In this blog series, we share people’s incredible Salesforce Certification stories. After getting her BA in Sculpture, Jenn went from having five-part time jobs to building a career as a Salesforce Consultant. Now 5x certified, she shares her Salesforce story with us.

When I graduated high school, I had no idea what I wanted to do—a gap year was not yet the fad it is today. I thought that whatever I did with my life, creativity would be a part of it, so I decided to study sculpture. Through internships and travel, I found a passion for public art, so after college I moved to New York City to immerse myself in the art world.

All stereotypes come from a little bit of truth. While I was never starving, at one point I did find myself with five jobs, living mainly on coffee and “dough ends” from the brick-oven pizza kitchen around the corner from my studio. I can vividly remember ordering my six dough ends—basically pizza dough rolls sold for 50 cents each—then using the pizza condiment bar to build small to-go cups full of Parmesan cheese, balsamic vinegar, and olive oil. Poetic, but hardly a balanced diet.

Juggling all sorts of employment, none of which had health coverage, was not just stressful, but also took a toll on my self-esteem. I thought, “Why can’t one of these people want me at least part-time so I can cut my job count down to two? Am I just not good enough? Smart enough?” Eventually, full of self-doubt, I called it quits on my NYC adventure, and moved back to the Midwest.

An adult woman, living with my parents back in my hometown, I had resumes out to all the local major metropolitan areas. Finally, I got a break when a tech startup called looking for an office manager and executive assistant. I packed my suitcase and headed up to Milwaukee.

I dove in and after about a year, the company started developing a Salesforce Consultation practice and needed folks to pass certification exams. My ears perked up. It was a slow time around the office and I figured I was always okay at taking tests. I thought I might as well give it a shot and consumed all the study guides and training materials I could find.

After passing my Salesforce Administrator Exam on my first attempt, I then took the Service Cloud exam and nailed that one, too. The leadership at the company then decided that perhaps I was not using my full skill set as an administrative assistant, so they transitioned me on to the Salesforce Consultant team full time.

Over the next few years, I kept up my rigorous study. Through field experience with clients, as well as acting as the internal admin on our own Salesforce org, I earned more certifications, and was given more trust and more responsibility. People saw me as an asset and I really started to believe in myself, too.

As a Public Artist, you have a vision of what the final piece will look like. You have a plan, you have city board approval, and you’ve secured the donation funding needed. The artistic process means you then massage all the parts and pieces to end up with something that looks similar to what you were aiming for in the beginning. Sure, you may make changes to your original plan when a certain material is not available, or when a part just doesn’t “fit,” but eventually you build something that resembles your original idea. And next time, you plan differently, informed by what you learned during the process.

And that mindset, that toolbox of skills, was exactly what I needed to become a successful Salesforce Implementation consultant.

My Salesforce certifications have given me credibility among my peers and clients. With a BA in Sculpture alone, I probably would not have gotten a second look. Now, my skills are in demand. Getting Salesforce-certified has increased my self-confidence more than I ever anticipated. Moreover, I went from a shared apartment with a bedroom the size of a large kitchen table to having my own two-bedroom place with a parking spot, garden, and a washer/dryer in unit.  Transformational is an understatement!

I still don’t know what I want to be when I “grow up.” However, I do know I have come to see my life not as a series of jobs, but as a journey of vocation. Everything in my life before Salesforce has lead up to Salesforce. And now, Salesforce is one of the things that will lead to whatever comes next for me.

I will say this though: It really is nice to be able to buy the whole pizza instead of just the “dough ends.”

Jenn’s certifications
Salesforce Certified Administrator March 20, 2013
Salesforce Certified Service Cloud Consultant April 12, 2013
Salesforce Certified Force.com Developer August 30, 2013
Salesforce Certified Advanced Administrator October 28, 2013
Salesforce Certified Platform App Builder September 3, 2015
Salesforce Certified Sales Cloud Consultant March 4, 2016

If you’ve been inspired by Jenn’s story, learn more about how you, too, can become a Salesforce Certified Professional.