Latest / Talk Commerce / Namrata Sangani Went from Magento Fan to Adobe Commerce Champion

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Namrata Sangani Went from Magento Fan to Adobe Commerce Champion · Talk Commerce

• Brent Peterson (00:01.346) Welcome to this special Adobe Magento, Hyva edition of Talk Commerce. have Namrata Sangani. Namrata is the QA champion for Hyva and an Adobe champion, Namrata. Do a much better introduction for yourself. Tell us your day-to-day role and give us one of your passions in life. Namrata Sangani (00:21.915) First of all, thank you so much for inviting me, Brent. So it's lovely meeting with you. And my name is Namrata Sangani. I am into e-commerce business since last 12 years, totally into Magento side. And since last one year, I have been more available on front end. You may have seen more on LinkedIn on social platform talking about my passion, my work. And yeah, and after that I have got selected as an Adobe e-commerce champion last year, which is launched last year only for adobe commerce program. And one of my biggest achievement was to join Hyva as an QA champion and that too by Winniacop That is my one of the major achievement because I was always been his fan. So now his fan to his colleague moment I'm living into. And if I talk about my family, I have a, I'm, from India and I am into a joint family with my in-laws, my beautiful daughter and my caring husband. So yeah, that's what I'm available. on, addition to that, I am more focused on, Creating leadership, building my own leadership this year. So yeah, that's it for me. Brent Peterson (01:55.79) That's great. Yeah. And you have a two and a half year old, I think you said that must just keep your hands full and you are staying up very late. I appreciate your time that you're taking this evening to just talk about it. So, but Namrata before we go into content and we're going to talk about, uh, Hyva, we're going to talk about Adobe commerce. We're going to talk about some visibility and what you're doing on LinkedIn just to, to get where you've, where you got at. But before that, I'm going to tell you a joke and all you have to do is give me a rating eight through 13. So here we go. Eight through 13, yes. All right, here we go. The invention of the shovel was a groundbreaking discovery, but the invention of the broom was the one that truly swept the nation. Namrata Sangani (02:26.523) 8 to 13. Okay. Namrata Sangani (02:47.899) Sorry but I didn't got your joke so I will give it I will give it 9 Brent Peterson (02:50.51) That's all right. No, no, it's all right. Brent Peterson (02:56.822) You see the shovel breaks the ground with when you dig and the broom sweeps. So sweeping the nation is just means that it's it's revolutionary. Anyways, that's all right. Thank you. All right. So let's let's dive right into kind of your your role that you've you've taken on with with as an Adobe champion and now with Hyva as a champion. Tell us a little bit about that journey you've taken. Namrata Sangani (03:25.083) Okay, so first of all, for both of these, I had not planned at all. It happened like this. There was some form being published on LinkedIn that there is some Adobe commerce champion is happening and I was not aware that this is the first time. So I just submitted and for the entire year I was very active on LinkedIn posting on what I like, what I dislike. What is based in e-commerce then a lot of commerce tips and tricks. So with that plus my certifications in hand, I got to know that I got selected as an 29 people around the globe. I was one of them and I was very, very happy for that because being recognized as Adobe champion itself is a huge bench. So yeah, that was that. And regarding Hyva So, yes, I had not planned at all because I was somewhere aware that they are not allowing anyone, I mean, they are not allowing anyone join by themselves. Hyva is a picked up company. So they are picking the talents which they find very best to their team and they are gaining them in. So that way only I was being picked up and yeah, it went very good. And the Adobe commerce champion role title also played a big role in my this journey of joining Hyva So yeah, that's how it went. Both of our unplanned and both of our very pleasant. Brent Peterson (05:12.758) Yeah, so I you did mention unplanned, you did make an effort to be more visible on LinkedIn, which is has most likely helped you for both your Adobe commerce and then with Hyva. Tell us about the like some of the reasoning behind wanting to be more visible on LinkedIn and some of the things you're doing that are helping you in that journey. Namrata Sangani (05:20.536) Definitely. Namrata Sangani (05:39.227) So, first of all, in last 11 years, I had many much knowledge. I