By day, Erica Varlese works at Automattic. She spends her time on the Happiness Hiring team, welcoming folks passionate about support into the Automattic family. Outside of work, she has a dog, Francis, who she thinks should be the official mascot of her home state, New Jersey. Her background in social work and communications is what drew her to WordPress, but it’s the welcoming, creative, and brilliant community that has inspired her to stick around.