Like most people I’ve had a few different careers before landing in Salesforce. I originally started working as a hairdresser before moving into administration roles in training organisations & mining companies. After a few years, I started to feel under-challenged and was looking for something new.

A close friend recommended I look into working with Salesforce technology, as a complete career change. Having never been to University, I knew I had to choose to invest in myself before I could ask a company to take a chance on me. So I decided to bite the bullet and fly myself to Sydney to take the ADM 201 course and get certified. I really wish Trailhead had existed back then—studying would have been a lot easier.

I was lucky to be given a chance on a Salesforce team as a Chatter administrator at Flight Centre. I have now been with Flight Centre for just over three years and my role has expanded to product manager of Chatter, Communities, and other products. Just recently, I was offered the opportunity to transfer to our London offices to help further develop and engage our users with the products I support. I would never have imagined a career as a Salesforce admin would lead to world travel.

We recently released a project that, from a configuration point of view, I’m pretty chuffed with. I built a process with Process Builder that completely changed how our Sales teams obtain client signatures—no more continuous paperwork and manual follow ups. It’s all automated, tracked, and triggered for them inside Salesforce in a couple of clicks.

I’ve always been more of a kinesthetic learner, so when I heard about Trailhead, I was already all in. Being able to jump in and have a play with functionality is a far more meaningful & engaging way to learn. Plus then you have something to refer back to later on!

Carving out time to learn can be really hard during work hours so I generally do it after work. But recently, our Account Executive started a competition amongst our admins to see who can achieve the most badges so that’s definitely brought out my competitive nature. Also, since I’m naturally a pretty curious person (as I expect many admins are), I enjoy experimenting with the new features being released. That drive keeps me coming back for more.

For me it’s about being passionate and curious about the platform and taking the time to really play with the platform—but most importantly sharing that with people so they end up just as excited.

In one of my earlier roles, I had a manager who really took me under her wing. She really demonstrated how to be a respected professional woman in a male-dominated industry and challenged me to drive myself to learn and continuously grow.

I’ve used my Salesforce skills to co-lead the Brisbane User Group and Women in Tech groups and help build the community in my hometown of Brisbane, Australia. Also I also engage in the Success Community by building chatter groups and doing some Q & A.