had worked on product development company as well, but no one out of Surat was knowing me. I was not sharing anyone what I know, where I hold expertise. So I was not sharing. Then this journey, I think, started from Meet Magento for India 2025. At that time, I had posted... few of the networking photos on LinkedIn and that gave a very good impression and engagement. After that, it kicked something in me that I started writing very usually. I had many e-commerce tricks and tips because I was leading a team of many people and I love front-end tricks and tips. So I started sharing and people started engaging with it. They find it very useful. So with that, I also started sharing about my life, my family over there, which I felt people liked and enjoyed because there is, they are seeing a work life balance, which I am currently having sharing professional as well as personal. So, yeah, that's where I had built my passion of being visible on LinkedIn. I remember my major time from Instagram went to LinkedIn now. So whenever in midnight also, if I woke up, I will check what is there. You might have seen me commenting on your post and article in midnight of ISD. It's interesting for me. And what was your other question? Sorry. Brent Peterson (07:28.642) Yeah. No, just like the conscious decision to move into to be more engaging on LinkedIn. And as a follow up to that, I will say that there's many people that are on LinkedIn and they always lead. Well, number one, they don't really engage, but they're sending you a direct message saying, I would like you to sell. I'd like to sell you this product. We can do this for you. And a lot of times what I've discovered is most of those people aren't really knowing what I do. And so I feel like what you're doing is learning more about what somebody else does and then engaging with that content, right? Is that kind of a good idea, a good way of looking at it? Namrata Sangani (08:10.265) Yeah, definitely. to be honest, initial on initial days, I was also kind of those persons. I was sending requests and I was starting. can say I also had started pitching them, but it went very wrong way. People don't like engaging. mean, people don't like to talk with you directly on the part. For example, if I go for some job or some projects. So if I approach them directly with this intention, they will not like me. I also have done mistaken with mistakes only. I got to know that first I will have to build the engagement first. They should know me as in person after that this thing should come. So yeah, this happens day by day. As I told you, I have started LinkedIn from this last year only. So initially I did mistake. Then I corrected it and then day by day I got to understand. Yes. What works, what don't works. I remember you also had sent me a message that if you are going to get connected with my content, if you find it useful, then only I will accept your request at the time I had felt it rude, but now I understand that why it is very important because nowadays I also receive such type of messages. So yeah. Brent Peterson (09:35.887) Yes. mean, that's such a good point because I do get, you know, like every day I might get 10 or 15 requests to be connected. And I find that the most frustrating part is after you've accepted that connection, then they come back with a very long post that's clearly either copy and pasted or automated. That's, you know, it's like this long and. Namrata Sangani (09:58.619) AI Brent Peterson (10:03.744) And it's just a pitch and like they can pitch me by other means than just being connected. yeah, so from the Adobe commerce side, you have some history with Magento. How did you get, how did you start getting to the point in which you wanted to be a champion and then learning what you needed to do to do that? Namrata Sangani (10:12.825) Very true. Brent Peterson (10:32.93) So you made an intention then as well to become an Adobe champion. You applied to be Adobe champion, but before you even did that, you were already well into Magento and into Adobe. Tell us a little bit about that journey, about learning Magento and learning Adobe commerce and starting that path. Namrata Sangani (10:51.547) So from my initial journey itself, I was in Adobe commerce, not in Adobe commerce, Magento open source. So I was into development as well as leading. So my major role was on checking the people's PR and getting them. converted to the best magento practices and standards so that it is upgrade proof and future ready. So in my last six years journey in which I was there in one of the product development company and in which we had developed dual e-commerce solution for the on top of magento open source. So my major role over there was also to make that product upgrade free. with