About Us

 

About My Crossword Maker

Founded in 2013, Crossword Hobbyist started as a way to make in-browser newspaper-style crosswords. After a high demand for an automated crossword puzzle maker, Crossword Hobbyist expanded and was renamed My Crossword Maker in 2022. Today, the puzzle makers allow visitors to create fully-customized puzzles that are especially popular with teachers and for special events.

My Crossword Maker is also home to thousands of free crossword puzzles made by teachers, kids, parents, hobbyists, and professional constructors. In 2015, the word search maker at My Word Search was created as the sister site to Crossword Hobbyist. In 2019, My Worksheet Maker joined our trio of sites.

Meet the Team

Jonah Phillips started Crossword Hobbyist in 2013 because someone told him not to start a website for teachers, and he doesn’t like being told what to do. He gave Crossword Hobbyist its sister sites, My Word Search, in 2015 and My Worksheet Maker, in 2019. Before starting Crossword Hobbyist, Jonah graduated with honors from the University of Chicago in 2008 with a degree in Economics and Public Policy, and worked for four years on analytics and operations at an online lender in Chicago. He currently lives with his wife in Brooklyn, New York.


Staff member pictureJen Nafziger is an internationally-minded writer and marketer, who splits time between the U.S. and Lisbon with her husband.  She has a Master’s degree in Divinity from the University of Chicago, a Bachelor’s in International Studies & Writing, and certificates in Integrated Marketing, Sports Nutrition, UI/UX Design, and Mandarin Chinese. Jen brings over 15 years of diverse marketing communication experience to the team.


Victor Abbah is a software developer with major focus on web development which he’s been doing since 2013. He mostly uses HTML, CSS, JavaScript and PHP.

Though constantly switching between different languages, frameworks and libraries, his focus right now is Laravel, Vue js, Tailwind CSS, Bootstrap and Nuxt Js. He’s based in Kaduna state, Nigeria.

 


Dalhatu ProfileDalhatu Njidda obtained a master of science degree in software engineering from the Uni of Greenwich, London in 2015. Dalhatu has a passion to build web applications that solve diverse problems across multiple domains. His primary  development stack is PHP with Laravel, Vue.js and SQL. He is based in Kaduna, Nigeria.

 

 


Mary Mahaffey obtained a Bachelor of Science in Psychology from Clemson University and has a certificate in Full Stack Development. Mary brings her passion for technology and 5 years of experience in education to the team. She currently lives in Barcelona.

 

 


Kelvin Gikonyo Kelvin Gikonyo is a versatile Full-Stack Software Engineer with a passion for clean code and problem solving based in Nairobi, Kenya. In the ever-evolving world of software engineering, Kelvin stands out as a seasoned professional with five years of experience and numerous completed projects. His expertise spans both front-end and back-end development and his adaptability shines through as he comfortably explores different stacks, with a primary focus on JavaScript-based frameworks such as Vue.js,Nuxt.js, React Native, and Laravel/Node.js for backend development


Lesley Williams is a customer support specialist who lives in the state of Michigan in the United States.  She has a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and Post-Baccalaureate in Elementary Education with Minors in math and science from Oakland University.  She also has a Master of Science Education from Lawrence Technological University.  Lesley brings a love for technology and a passion for helping others as well as ten years of teaching experience to the team.

 

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