My 2025 Review: A Year of Growth

Looking back, 2025 was a year of growth. I spent a lot of time learning new skills, building confidence, and trying to make my business more visible. At the same time, I was chasing clients, deadlines, and new opportunities.

Accessibility & Greyd

My main focus was to add new services to my portfolio — Accessibility and Greyd.Suite — while continuing my regular yearly projects. It took me a few months of practice and speaking before I could sell these new services with confidence. Only in the second part of the year everything was aligned and new projects and long term collaborations has started.

Looking back, adding new services that required so much time to learn and practice wasn’t the wisest decision. As a freelancer, my time and energy are limited. I wouldn’t do it the same way again, but it felt like the right choice at the time. In the end, the time spent learning how to build complex layouts with Greyd (Core blocks extended) paid off — it helped me get a full-time role at Automattic, where I now work efficiently with Core Blocks.

Web Accessibility

I invested a lot of time in learning how to build accessible websites. It took me a while to connect all the dots and feel confident in offering accessibility services. Here are the main activities in this area:

I created a new brand, Creatibility.co, for Creativity & Accessibility
Member IAAP (International Association for Accessibility Professionals)
I attended IAAP-EU Accessibility 2025 Hybrid Event in Brno, Czechia, connected to other professionals outside of WordPress ecosystem.
Taking mentorship sessions with Anne Bovelett helped me to get confidence to promote these new services.
CPACC Certification (Certified Professional in Accessibility Core Competencies)
Partnered with a Romanian accessibility tester team and had a good collaboration.
WP Meetup Presentation: How to start building accessible websites
I was a back-up speaker for WCEU using the same presentation, improved.
I applied to speak for WCNL, WP Accessibility Day, but wasn’t selected
I was invited to speak to WordPress Accessibility Meetup in December, but I had to cancel when I received the offer for Automattic full-time job.
I attended to AcessABILITY Expo in Bucharest (september 2025) and connected to a few professionals in my area.
I attended to Accessibility Internet Rally (AIR) Online, September – December 2025

I had a few projects over the year, but there was not much interest as I expected with the new EAA (European Accessibility Act), at least in my country, compared to the time invested. However, the acquired skills helped me find long term collaborations with agencies as an accessibility-focused web designer.

Creating accessible websites become the second nature, and I apply by default the basic rules for every website I create.

A few projects

Here are only a few small web design projects I can use in my portfolio.

Milestones. Events. Experiences

Outside client projects, I attended events, joined communities, and pushed me to speak more on social media, online events and live events.

Cloudfest Hackathon, working for Viasua11y Project (March, 15-17, Europa Park, Germany)
IAAP-EU Accessibility Hybrid Event (April, 22-23), Brno, Czechia
WordCamp Europe (June, 5-7, Basel, Switzerland)
Featured in WP Wonder Women
Speed Network Online (June)
A few Office hours with Amber Hinds, Equalize Digital.
AccessABILITY Expo, Bucharest, September 18-20
WordCamp Netherlands, November 27-28, The Hague
Bucharest WordPress Meetups: March, July – December
Business Your Way, online community organized by Jennifer Bourn
Brand Storytelling Program with Alexandra Badita
Speak Tech Confidently, online community organized by Jill Binder
Public speaking lessons with Razvan Ropotan, actor and trainer.

Bucharest WP Meetup

In the summer of 2025, I decided to step up as a co-organizer for the Bucharest WordPress Meetup. This came with a lot of time commitment, but also gave me a lot of rewards. I am happy to see how people connected over the months and a new group is evolving from month to month.

I wrote an article about this topic: WordPress Bucharest Meetup: The Story Continues.

A new stage of my career: Automattic

This was the biggest change I didn’t plan for. But it came at the right moment.

I wrote about the hiring process in this article: I’m joinig Automattic.

Six weeks after joining, I enjoy what I am doing and am happy with the decision.

Outside work

I took a few days off to pause and connect with my friends and my family

I took swimming lessons (Dec – May) with a professional trainer, former champion at SportAcademy.
Visited my good friend in Oradea.
Had a few small family trips, visiting nice place in our country (Danube Delta, Transfagarasan, Bucegi and Ciucas Mountains)
Created my daughter’s website.

Lessons I learned

Perfectionism comes at a high cost: It drains my energy chasing an illusion, it keeps me hidden from others. So, try to let it go a little
Do something daily for your business.
There are too many ideas, and too little time to implement them. Make a priority list.
Dealing with uncomfort: meeting and speaking with new people, visiting new places, embracing the dumbness and go forward.
It’s ok to ask for help. It’s ok to say No. It’s ok to say I’m sorry I need to postpone / cancel. It’s ok to stop and take a new path.