Joomla in Faces. Sarah Watz (former Joomla President)

I’m Sarah Watz, an entrepreneur from Sweden with a long history in the local and global Joomla community. Today, I run Business Heroes®, where I mentor service-based business owners from around the world. I help them build a solid foundation for growth by smartly packaging their services with digitalization, automation, and AI so they can save time and resources, improve their customer experience, and feel more confident in their business structure.

At the core of everything I do is helping people grow so they can lead their businesses with clarity, confidence, and greater ease.

I’m no longer an active volunteer, but I’m still a very happy Joomla Brand Ambassador, and our websites run on Joomla. The project has shaped me in many ways, personally and professionally.

My journey actually began with Mambo. I read about a Swedish media company using it in a magazine and became curious enough to try it. When the Joomla fork happened in 2005, it felt natural to follow.

Very quickly, Joomla became more than a CMS. It became a community, and that community changed my life.

The motivation was always the people.

Being part of Joomla gave me lifelong friendships, leadership experience, resilience, and a deep appreciation for global collaboration. I saw people from all cultures grow, contribute, step up, and support each other.

Joomla shaped my confidence in my ability to lead across borders. It taught me that we have far more in common than we have differences when we share a mission and a strong “why.” And in today’s fast-moving AI-driven world, showing up as humans — with empathy, purpose, and connection — matters more than ever. This is something I emphasize in both my mentoring and my AI training work.

There are so many unforgettable moments, but a few stand out very clearly.

My first event as President in Moscow was incredibly special. The warmth of the local community and business owners made a deep impression on me.

Another strong memory is from Kenya, where I gave a talk that later formed the foundation for a series of Joomla! Changing Lives talks. That theme became one of my favorites because I kept receiving more and more stories from volunteers about how Joomla truly changes lives.

Italy was another important chapter for me. The size and strength of the Italian community blew me away. This community had grown somewhat isolated because of language, but was fully alive with passion, skill, and heart. When they reached out and wanted to get closer to the global community, it truly touched me. I was impressed by how organized they were through their local associations, their regional events, the Joomla Festival, and eventually hosting the Joomla World Conference.

It was not always easy navigating language barriers, cultural differences, and some internal drama along the way, but the friendliness, warmth, and dedication of the Italian Joomlers still move me.

In Malaysia, I was invited into a startup hub and served as a jury member in a “Shark Tank”-style pitch event. Seeing open source and entrepreneurship blend in that environment was inspiring.

But the most powerful moment of all happened at the Joomla World Conference in Vancouver, the last JWC I attended as President.

I told the whole story of the Certification Team. Every challenge, every setback, every moment of grit, determination, and finally the momentum to make it happen. Their journey mirrored what so many Joomla volunteers experience: courage, creativity, and a deep commitment to making an impact. And during that very conference, the first Joomla Certification exam was finally held.

After my talk, the entire room stood up. It was an emotional moment, a collective acknowledgment of what volunteers go through when they deeply believe in an idea and work tirelessly to bring it to life. For me, that moment was the perfect example of the Heart of Joomla: a global community of brave, passionate, and compassionate people who give their best to make things happen.

In 2012, I was elected to the Board of Directors, and after almost two years on the board, I was elected President of Open Source Matters, Inc.

My time as President was the most challenging and meaningful phase of my Joomla journey because I was part of leading the work to improve and modernize the project’s governance structure. It was a big transformation, necessary for the future, but emotionally demanding for everyone involved. When the new structure was implemented in 2017, it marked a turning point for the organization.

My impression of Joomla leadership is that it’s filled with people who care deeply, sometimes passionately, sometimes stubbornly, but always with heart. The global nature of the project taught me patience, diplomacy, and how to build bridges across cultures.

My most challenging role was serving as President, especially during the leadership restructuring.

Leading big changes in a volunteer-driven environment requires:

• a commitment to transparency.
• constant communication.
• emotional intelligence.
• and the willingness to stand steady through resistance.

Joomla is not just another CMS. It’s a stable, flexible, multilingual, professional-grade platform that’s ideal for businesses with growing needs.

Companies benefit when Joomla is strong, up to date, and well supported. Funding the project means:

For businesses, supporting Joomla is not charity. It’s a smart strategic investment in the infrastructure they rely on.

My main focus is Business Heroes®, where I mentor service-based entrepreneurs in building structured, sustainable businesses using digitalization, automation, and AI.

I’m often invited to international conferences and business communities to teach how digitalization, automation, and AI can strengthen both customer experience and operational efficiency in very practical, hands-on ways. And I’m currently moving my former Facebook Live interviews with Joomlers from 2018–2019 over to YouTube channel so these community stories are preserved.

Start small and follow your curiosity.

You don’t need a title. You can raise your hand and join a team to help with translations, documentation, testing, events, or simply show up in the community. Every contribution matters.

And don’t underestimate the personal growth that comes with it. I’ve seen so many people level up as humans through volunteering.

I believe Joomla needs to embrace its identity as the platform for growing businesses, not necessarily DIY beginners. Today, even Canva has a website builder!

Joomla shines when a business needs:

The message should be clear: Joomla is the next-level platform for serious websites that outgrow DIY tools. And Joomla is the go-to platform (and community) for web developers to create websites that grow with their clients' needs.

When a business grows, the owner shouldn’t build their next website themselves. They need a platform and a professional ecosystem that can grow with them. Joomla delivers exactly that.

And telling that story, with real examples, will attract the right users.

It’s a smart choice for businesses ready to step up.

Joomla should continue to:

I’m incredibly proud.

Ten years ago, when we celebrated Joomla’s first decade and discovered the “Heart of Joomla,” it was such a bright moment. And now, seeing the 20-year celebration shine just as strongly fills me with gratitude.

Passing milestones like 90 million downloads, powering 7% of CMS-driven sites, and supporting 3% of the entire web is extraordinary for a volunteer-driven project. It shows the strength of the community and the long-term trust Joomla has earned worldwide.

Joomla changed my life, shaped my leadership, and introduced me to friends across the world. It showed me what passionate volunteers can accomplish together.

Reflecting on the past is terrific, but I’m equally excited for what comes next.