Adventures in Salesforcing.

Let's rewind to the end of March 2018, San Francisco, TrailheaDX. I knew nothing and no one, and was greeted by the community with open arms. I had a great time learning at bootcamp, and was excited for the conference. I was all set up with the Events app and was learning about the swag situation (I'd heard that Salesforce events had pretty good swag!), but all I was really hoping for was a Trailblazer Hoodie. Anything else I could possibly obtain would be a bonus. I had seen people wearing them around all through bootcamp, and all over the posters, and I thought it was the coolest thing ever! I wanted people to know that I was a Trailblazer, no matter how brand new I was - I had just had the best few days of my professional career after all. I arrived bright and early for TDX the next day, and pretty much ran to Camp Quick Start. If you earned three Three badges there, you'd get your Trailblazer Hoodie - while supplies lasted. I don't think I've ever been so an...

Throughout my Salesforce journey so far, I have met so many amazing Women in Technology pretty much every where I've been. When I first started dipping my toe in the water of the Ohana, I discovered the Two WIT podcast, and worked my way through their back catalogue over a few weeks. It was during this time that I added something to the long term goal section of my Salesforce notebook - "guest on the Two WIT podcast". It also happens that the next entry on my long term goals list was for "Ontario Dreamin", and this was a few months before I found out there were others with the same goal. Wonderful WIT, Misty Jones had told me I should get in contact with local Toronto MVP Geoff Flynn, and coincidentally we ended up with the same Trailblazer Community booth shift at Toronto World Tour last year. A few weeks later, I received an email from Sarah Deutsch Thornton saying that Geoff suggested she get in touch with me to talk about a Canadian Dreamin event. W...

I’m feeling a lot of love for Toronto right about now… so it’s fitting that this is the week I got my “YYZ ” tattoo the companion to my "SYD" tattoo (representing my two homes). Last night the Toronto trailblazer community events joined forces for a holiday party… and we ended up with double the number of attendees we were expecting! I honestly felt like I was going to cry! Let’s back it up a bit… I took over as leader of the Toronto Women in Tech group after being inspired by Bhavana Singh and Allison Park at TrailheaDX, but it wasn’t until I’d met some other amazing WIT leaders at WITness Sucess that I realized the Toronto Trailblazer Community had a long way to go. It was pointed out that Toronto is one biggest cities in North America, and the Admin and Develioer groups we were only getting around 30 perople max, per meeting. It was at WITness that I decided I was going to make it my mission to grow the commumity, as I have been fortunate to connect with the onlin...

So, as much as we may like to try and think otherwise, Dreamforce 2018 is officially over... but that doesn't mean that we can't relive the experience with one of the most exciting periods on the Salesforce Community calendar - Global Gathering season! I attending my first Global Gathering earlier in the year for TrailheaDX, which was hosted by the Toronto Developer Group. Not only did this happen to be my first time attending a User Group meeting it was my first time speaking too, as I delivered some of the content from TDX! But I digress. When I became leader of the Toronto Women In Tech group, I made it a point of connecting with all the other leaders of the various Toronto groups, and forming a network to support each other, so when Global Gatherings for Dreamforce were announced, we all banded together for the first every combined event! Our event was a combined effort of the Women in Tech, Administrator, B2C, Non-Profit and Developer groups, with the Algonqui...

On this day, 7 years ago, I moved to Canada. My trumpet and I left all our friends and family behind and set out on an adventure. I had been working in the music industry, in seemingly my dream job, but I had become increasingly more unhappy. I felt defined by my job, and was wondering where the hell I was going to be able to go from there? I can't have hit my peak at 24! Fast forward 7 years, and I've grown up a bit. I'm married, and I have a house. I still play the trumpet, but have an upgraded model. I'm still involved in the arts, being a member of the board of directors of two musical groups, but I don't work in the music industry, I'm a proud Salesforce Administrator! I know there are a lot of accidental admins out there, with all sorts of education and employment backgrounds, so I thought I would share mine. I studied Music Business and Public Relations, and worked at a music magazine and then a boutique music booking agency. I also had my ...