Short version
I’m Patricia Brun Torre, I live in Versoix near Geneva in Switzerland and my primary language is French.
I have several web projects, business and/or passion related : “Bringing people together” to create or join communities (on or off-line) is something that energise me much. You can find all my projects, as well as all contact info on my “All” page here, you can visit the sites, some are on beta phase. Here we are on my personal site which is also the hub to my other projects, if you are not interested in my personal stuff, which is perfectly fine :), please go to my other projects page 🙂
In the beginning I struggled to find, as I have been taught to in marketing courses, a “unique” passion to follow and create a unique website with that… Well, there is just too much things that passionate me (see the list at the end of the page), so I gather all this on this site, and create other stuff from there.
If you want to get informed on what happen here, you can subscribe below to my newsletter.
Text I give for WordCamps bio
(when I’m an organiser or a speaker)
I like to get involved in the WordPress community, as it’s a pleasant way to give back to WordPress what WordPress allows me to accomplish with Virtuaza, here on patriciabt.com, on Interaction.Site and, in the future, on WPMondo.com.
I co-organise the WordPress meetups in Geneva since 2013, I have been part of the WordCamps organisation teams in Geneva in 2016, Bern in 2017, Lausanne 2018, Zurich 2019, Geneva 2022 (initially planned for 2020) and now WordCamp Switzerland 2023, and I have also been a speaker in Zurich, Lausanne, backup speaker in Paris, a volunteer at WordCamp Europe 2017, 2019, 2022 among other WordCamps or or even a microsponsor.
I love community and human relations centered projects, and I like everything open-source which allows everyone to have their voices heard, I have these values in common with WordPress and its code of conduct.
More about my involvment in the WordPress Community and what I love about its inclusivity here.
Long Version
feel free to skip 🙂
I’m Patricia Brun Torre (Brun = maiden name). I’m born in 1970 in Geneva Switzerland and still live near Geneva, in Versoix. My primary language is French, I also speak much better English than a few years ago.
Work
During my 20’s I traveled a bit, and between travels, I worked as a temporary secretary for about 20 companies, on behalf of Adecco. I saw a lot of different kind of companies, and saw for whom I wouldn’t want to work on a long term (architects, lawyers), and that I preferred industry. From 2000 to 2006, I had a fix job at the Geneva Utilities (SIG) but even it was a very good job, I felt I preferred to work on my own. I left and tried to run a small business creating websites for small companies, clubs or freelancers. It was very little money for lot of hours. And long period without working when my kids were toddlers, so now I focus on creating websites that will matter: an entrepreneur community, a multisite hosting for my clients, a local community, and other projects, see full list here.
Other passions and interests
Science at large, Evolution, Neurosciences, Secularism/Humanism, History of Migrations and Invasions (studied through linguistic, genetic, and religious massive conversions), Music (rock, prog, some metal, some folk, chill out) and Alternative Arts, Ethics, Languages, Travelling, Social rights, Minorities rights, Allyship, Peace & Love, Diversity : bio-, social-, cultural-, rescue of old languages and traditions of the world, and of course Environmental issues.
As you can see, I’m a multipassionate and probably multipotential person, I may talk, or not, on this site about any of the mentioned topics (I will edit and add links whenever it happens), or even other as my interest can rise very quickly on any new stuff I encounter.
Family
I have 3 kids born in 2007, 2009 and 2010. More than love, they are a source of inspiration and give me the desire to do more, and try bigger things for them. I would like to travel more with them in order for them to discover and interact with a lot of different people from different cultures and places. I also would like to teach them we all have an impact on the world. There might be posts about my family on this personal site, about parenting, struggle in family life, but also everyday joy.
Why talk about Core Values and Beliefs?
This page is important in my introduction, and a lot of what is written below is part of who I am.
And for some people, especially people who do not know me in person, if they are ultra-religious for example, and start connect with me, professionally or personally, and they suddenly “discover” where I stand, the fact could disturb them, so I prefer to be clear from the beginning. If you connect with me, it’s for me and the values I virtue, not for religion (see Beliefs below). We can all work and befriend together in the condition you don’t try to convince me. I do not want proselytism. For other of my ethics, I do not want to connect to racists, closed-minded persons, read below, thanks.
Values
– respect: with respect to others, we do not do all the things we wouldn’t want other do to us (attack, harrass, steal, rob, rape, look down at, despise, try to force on an idea, etc), and on the opposite we do to others what we would like other do to us (care, listening, share, teach, show how, guide, help, give)
– learn from others: I love to learn every day something new, I love when people who know something I don’t know, share with me.
– share: especially knowledge, science facts, discoveries, languages, food, travels, I love to share an information and knowledge with people who don’t know, I feel it’s like giving a present.
Sharing knowledge it’s a kind of elevation for me, a bit like the universal knowledge people aimed at in the Renaissance time.
Politics
I must admit I’m quite ignorant of the international politics, how things go, who’s who etc…
however here are my positions:
– Social, now we must note the large scale of meaning of that word. For example the word socialist is extreme left in USA, and almost considered centre now in France.
And for me, when I say social it’s not in a sense like in left-dictatorship example we have of course, it’s in a global sense = social … a state should sustain its citizens to provide education, health care and try to keep the state healthy financially. Of course it sounds a bit cliché and utopist said like that but you do see what I mean, don’t you?
– LGBTQIA+ rights.
I’m proud to have been called “an ally” by a lesbian friend. Read more about being an ally here.
Who we love should not interfere with fundamental rights and to be treated like anyone else. You do not judge someone because they have different food tastes than you, right? so you shouldn’t judge someone with a different sexual orientation or for the gender they feel to belong to. Especially that it’s not a choice.
