TrailblazerDay - Life is a Highway

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I honestly wasn't sure if I should write this post, but a wise friend told me that sharing my thoughts, however briefly would definitely be worthwhile... so here goes...

On May 15 I found myself in Indianapolis with some of my of my friends from the Salesforce ecosystem for the Inaugural Trailblazer Day. When I received the invite for the event there wasn't a whole lot of information, but it sounded like an opportunity too good to pass up, so off I went to the crossroads of America.

Pit side with the Salesforce 48 crew!
The day started at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway  for the Indy 500 practise sessions with JR Hildebrand who shared his love of data science with us, and then on to a sneak peak of the upcoming TrailheaDX keynote session... but I know what you're all really interested in.

I don't like to talk about politics, but I'm sure you, dear reader, have a pretty good idea of where I fall in terms of my views, so I'll leave it at that. To round out our first day, we were joined for dinner by Marc Benioff, the Governor of Indiana, JR Hildebrand... and Ivanka Trump.

The following morning back at Indy Trailhead Tower,  with Marc and Ivanka... Zac Otero, Shonnah Hughes and Stephanie Herrera shared their stories of how they've been able to overcome the obstacles in their lives and empower their careers through the power of Trailhead, Salesforce, and the Trailblazer Community.

I've had a number of people reach out to me about Trailblazer Day and their thoughts on the situation... For me, what it comes down to is this. Someone who has the power to help with jobs and skills shortages in the US was put in a room to listen to the stories of my friends and hear about the magic of the community. Time will tell if anything will come, but credit where credit is due - Marc facilitated a unique opportunity for our community to share our stories.

With everything that has transpired since, and all of the very colourful reactions, I'm choosing to focus on the wonderful time that I had with friends from all over the world, especially my Life with Goldie sisters from Australia, new friends from Europe, and of course my Salesforce sisters Bhavana Singh, Rachel Park and way too many more to be able to count.



Big thanks to Erica, Holly and Becky for pulling this all together!

Soundtrack: Life is a Highway - Rascal Flatts
In honour of JR Hildebrand... and my only knowledge of racing, Disney's Cars.

For my adventure in pictures, check out my Twitter moment.




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