SCaLE is a volunteer-run event, and that includes the web team.
For years, developer Phil Smith maintained the website after having built it and migrated it onto Drupal 10 with a new design. This year, the web team has grown to include Celeste Lomeli, whose technical background includes software development and cloud infrastructure; and Karen Quintanilla, who enjoys working with content management systems and making websites function smoothly.
Our website, socallinuxexpo.org, runs on Drupal, an open-source web content management system commonly used by public organizations. Last year, in 2025, the website upgraded to Drupal 10, and also debuted its new design.
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The web team's contributions span both the public-facing site and the tools used behind the scenes. Improvements to the back-end editor and front-end experience help keep the site polished and accessible for our users, while the team also maintains and continues to evolve the CFP and scheduling tools that help organizers turn submissions into an actual conference. So far in 2026, the team has contributed 44 pull requests, with more to come.
Read below to meet the members of the SCaLE web team and get to know some of the people behind the site!
Meet Karen Quintanilla
A resident of Southern California, Karen has attended SCaLE for the past three years, and joined the SCaLE web team in late 2025. She draws from her experience as an employee of the University of California, San Francisco, where she manages their main Drupal-hosted web property.
What do you like about Drupal?
I really like its flexibility in how you want to structure your website, be it through different content types, paragraph types, or blocks. It’s a powerful tool that really makes the possibilities endless! I also appreciate its open-source and community-oriented environment that makes it fun to learn from others in the field.
What are you looking forward to for SCaLE 24x?
I wasn’t able to attend the HAM Radio session during 23x, so I’m really hoping they're able to bring it back this year! My partner and I also enjoy all the sessions on FOSS and how to use more open-source software in your home and workplace.
What do you enjoy doing in your free time, when you’re not SCaLE-ing?
In my free hours, I enjoy traveling, hiking, fiber arts, and a good novel.
Meet Celeste Lomeli
Celeste joined the SCaLE web team in 2026. A Southern California native, she developed a curiosity about programming that grew into a broader interest in software development and cloud infrastructure. She brings that technical curiosity to the team, contributing to the codebase and helping improve development and release processes.
What made you want to contribute to SCaLE?
SCaLE stood out to me because it’s completely volunteer-run and genuinely focused on learning and open source. The fact that a conference of this scale exists because people keep choosing to contribute their time, knowledge, and skills is worth appreciating. Contributing to the website felt like a good way to be part of that and work alongside people with different backgrounds and areas of expertise.
What have you valued most about your experience on the web team?
I like that the work can go in different directions depending on what you’re curious about. It often starts with a feature request, but there’s room to follow it into the codebase, deployment process, server configuration, or the infrastructure and services that support the site. Contributors have the autonomy to explore, suggest improvements, and bring forward ideas that can shape how the site evolves.
What do you enjoy doing in your free time, when you’re not SCaLE-ing?
I’m happiest when I’m outdoors or learning something new! I enjoy hiking, biking local trails, and exploring museums and natural landmarks with my husband and our dog (who would tag along everywhere if he were allowed).
Meet Phil Smith
Phil joined the SCaLE web team in 2024 as the site's original developer, and led the effort to migrate the website from Drupal 7 to a modern Drupal 9/10 implementation. He brings professional experience from projects with organizations including MIT, Leidos, Johns Hopkins University, and the White House, and was glad to put that technical background to work for SCaLE. Since laying that foundation, Phil has taken a step back from day-to-day development, now serving in more of an advisory role as Celeste and Karen carry the project forward.
What made you want to contribute to SCaLE?
I wanted to bring my professional experience to a project that mattered to a community I cared about. Volunteer-run and open-source at its core, SCaLE was a natural fit, a chance to use what I do for a living in service of something bigger than any one job.
What do you enjoy doing in your free time, when you're not SCaLE-ing?
Between raising my two kids and bouncing from hobby to hobby, my free time stays pretty full. I'm always in the middle of picking up something new.
Want to volunteer with the web team?
The web team is a small group of volunteers working to keep the site running smoothly and make it easier for others to contribute. There’s always more to do, learn, and improve, and if any of this has sparked your interest, we’d love to hear from you!
If you are interested in joining the web team or making other contributions to SCaLE, please email volunteer@socallinuxexpo.org.