– Minorities rights/anti-racism. A lot of people are unfortunately forced to migrate, it’s not just for the fun to say “well yeah let’s go to Europe and make money”, often it’s because their family starve, because there is hope for decent life, or even it has been decades ago their ancestors moved in. Often though they are not welcome enough, too often they are victims of racism. I’m talking here about what I see here in Europe with migrants, especially with people from Africa or Middle-East, this is what I see the most.
We do not judge someone who has green eyes while we have blue, right? so if it’s simple with eye color, so should it be with skin color.
I can understand there can be some cultural clash, but then it’s not racism, it’s a problem of understanding each others.
Worse form of racism in my opinion is where white people are not the original inhabitants but migrated en masse, they are the majority now (like on America and Oceania continents for example) and dare to be racist to others? This is really something I can’t understand. And anyway, we all come out of migration in a more or less distant past… and anyway I never understood the human-constructed concept of nations and borders.
– we are all brothers and sisters… peace please
one of my project site is mostly about make a better world, work in direction of peace etc.
and peace means to respect others, and respect others means not to try to convince they are wrong in their beliefs, but rather learn from others.
– food, environment,
I still eat meat, because I unfortunately like the taste, but knowing how animals are treated, and how this affect our environment, + large scale food industry, including soil pollution etc… I might become vegetarian in some time, I already reduced a lot my meat consumption (such as only once every 10 days) … the idea is growing in me!
I will update with links when written on the subject.
Environmental issues: we are in a state of emergency, it’s not one solution we have to consider, but the total of all the solutions, I still hope science will help. The CO2 levels are creating an acceleration, as more CO2 trapped in permafrost are liberated. But some scientists try to invent machines to recapture CO2 from the atmosphere, and there are other projects. The main thing would be to have more trees (so fighting deforestation is a must), transform industrial crops into organics ones (it reabsorbs the CO2), and many possibilities. I’m not sure if the mankind will manage that, especially when “people in charge” put money and business before that fight.
Beliefs
I’m a “peace & love atheist/agnostic”, it’s defined as :
– atheist [wiktionary : “from Ancient Greek ἄθεος (atheos, “godless, without god”), from ἀ- (a-, “without”) + θεός (theos, “god”)..]
I do NOT believe in a supreme deity (god) who could see us, judge us, and listen our prayers. I do NOT worship any deity, so I do not think there is a god and a devil, do not believe in heaven and hell concepts, neither in a judgment, so when I do a so-called good action, it’s really what I mean, and not just to deserve a place in my eventual afterlife. I consider myself free, religion-free, dogma-free, and I do choose which ethic rules I do follow, and not ones gathered in the name of a religion.
– however I do consider the possibility that there might be a kind of life after death, it’s possible that the soul doesn’t die with the corpse. I had close people experimenting out of body soul journey through meditation and yoga, and I think the people experimenting a near death experience (NDE) are really seeing something with lights and tunnel, and my mom got message from her deceased father the day he passed away, etc.
I do not know if we go anywhere neither where do we go (as I do not believe in heaven and hell, judgment, karma, god, etc).
So the 2 above statements might be contradictory, but it’s how I feel. Also I know the human mind is very easily tricked into that kind of beliefs, so maybe the NDE is only a chemical-induced hallucination to people in coma, and message from deceased grand-father to my mother might be due to the simple desire to believe that. How the human brain functions is highly interesting to study. So I don’t know if the soul survives, and it’s not that important to me to know it now.
See, I’m an atheist/agnostic, but I’m very much “peace & love” so I won’t judge people who think differently, I have friends who are christian believers, of all kind of sub-movements, and especially among friends from the USA (amazing how much I stumble upon the words “Christ Follower” when I search for marketing, writing, self-development sites and can clearly see a difference between USA and Europe over this).
I have friends who are following religions of Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism (family of my ex, lot to learn from hinduism), some Buddhism, some Paganism, and a lot of Atheists are among the greatest guys I know, etc… and some talking/painting about hell stuff, mostly in an artistic/provocative way like often in my favorite music, but I do not believe there is any devil as well 😉🤘
And usually we do not talk about religion with friends, unless it’s to learn about the history of religions, how it evolved and mixed through centuries. I also think even though religions *usually* teach to be tolerant and love each others, it brought a lot of war, submission and domination in the history, too bad. I also really dislike the “I’m right and you are wrong” state of mind. Also on personal level, how many people just feel guilty for natural things (ie sex) just because their religion teaches that, I feel sorry for them. However, I reckon some beliefs can be a relief for some people, if they need as a guide or help in grief for example. I do not belong to that group of people, but I can understand that, if it’s good to them. But in my opinion, all education should be secular even if people live their religion.
Also, I must tell you I’m especially amazed that people can still think the world is only a few thousands years old. I’m very much into science and evolution is so obvious to me. While I try to respect everyone’s belief, I try to keep away from extreme stuff and obscurantism.
Added in 2022: since 2 years and the COVID pandemic, I have been shocked to see how some people fell into “alternate reality”, chose to follow neo-gurus, linked to alt-right stuff without realising it. I saw people I thought I knew become totally endocrinated. It triggers different feelings in me: shock, disbelief, a kind of pity, but at the same time it’s quite interesting to see what socially led to that situation. I talk above about respecting other’s ideas, sure but there are limits, when putting others in danger, so some medical, environmenal and political views are dangerous for the rest of the society. When people are not thinking freely and have been manipulated, it’s good if we can help them get out of their cult-like movements.
I strongly believe in the evolution of species, we are in the same family (primates) than apes, and there has been other forms of humans species now extinct. I love those topics.
Well, that’s all for now, most of this post has been first written winter-spring 2013, and updated throughout the years (now 2022). I’ll add notes if I update.