diff --git a/_data/authors.yaml b/_data/authors.yaml
index f26ef52d381..484ae83cee7 100644
--- a/_data/authors.yaml
+++ b/_data/authors.yaml
@@ -240,3 +240,10 @@ gpanice:
   linkedin: giovannipanice
   avatar: gpanice.jpg
   twitter: mosfet__
+
+vsantonastaso:
+  name: "Vincenzo Santonastaso"
+  bio: "Core contributor to the Debezium team with an extensive background in backend development across several domains. Throughout his career he has focused on JVM technologies, event-driven architectures, and building resilient distributed systems that support critical business operations. He strongly believes in a continuous learning approach to software engineering."
+  github: vsantonastaso
+  linkedin: vsantonastaso
+  avatar: vsantonastaso.jpg
diff --git a/_posts/2026-03-09-hello-debezium.adoc b/_posts/2026-03-09-hello-debezium.adoc
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..e3f4def8fe7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/_posts/2026-03-09-hello-debezium.adoc
@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
+---
+layout: post
+title:  Hello Debezium Team!
+date:   2026-03-09 11:11:11 +0100
+tags: [ community, news ]
+author: vsantonastaso
+---
+
+Hi there,
+
+My name is Vincenzo and I joined the Debezium team as a core contributor and I’m very happy to be part of the community.
+
+Before explaining why I’m excited about contributing to Debezium, it might be interesting to briefly share the experiences that led me to work on this project.
+
+In my previous role as a Senior Product Engineer at lastminute.com, I built and evolved the distributed systems behind flight booking, pricing and refunding. My work focused mainly on the flight purchase flow, integrating external providers and ensuring the resilience of this critical part of the system where reliability directly impacts bookings and payments.
+Before that, I worked at BMC Software on a capacity optimization platform, dealing with large volumes of time-series data and forecasting systems that try to predict the future of servers.
+Earlier in my career I also worked across consulting, telecom and other enterprise environments, where I learned how large systems fail in creative ways and how important is designing software that can survive in production.
+
+Through these experiences I developed a strong interest in distributed systems and especially event-driven architectures, a topic I enjoy exploring through books, articles and conferences.
+
+I’m not a long-time open source contributor, but I’ve always admired the impact that open source projects can have. Debezium is a project I strongly believe in, and I’m excited about the opportunity to contribute more deeply and grow my expertise around it.
+
+When I’m not in front of a keyboard, I usually go to the gym or spend time with my three children, two twins and a big brother. They are my favorite part of every day and a constant reminder that the most important systems are the ones we build at home.
+
+I’m really happy to be here and looking forward to contributing and learning from this amazing community.
+
+Vincenzo
diff --git a/assets/images/vsantonastaso.jpg b/assets/images/vsantonastaso.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..162c1261ad0
Binary files /dev/null and b/assets/images/vsantonastaso.jpg differ