Hi all! We’ve got some exciting news - we’re bringing “Hub Heroes” back! 

Wait, what are “Hub Heroes”?

A Hub Hero is someone who is active in the Salesforce.org Hub in the Trailblazer Community, is helpful, is a leader, and answers other community members’ questions. We paused this during the migration (from the Power of Us Hub into the Trailblazer Community) and now are re-starting it. When I say “Hub” now I’m referring to our Salesforce.org Hub ;) here in TBC. 

When can we expect new Hub Heroes?

Each month we will choose 2-3 Hub Heroes and celebrate them for their contributions in the community.

What next? 

Keep an eye out for a form to vote each month - anyone who you’ve seen help out another member of the Salefsorce.org community, who goes above and beyond or you think deserves a moment in the spotlight! 

This month, to re-start, our team selected two contributors who we saw go above and beyond!.... our Hub Heroes for this month are .... Katherine West and Emma Keeling!

We asked Katherine and Emma some questions about what this community means to them – let’s take a look at their replies!

 1) Emma Keeling - @Emma Keeling  

Why is community important to you? What motivates you to contribute? 

The community is important to me because we are better together. We can learn so much from one another and help nonprofits to achieve their goals by sharing and working together. When someone helps me, I help someone else, and they help someone else and so forth, our support multiplies.

I particularly enjoy working with the Open-Source Commons team, especially the Videography team. The resources that are produced support so many nonprofits who need to self-service and I’ve met such amazing people through this project. Covid had many negatives, but one of the major positives was the Open-Source Commons work opening up to the wider community, one which otherwise, I may never have become a part of.

I learn from people every day, and I can always find someone to help me plug a knowledge gap, whether that is through blog articles, the Trailblazer Community, Slack, text, Twitter, phone – there is always someone to help! I love how we can work together to support the nonprofit world to achieve their goals and make the world a better place for everyone.

Is there one moment that stands out about your time in the community? 

A moment to highlight for me would be bringing one of my best friends from ‘before Salesforce’ into my world. Our background is hospitality, and at the beginning of the pandemic, my friend was made redundant. She was looking for ‘something’ to do and I suggested Trailhead. Well, the rest is history…she is now a 4x certified Admin, working in a nonprofit, and wow’s me every day with her achievements. She really is an #awesome admin and I know she is going to go far.

Anything else you’d like to share about yourself and your Salesforce journey?

My Salesforce Journey has been amazing but that is mainly due to the fantastic ecosystem, I have never experienced anything like it – long may the Ohana continue.

What's your one favourite Salesforce tip for folks who are getting started?

My Salesforce tip for anyone getting started is to get on Twitter! This is where all of the Salesforce peeps hang out. Find me, tweet me, and I will be more than happy to share to the rest of the Ohana who you are and that you are looking for more followers in the Ohana. Oh…and one more tip…if you’re stuck on formulas, checkout the Trailblazer community – you will find SO many solutions there!

 2) Katherine West - @Katherine West  

Why is community important to you? What motivates you to contribute? 

I really appreciated the Hub when I was just starting out using Salesforce and I’m happy to be able to contribute now with the knowledge I’ve learned along the way. When I started out, I didn’t know what I didn’t know, so when I answer questions, I try to think more broadly and give the reasoning behind my suggestions. My goal is to help people understand the logic behind why I suggested a particular approach, so they can learn to do that in the future. Then, they can continue the positive cycle by teaching others. An added benefit is that I get to keep an eye out for any bugs or weird things that people are reporting that might affect my users.

Is there one moment that stands out about your time in the community? 

This is a little more generic, but one thing I’ve found is that I’ll comment on a question or read someone else’s post that doesn’t seem related to anything I would need in my org. But sometime later I’ll realize that I do have a similar issue, or an approach that I suggested (or someone else suggested) can be re-worked for my particular scenario. It’s always fun when that happens. Also, pretty much all my interactions on the Hub have been positive. People genuinely want to help and/or appreciate other people’s help, which is a nice change from a lot of online forums.

Anything else you’d like to share about yourself and your Salesforce journey?

Like many, I started as an accidental admin with no prior experience of Salesforce (though I did have some prior coding experience). After a few years of practice (including an entire org migration to a new instance!), I’ve found that I really enjoy building new things in Salesforce and am now experienced with Salesforce objects (standard and custom), flows, and some Apex as well.

What's your one favorite Salesforce tip for folks who are getting started?

I would highly recommend starting with Trailhead and getting your feet wet learning about what you can do with Salesforce and how things work. Once you get a Trailhead Playground, you can use that to explore as much as you want and get hands-on experience. I’m a big believer in testing things out to see what works and what doesn’t.

Thank you for all that you do for this community!

@Anne Young @Angel de Vera

@Hub Heroes