Network to Next Level: Trailblazer Lessons in Growth was a personal and practical session on how skills, careers, and opportunities actually compound inside the Salesforce ecosystem. The talk started with my own story—from feeling stuck and undervalued in traditional marketing roles to deliberately putting myself in uncomfortable rooms, raising my hand before I felt ready, and engaging deeply with the Trailblazer Community. What followed wasn’t a straight line or a master plan, but a pattern: participation leads to trust, trust leads to visibility, and visibility creates options. Over time, that cycle shaped my career as a marketer, consultant, community leader, and founder, and ultimately made it possible to build a sustainable business and life in Manhattan.
From there, the session distilled that journey into clear lessons and repeatable actions. I shared three core principles—don’t be afraid to stick your neck out, trust that the community rewards participation, and always send the elevator back down—then translated them into a practical framework anyone can apply. Moving from lurker to participant, participant to contributor, and contributor to connector isn’t about chasing titles or status; it’s about showing up consistently, sharing what you know before it’s perfect, and helping others succeed along the way. The goal of the session—and this post—is to show that growth in the Trailblazer Community isn’t accidental. It’s built, intentionally, through skills, service, and human connection.
Agenda:
Tell my story, give you some broad lessons and then give some practical advice on how you can get to the next level of your Skills, Career, and Connections via the Trailblazer Community.
Brief Intro:
HoF Salesforce MVP, Trailhead Academy Instructor, Salesforce Marketing Champion, I’ve run the marketer Trailblazer Community here in NYC for almost a decade now.. and my day job CEO & Founder of Forcery, a Registered Salesforce Consulting Partner and MarTech Consultancy in Manhattan. I’ve mentored a number of people over the years. written for the Salesforce Blog, for Forbes and a number of other publications, I’ve presented at 8 Dreamforces, I don’t know how many World Tours… and at user groups, community campfires and Dreamin events across the World, across Europe, Africa, Asia and the Middle East, and I’m proud to have built a career where I can provide for my family here in Manhattan, but I really attribute most of my success back to a really Skills, Career, and Connections from a broad network that I’ve cultivated and nurtured over the years.
Three Lessons:
Before I tell my story, I want to offer three lessons to help you build your network…
Don’t be afraid to put your hand up or stick your neck out… what may seem uncomfortable may be the next stepping stone to your success.
The Trailblazer Community is just about the most supportive community you’ll ever find, and the community rewards participation. You may feel unqualified, but the community is here to support you.
Send the elevator back down… success isn't just a personal gain, but usually a shared ascent. Nobody succeeds on on their own; and its often much more dependent upon the people you mentor and share opportunities with along the way.
My Journey:
If I backtrack a decade ago, I was pretty unhappy with my career. I spend half a decade at a cutthroat ad agency, and was running marketing for a real estate firm, and I had been promised promotions for years, but I wasn’t getting anywhere. But I was ready to take the next step and put myself out there… I went to a lot of meet ups, looking for the next step in my journey, but I felt like a bit of an imposter…
Now, in my job Marketing automation was fairly cutting edge technology around 2014-15, and I made the strategic decision to move email marketing out of Exact Target into a platform called Pardot. I implemented the tool, and then heard about a private customer beta for a drip campaign engine called “Engagement Studio” that I signed up for, and subsequently got to beta test. I didn’t know it till much later, but videos I posted were circulated within Salesforce’s sales team, and then a few months later, the local Pardot User group hosted what was supposed to be a drip campaign sharing session.
I overprepared, and when I showed up at the event, which just happened to be at Salesforce’s old headquarters on Third Avenue, and no one else had prepared any content. So on the verge of a panic attack, I put my hand up and stuck my neck out and shared my little presentation with the community. Again, this just so happened ot be at Salesforce HQ, and a couple of Salesforce PMs saw the presentation, and asked if I wanted to bring it to Dreamforce.
My Dreamforce presentation led to a bunch more opportunities that were way outside my comfort zone. Even though I hated public speaking, I kept getting into leadership roles that were kind of beyond my day job.. I was asked to help run the NYC Pardot Trailblazer Community, to speak at community campfires, and even though part of me dreaded every single event, everyone told me that the Salesforce community is most supportive community you’ll ever find. Almost everyone here wants you to succeed.
Before long, people were asking me for advice about marketing campaigns and strategy. I was nominated as a Salesforce MVP, a Marketing Champion, I became a Trailhead Academy instructor, and my network continued to grow enough that I started offering consulting services where I was earning more than my day job as a marketing executive. And I found that my real passion and one of my core competencies was not sharing my knowledge, but rather connecting people with other people.
As I look back, and I don’t want to take too much credit, but the number of people who have found a new job opportunity because of connection that they've made at a user group event, the people who I’ve mentored or that I didn’t even know I encouraged at the time who thanked me later, really prove that success isn’t some type of individual achievement, but rather something I’ve done together through mutually beneficial opportunities, and echoes one of Salesforce’s core values of succeeding together.
Practical Application:
So my journey is just my own, and it may or may not resonate with you, but the last thing I want to do is share a practical guide to taking that next step
Level 1: Lurker → Participant You’re already at a Salesforce event; great. But if you’re a casual attendee, the next step is to develop a presence. Your goal: people recognize your name and avatar.
Attend 1–2 recurring events (user group, World Tour, virtual community calls).
Ask one specific question per month in a community channel.
Post 1–2 times per week on LinkedIn: “Here’s something I learned about X.”
Goal: people recognize your name and avatar.
Slide 5 – Level 2: Participant → Contributor
Answer questions where you’re 60–70% sure of the answer
Publish small assets: sample flows, email templates, SOQL snippets, MC setup checklists.
Reach out to a group leader: “Can I share a 10-minute show-and-tell?”
Goal: you become known for a specific niche (e.g., Marketing Cloud + Data Cloud + Agents).
Slide 6 – Level 3: Contributor → Connector
Keep a short list of: “People I should introduce to each other.”
Host: office hours, study groups, mentorship circles, or small dinners.
Support others’ visibility: like, comment, amplify their posts and talks.
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