an Automattic Design Team meetup in 2019.

What’s your favorite non-work activity?

I love paddling with my local dragon boat team. I got into the sport in 2012 shortly after moving to the Bay Area, and I have never looked back. It’s turned into not only a fun, regular source of exercise, but also a group of friends of all ages that is almost like a second family. We paddle together, laugh together, travelled to races together, celebrate together, and have endured hard times together.