Backstage with Fred - Umbraco US Festival, Interview with Janae Cram

  • Featuring ProWorks
  • 10:09
  • TinyMCE
  • Umbraco US Festival 2025
  • Watch on YouTube

Janae Cram shares her experience as a longtime Umbraco developer, MVP, and Skrift co-founder. She discusses the ProWorks TinyMCE package for Umbraco 16, including migration support, extensibility, and GitHub feedback.

Janae, a nine-time Umbraco MVP, explains how the MVP program has grown beyond code commits and forum kudos to recognize community work such as running meetups, organizing events and publishing.

Fred and Janae also talk about why non-technical sessions matter at developer conferences. Talks on privilege, imperfection, ritual and work-life balance give attendees a break from dense technical content while still helping the community grow.

They finish on the ProWorks TinyMCE package for Umbraco 16: why a team upgrading from an earlier version might keep TinyMCE rather than change editors, how far the editor can be extended, and where to raise issues and feedback on GitHub.

Key takeaways

  • Janae Cram explains that she became an Umbraco MVP through community work with Skrift, reflecting how the program expanded beyond code contributions and forum participation.
  • The interview shows that Umbraco community recognition now includes work such as running meetups, organizing events, and publishing articles for developers.
  • Janae says non-technical talks at developer events can still help attendees grow by covering subjects like privilege, ritual, imperfection, and work-life balance.
  • Viewers learn that the ProWorks TinyMCE package for Umbraco 16 is designed to preserve TinyMCE for teams upgrading from earlier versions.
  • Janae highlights that TinyMCE offers more extensibility and API integration options than many content editors realize.
  • The conversation notes that the Umbraco 16 TinyMCE package was built with support from both TinyMCE and Umbraco HQ.

Key moments

  1. 0:00 Introduction from Umbraco US Festival
  2. 0:42 Meet Janae Cram
  3. 1:23 Umbraco MVP and Skrift community work
  4. 2:27 Open source is more than code
  5. 3:35 Non-technical talks and community growth
  6. 6:40 ProWorks TinyMCE package for Umbraco 16
  7. 7:11 Migration support and editor extensibility
  8. 8:12 Collaboration with TinyMCE and Umbraco HQ

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