Spotlight Series: Emily Hay - newest LBA Ambassador!

We recently asked Emily to join the Ladies Be Architects team as an ambassador, spreading the word in the Land Down Under, and we were thrilled when she said yes! Here’s her story!

Emily Hay is a Salesforce Women in Tech group leader, Dreamforce speaker, and Salesforce Certified Application Architect with over 9 years of experience working with the Salesforce platform. She’s a Kiwi currently living in Brisbane, Australia.

When not studying for Salesforce Architect certifications, she enjoys spending time with her two cats, Duke and Princess, playing video games, and in recent months, planning a wedding and honeymoon with her fiance, Eric.

Emily didn’t plan to have a career in technology. As an argumentative child, it was expected she would train as a lawyer. Unfortunately, University plans were put on hold when Emily fell ill with glandular fever in her final year of high school.

The illness drove Emily to drop out of high school. Emily found full-time work at an IT Help Desk where she had worked (since the age of 16) during school summer breaks, and so began her technology career. After picking studies back up a few years later, Emily received a Bachelor degree in Business (Management) at age 25.

After graduating in 2010, Emily took a job as a Database Administrator. In her first week on the job, someone asked her to build a Salesforce report, which was the moment Emily discovered she was actually a Salesforce Admin and had better learn a thing or two about Salesforce!

Tell us how you heard about Ladies Be Architects?

“I had followed Gemma Blezard on Twitter at a recommendation from Jason Lawrence (a Brisbane based Salesforce MVP). Gemma shared blog posts about her CTA journey and started talking about Ladies Be Architects, which sparked my interest.”

What feelings did Ladies be Architects inspire within you?

“At first, I had a sense of wistfulness, because I’d known for the past few years that I aspired to be an architect. I thought that goal was out of my reach, and certainly didn’t think I was capable of pursuing a CTA – I was convinced you needed to be an expert with code to even consider it.

“Once I learned more about the architect role and the CTA journey from Ladies be Architects, I realised that while it wouldn’t be easy, this is something that I can do. Wistfulness turned into a fire in my belly, and a desire to prove my doubting self wrong!”

Tell us why the CTA journey is important to you

“Women are so underrepresented as architects in the technology industry. I want to change that, and what better way than to become a CTA myself, and hopefully inspire others along the way to join me.”

What’s the next step for you on your Journey to CTA?

“I’m in the middle of studying to re-take my Integration Architecture Designer exam, and after that, I’ll take on the Identity and Access Management Designer exam which would get me my System Architect credential. Double architect in 2019, baby!”

Spotlight Series: Vickie Jeffery - newest LBA Ambassador!

We recently asked Vickie to join the Ladies Be Architects team as an ambassador, spreading the word in the Land Down Under, and we were thrilled when she said yes! Here’s her story!

Vickie’s background is in IT Administration and Management. She’s worked in the IT world for the past 20 years, starting in systems and network administration before moving into management and strategy positions.

She inherited Salesforce during a company merger in 2011 and hasn’t looked back. The depth and flexibility of the product and the ability to build quickly and dynamically feed her need to be creative, and the Salesforce Ohana has been pure magic.

Currently, Vickie’s role is Business Technology Manager for Ausure Pty Ltd, an insurance broking group, based in Brisbane, Australia. This role encompasses everything IT and Systems, including IT management, strategy, systems analysis and architecture, heading a small team that maintains, develops and supports 2 Salesforce orgs, Customer Community, Platform Analytics and a number of other non-Salesforce products.

Vickie also co-leads the Brisbane Salesforce User/Administrator Group, co-leads Trailhead Tuesdays in Brisbane and a virtual Community Cloud group aimed at Australia and New Zealand Community Cloud users. Helping others get into the Salesforce ecosystem and assist with their learning journeys is her passion.

Tell us how you heard about Ladies Be Architects?

“I had followed Gemma Blezard on Twitter after seeing re-tweets from others and started to watch the study group recordings on the LBA website and then attended the LBA session at the last Dreamforce.”

What feelings did Ladies Be Architects inspire within you?

“Until I discovered Ladies Be Architects, I really believed that becoming a CTA was out of my league, even though my job includes CRM architecture. So when I discovered LBA and heard other people’s stories, I realised it wasn’t such an unattainable goal and I really should believe in myself. So, it was a mixture of hope and empowerment!”

Tell us why the CTA journey is important to you...

“Apart from wanting to increase the number of women CTAs, I love the learning journey. Even though I’ve been in the Salesforce ecosystem for 8 years, there is still so much to learn. I enjoy the sense of empowerment that comes along with a deep understanding of the product and with passing certifications. It keeps me motivated to continue to learn more and to share that learning with the community around me.”

What’s the next step for you on your Journey to CTA?

“I’m at the beginning of my journey, having passed Platform App Builder last year. Code is fairly foreign to me so I’ve spent quite a bit of this year trying to learn as much as I can with LBA, SFDC99, Path to Code and hoping to get into the next round of RAD Women Code. I’ve failed Platform Developer 1 once, so will retake it once I feel more comfortable. I’m also studying towards Sharing and Visibility Designer, so these will be my next two certs.”

Spotlight Series: Tami Lau

Hello! We’re thrilled to introduce you to Tami Lau, Salesforce MVP and Senior Salesforce Engineer at Presence Product Group! As well as being such a great advocate for women in technology (she also coaches for our friends at Rad Women Code), Tami is co-lead for the Oakland Trailblazer community group and has been working really hard on her #JourneyToCTA.

Tami lives in California in the Bay Area, and she’s been working on the Salesforce platform since 2012, when she “jumped in the deep end as an admin and fell in love”. Tami had been a Raiser’s Edge and Convio admin for several years and she doesn’t have a “traditional” tech background. She was an Environmental Sciences major in college; and worked almost exclusively for government and non-profits. Tami was also a National Park Service ranger for a year and has a deep love for parks, nature and the outdoors.

” I’m as surprised as anyone to find myself in a tech job right now!” - Tami Lau

Tell us how you heard about Ladies Be Architects?

“I heard about Ladies Be Architects from a fellow Women in Tech Developers member (thanks Kate Vickery!). I was immediately intrigued – I had heard about CTAs (Certified Technical Architects) and there was such an air of mystery around them that I wanted to find out more.”

What feelings did Ladies Be Architects inspire within you?

“It has been such an inspiration! Ladies Be Architects was the first place I encountered actual people, and many women, who were on the architect path, and the first time I felt like perhaps this was something I was interested in and capable of doing.”

Tell us why the architect journey is important to you...

“This journey is important to me because it will improve my skills to be a better Salesforce admin, developer, and architect, but also because it’s a way to show others that not all architects (and developers) look like the stereotype.”

What’s the next step for you on your Journey to CTA?

“I achieved Application Architect (the “left side of the pyramid”) last year. The next step for me is to work on System Architect and the optional exams – I just passed Development Lifecycle and Deployment Designer, and am working on Community Cloud Consultant next.

“My main concern right now is whether preparing for and doing the board review is realistic while working at a non-profit (and having had only non-profit experience). But one step at a time…still plenty to tackle before I need to think about that!”

Interesting……well, if you share the same concerns as Tami, take a look at this slide deck from the Connected Non Profit conference in London, where Ladies Be Architects addresses architectural thinking in a non-profit context! Keep going girls – looking forward to catching up with you a little further down the line Tami :0)

Connected-Nonprofit-Conference-Channelling-Inner-Architect.pptx

Download PPTX • 64.99MB