🎤 Dorina Anton, our Marketing Specialist

Today, let’s meet Dorina, who has been leading XWiki SAS' marketing and communication efforts for the past year and a half. Dorina's journey at XWiki is a testament to passion meeting purpose, as she crafts engaging content, unravels buyer psychology, and dives into digital marketing and design. Outside work, she likes to delve into the pages of psychology books, seek the adrenaline rush of rock climbing, and explore new hobbies. 

Without further ado, let’s discover her insights on open source, her reflections on the evolving landscape of XWiki, and the invaluable lessons she's learned along the way.

Dorina

in 5 things

• Favorite artist: I don't have only one (who does?); I'll say Parkway Drive for now.

• Best book ever read: Very hard to pick; I'd go with a recent one that was excellent: “Cerul ca oțelul” by Cosmin Leucuța

• Dream destination: Japan or Iceland

• Quote you live by: “It's never too late to be what you might have been.” by George Eliot

• At the office or remote? Remote for work, at the office for discussions and hangouts.

Tell us about yourself

I'm Dorina, and I have been leading the marketing and communication activities inside XWiki SAS for the past year and a half. I'm passionate about providing useful content in various formats for users and clients, the psychology of the buyer, digital marketing, events, and design. When I'm not reading and bubbling with ideas, I'm probably (still) reading and learning about human psychology, cooking, listening to insane stories from Reddit on YouTube, doing some rock climbing, or dabbing my toes into a new hobby. I greatly enjoy genuine human connection and vivid conversations, and discussing personal development and our inner journeys.

🌄 The journey to XWiki

What were you doing before XWiki? What was your evolution like?

My background is in communication and PR, and all the opportunities, internships, higher education, or jobs were related to this field. I think I'm one of those fortunate people that figured out what I enjoyed doing and pursued that. So I certainly didn't change careers before joining XWiki, but rather continued my path in a company that I resonate with values-wise. 😍

What is it like to be working in the Marketing team at XWiki?

Diverse, collaborative, challenging, and an intense learning experience. I've always been a generalist, and couldn't settle in one role since I feel this doesn't fit me and in XWiki I have the environment to learn, experiment, and also apply what I learned along the way. There is no way you don't find something that you enjoy doing. For me strategizing, researching, coming up with proposals and content are some of the things I enjoy greatly.

As Alina, the previous Marketing lead said, what we do is like a small in-house agency, with a myriad of tactics and expansion and experimenting in different areas of marketing. I'm always counting on Adina, our Graphic and UI/X Designer, and Oana, our Content Specialist, and the XWiki team to help and tackle all the activities.

🔎 Open-source impressions

Was open source something you had an interest in prior to XWiki?

I didn't know about open source, the implications it has in the world, or the benefits it brings, although I used open-source products. I learned in depth what this whole universe entails while being at XWiki and how vivid OS communities can be.

What's the open-source value you identify with most?

Collaboration and transparency — “If you want to go fast, go alone; if you want to go far, go together.”, and because transparency from my point of view is a paradigm chance that has been going on for many years. Usually companies are not that transparent or sugarcoat information and decisions, and in XWiki I learned that things can be done differently, and I greatly admire this way of approaching a product and business.

⏳ Being an XWikier

How was the integration process at XWiki for you?

I won't say it was easy-peasy. Nicoleta was transparent from the beginning and trained me in the inner-workings of XWiki. That was something I appreciated tremendously, because from my experience, people and companies tend to hide their imperfections and that's not something in which I believe (or any picture-perfect depiction of things). Of course, this doesn't mean things are not working or going well. But acknowledging “the good and bad” goes a long way when you want to bring someone into your team and also help them make an informed decision.

The formal part of the integration process was well organized, with onboarding, procedures, and small tasks to get accustomed to the internal way of working. I also had plenty of interactions and discussions in the beginning with different members from various squads to understand the open-source product, the history, and the role of marketing inside XWiki. Many XWikiers helped me get an overall picture and also get to know the kind of work each team does. Also, the fact that we have a lot of structured information helped in understanding what was expected of me.

What were the biggest ways in which XWiki changed during the time you've been around?

One major change is that we had many new colleagues that joined us in 2023 thanks to the numerous funding projects the company applied for. This also led to many activities dedicated to getting to know each other and also working together. I'm not sure what was the rhythm before, but I have a feeling that XWiki grew a lot in the short time I've been here, with many initiatives, projects, and R&D endeavors happening all at once. With the Cristal project ongoing right now (psst, sneak peek about it in this year's FOSDEM), I think modernizing a product is very exciting. I love a product that answers users needs and XWiki and CryptPad are doing just that.

What would you say is the most valuable lesson you learned during your time at XWiki?

It's difficult to pinpoint only one, but learning to be resilient when there's pressure and focus on priorities would be two important lessons (but there are certainly many, many more lessons, and it'd take a while to go through them).

What has kept you at XWiki so far?

Close collaboration with my colleagues, the company values, the work I do, the autonomy, flexibility, and trust that I receive from the people that I work with.

If you could describe your XWiki experience in one word, what would it be?

Growth — from skills, to mindset, to the level of collaboration with my colleagues, to learning about both open source and how a product is built and bettered across time. There are many areas to learn about and explore and that's something stimulating and fun for me.

Favorite memory up until now at XWiki?

Not going to lie, there are quite a few. In no particular order:

• The 2023 Seminar: I was more relaxed and comfortable in the role, so I was able to enjoy far more all the activities, discussions, and not be a nervous wreck like in the previous year when I just arrived and presented the annual status.
• The 2023 trip to Gura Humorului: we had a total blast at the Ariniș leisure complex, and we enjoyed a cool barbecue and many fun and insightful discussions.
• The many spontaneous discussions that I had with people in the Iași office.