base magento practices, future ready, performant. So that's where my passion of this perfect magento or say magento with best practices came in. just a minute. So yeah, from there it came in and that's where I started writing. And I felt that's where it reached. Brent Peterson (12:13.122) That's great, dude. Brent Peterson (12:17.484) Yeah. So just for those people who are listening that don't know what Hyva is on Magento, tell us how revolutionary Hyva is and how it really has changed the way Magento stores work. Namrata Sangani (12:34.491) So Hyva is definitely very much revolutionary and since last five year its graph is like this It's totally up and up and I have seen the performance the main part of UI is performance and ease of the development It reduces your development graph as well as it is very high on performance Within few seconds also I have seen people getting result So it's very interesting. And the Hyva's approach of making Hyva-themed open source is a very true gift or scientific gift, I can say, for the developers. Because this will allow developers to learn Hyva as well. Till now, there was a major blockage in front of developer until and unless their agency will adopt the Hyva's license. They cannot do that. So. Yeah, that's what Hyva have helped the development developers as well in learning. And, currently, if I'm not wrong, there are 6,500 sites running on Hyva as far as I know, and Hyva is compatible with Adobe commerce, Adobe open source with Adobe's additional products, like Adobe app builder. cloud services, etc. Brent Peterson (14:01.646) And so your role right now is QA, but I've seen like some of your posts, you posted CMS and Tailwind. You obviously are very technical as well. Tell us some of the reasoning behind what you're doing on LinkedIn and how that's helping Hyva. And is it helping Hyva in India or is India mainly a production center for Hyva? Namrata Sangani (14:24.635) So yes, on your question of India's. So if I'll tell you the stats, after we make the Hyva open source, there were 30,000 downloads from India only. Sorry, 30 % downloads from India around the globe. So we are seeing India is a huge part in which more and more developers were there who. will get benefits from Hyva. And what was your other question? Brent Peterson (15:03.15) Just the ability then for developers to use Hyva and are there a lot of stores in India that are using Hyva now? Namrata Sangani (15:13.807) Yes, there are many stores using Hyva in India, but in Netherlands there were much more compared to Hyva. yeah, and I don't know the states currently in India, how many stores were there. I'm quite new still, but yeah, there is a very huge adoption. recently also in nowadays, we are getting many and many inquiries of Hyva. Specifically for you, our commerce is also getting a very good shape nowadays. People are liking it, and people are getting it in their websites. Brent Peterson (15:58.723) I know that, yeah, go ahead. I know that your role is QA, so do you find, I mean, you don't have to disclose a lot, is it, the quality of Hyva I've always heard is high, so do you have any work to do by the time it gets to you? Namrata Sangani (16:16.565) Okay, so yeah, I can definitely say there is a very high quality for a single change They are thinking a lot. There is much thoughts behind and there is a huge minds in there like Vinai, willem Wigman, John Hughes So yeah That is definitely a top level quality a top level product quality approach they are going for and in my learning if I will say I have started learning Hyva theme and Hyva CMS recently so that I can better answer and address the queries of people over the GitLab issues as well as on Slack support. So yeah, this is something additional which I also wanted because me being a person, I want that I know major things or say everything in which I am supporting people. So yeah. Brent Peterson (17:18.286) Yeah, and you mentioned in the beginning that you were the first person outside of Europe, I guess, to be hired by Hyva. That's a big deal, right? So they are expanding, and you mentioned also like 6,500 sites now running. Where do you see now the role of Hyva in the Magento ecosystem and spreading across the globe? Namrata Sangani (17:46.011) So, yes, definitely there is a huge role of Hyva and we have many plans for this year, which we will announce very soon. So we are very excited for that and there is very huge role and huge uplifting for Magento community, for Magento developers as well as Magento vendors. In edit with the help of Hyva I we had seen many people be moving to Shopify in last year and there was there was much debate on this good. is good or that is good. But I have also witnessed a few projects or few clients who have been