Merivis Grads Get to Experience TrailheaDX! This blog post was written by Merivis cohort II grad Chrissy Wojtewicz who recently attended TrailheaDX in San Francisco with fellow grads Yann and Sheldon.
Attending TrailheaDX, two words come to mind: the first is ‘whirlwind’, the second is ‘blessed’. I got a call that along with Yann and Sheldon, I’d been considered to attend TrailheaDX as a guest of VetForce by way of my success as a Merivis grad. Sheldon and I flew out of Austin and Surprise! We met Stephanie in the airport. Stephanie is a Merivis board member and also a Salesforce MVP. She is everywhere, more on that later.
The whirlwind begins. Sheldon and I checked into our hotel rooms and right away we started meeting other VetForce grads who are currently working in the ecosystem. I had never met these people in my life and talking to them was as easy as breathing. Not only do we share the same profession, we are also veterans or mil-spouses. Later that day, some of us went on a tour of the Salesforce towers with Ann Weeby. That night we attended the Equality Mixer, comprised of all the minority groups in Salesforce. Bold Force, LatinoForce, Ability Force, OutForce, and so on were there with us. A packed house full of amazing people, welcoming and willing to share their experiences. We met Jason Noma who gave us the coolest VetForce swag. My favorite is the coveted Trailhead hoodie!
The next day VetForce was honored with front row seats at the TrailheaDX keynote address. Yann proudly wore his Merivis shirt for close-ups. Remember Stephanie? I heard her name at least three times in the keynote. When she was up on stage, all of us Merivis folks made sure to cheer for her. We got free reign of the conference after that to learn, explore and trail blaze. As the day progressed we attended Donald Bohrisch’s hiring mixer before we landed at the TrailheaDX happy hour, hosted by VetForce and Trailhead. This happy hour was very special because Ann and Jason dedicated the whole space for us to network. I got to meet people such as Mary Scotton and Tony Prophet, other VetForce members and several trailblazers in the Ohana. Everyone we met were amazing successful people, who didn’t mind sharing their ups and downs in their own careers. Knowing that I was part of such an amazing company with amazing values was a real honor.
Blessings. While absorbing this whole process I couldn’t help but look at everything we were experiencing and think to myself how blessed we all were. I was very proud of being a representative of the Merivis Foundation while attending TrailheaDX. Jason and Ann were extremely friendly and helpful from day one. To think that not long ago we were just cohort members. Now we are here representing the Merivis Foundation and VetForce as a success story that veterans can look to as inspiration. Wow, how humbling. Sheldon said he now wants to train to be a developer.
Thank you Merivis, Vetforce, and Salesforce for making these opportunities available for veterans like us. It felt great experiencing that military family feeling again. We flew home with a reinvigorated passion to achieve more, and a drive to continually learn and make you proud.
– Chrissy Wojtewicz
A few comments from Sheldon Simmons about TrailheaDX
“Attending TrailheaDX has increased my desire to become a Salesforce Developer. I was very proud of being a representative of the Merivis Foundation while attending TrailheaDX. Jason and Ann were extremely friendly and helpful from day one. Everyone I met at TrailheaDX where amazing successful people, who didn’t mind sharing their ups and downs in their own careers. Knowing that I was apart of such an amazing company with amazing values was a real honor. The last time I felt that kind of sense of belonging was in the military. It felt great experiencing that feeling again. Thank you Merivis, Vetforce, and Salesforce for making these opportunities available for veterans like myself.”
– Sheldon Simmons