convinced to stay on Magento and they were being promised that they will get a very good result with the Hyva. and they are glad that they were convinced and they have got very amazing result which Shopify also can't Brent Peterson (18:45.646) You mentioned earlier that you kind of started out with Meet Magento 2025 and you'll be at Meet Magento 2026, right, coming up? Are you giving a talk at the event? Namrata Sangani (18:55.587) Yes, I will be there in mid-March, January 20. Namrata Sangani (19:01.359) No, I'm not getting a talk at the event. Vinay will be talking over there, but I'm starting an initiative of women in e-commerce with the help of Hyva So I will be leading that initiative. Brent Peterson (19:13.9) And what positive things or what can you say that you liked about last year's event? Namrata Sangani (19:21.723) the meet Magento India event? ok so I like the Brent Peterson (19:24.93) Mm-hmm. Namrata Sangani (19:32.303) presentations. I like the networking as well because yeah, I had very good discussion with Amasty's people and at Vatsal Shah and Pradeep Shah. So for very first time, I started talking to them for the long time and with a good intention as well as good content. So yeah, that's what I loved about that. And on top of that, the food was amazing. The people were also nice. had met many old friends also over there. So it's lovely gathering. And in India, this is one of the, or I can say the only event happening that is in Magento's world. There was many small meetups happening, but this is one of the major which I want. No one should miss. Trust me. No one should miss. Brent Peterson (20:23.98) And this is the first time that you've been to a Meet Magento in Ahmedabad Are you looking forward to visiting? You're not an Ahmedabad right? Where are you living? Okay. you are. Okay. So you're used to sugar and everything. Perfect. I'm making a joke about good Gujarati food. Namrata Sangani (20:31.981) No, I am near to Ahmedabad. I am from Gujarat. Namrata Sangani (20:40.347) Okay, and it's very tasty. Brent Peterson (20:44.992) Yes. So what can you tell people that they should see when they're in Ahmedabad? when I, you know, I've been to five Meet magentos in, and I think the surprising thing that people always say is Ahmedabad is so green. So what can you tell us that outside of just going to the Meet Magento, what should people do that are visiting? Namrata Sangani (21:07.707) So there are many places in Ahmedabad which they should visit and in addition to that there is very tasty food in Ahmedabad. So they should go for this. They should spend two days at least over there. Have the event as well as there is some workshop. Do attend them as well and yeah have some good food over there. Brent Peterson (21:30.892) That's awesome. Namrata, what is your outlook now for this this year? What do you think is going to happen with Magento and especially Adobe? And if you tried the Adobe SaaS product? Namrata Sangani (21:31.643) I'm Namrata Sangani (21:44.539) exploring the Adobe app builder recently. Namrata Sangani (21:53.369) Yes, they are with Hyva by side by side and the view the Hyva's adoption. am seeing the that Adobe is going to have a great future because it is anyway compatible with Hyva. So people are going to adopt it anyway. And what I'm seeing is Adobe's main intention or say the focus is not on Adob commerce fully they are more into making the other supportive products like Adobe app builder, Adobe cloud services, etc. So that's where I'm seeing a little bit shift change, in addition in opposite to that, I am seeing people are supporting and contributing a lot to Magento open source. So yeah, that is also and I can say a good morning for Magento community because people have started taking a self initiative of supporting this Magento open source and that is beneficial for us only for for them only. So this is this year is going to going to be very good comparing to last three to four years in which many people have lost their job. Brent Peterson (23:05.486) That's great. Namrata Sangani (23:15.909) very expert, have so many certifications but still are finding the job in community. But with these shift change, which Hyva have bring, so I feel with a little learning of Hyva in addition to that current state, which will be very beneficial for them to gain new jobs as well. Brent Peterson (23:38.71) Yeah, that's good. it's going open source has opened lots of doors for people to be able to work with it, experiment with it and learn it, especially that it sounded like the learning part was the hardest, right? Namrata Sangani (23:51.031) Yes, yes. No, no, no. What I have felt the learning path of Hyva is very easy. If you are very, if you are passionate about Magento, if you have questions in mind, like I had that what Hyva have did that made it very successful product. What it have done so that the performance is also top notch, the development graph is also top notch. Those were the curious questions on my mind. which triggered me to look after Hyva much. So the associated development developer exam of Hyva, which I did before Diwali last year, that is before November and last year, I had succeeded that exam without going through the code base. that time, the Hyva theme was not open source. So without checking code base, I was able to correct that exam because The fundamentals were there. only needed to sharpen my knowledge or say, understand the concept of UI in terms of Tailwind terms of alpine. I can say only two things were there. Apart from that, everything is there. So for Magento front end developers, this is a very... best approach if they will just sharpen out their knowledge their expertise in context of front end stack with alpine and tailwind and they will be offered very good positions. Brent Peterson (25:26.37) Yeah, and I guess let's just end things on your Adobe Commerce. you have what tell me the certification you recently or you got for Adobe Commerce. Namrata Sangani (25:37.943) No, I am planning. I have one free certification voucher under this championship program. So I am planning to crack one. I have not planned, I will do it soon. But on their supporting products only. I am planning to do it on their supporting products. Brent Peterson (25:49.918) Okay, so you haven't done it yet. Soon. Okay, great. Brent Peterson (26:00.023) Okay, great. Namrata, we have a few minutes left. And as we close out, I give everybody a chance to do a shameless plug about anything they'd like. And that just means you can promote anything you want to anything. What would you like to promote today? Namrata Sangani (26:15.373) Okay. So I would like to promote the initiative. I'm starting in meet Magento India. would like to invite and encourage as many women as there to go and attend the meet Magento India event. Trust me. It helps. helps. Do your best to share your content, do networking, do get more and more visible. I am seeing in India. There is very less women's attending the event compared to men's. So I want those women to uplift themselves. Do show where you hold expertise and yeah, it will be beneficial to your career only. And we in India, I have seen in India compared to other countries, women used to have a more work. They are managing their home, the household as well, the parenting. And with that, if you are doing your professional life this best way. Brent Peterson (26:54.68) That's perfect. Namrata Sangani (27:12.527) Then best you just networking do let others know that how you are managing everything it will empower other women as well. Brent Peterson (27:20.654) Perfect. And tell people how can they get a hold of you? Where can they find you? Namrata Sangani (27:26.287) They can find me the whole day on LinkedIn. Not while I am sleeping. And I am active on Instagram as well. Instagram and Twitter as well. Brent Peterson (27:30.346) Okay, right now while you're sleeping and Brent Peterson (27:38.732) Okay, and don't send you a direct message just to try to pitch to you. Make sure it's engagement. Namrata Sangani (27:45.323) Very, very, yeah, definitely. So I'm not the person who will give you the opportunities. I'm not the person who will give you the projects at this moment. So I also want the way Brent want to get connected with my content to let me know who you are first. Then might it be a point that we can talk on some other stuff. Brent Peterson (27:50.827) on Brent Peterson (28:11.106) That's great. Namrata Sangani, it's been such a great conversation. you so much for being here today. Namrata Sangani (28:18.491) Thank you so much. It's lovely meeting you brand. Uh, I just want to add one quick note. If you remember, we had met for the first time in meet manager, Magento, Ahmedabad five to six years back. Wherein we were outside of the building where the event was there. And I had cracked two certifications or that on that day. Uh, and I. Brent Peterson (28:41.009) so you took the... Yeah. Namrata Sangani (28:43.585) And I, you and Vijay were there standing and I was very glad to see you that, okay, you are alone. It's time to have perfect click with you. Then I had a selfie with you. So yeah, I was a fan of yours since that branch. Brent Peterson (28:54.676) Okay, that's great. thank you so much. I appreciate that. And I won't make it this year, but maybe in 2027, I'll make it to meet Magento India. Namrata Sangani (29:04.997) Surely we are glad to have you. Brent Peterson (29:06.444) Yeah. Yeah, thank you again so much for being here. Namrata Sangani (29:12.581) Welcome.