Hello hello hello!
It’s certainly been a wild ride on my side of the laptop screen, lots of travels and travails! I thought this would be a good time to re-introduce myself, as I am delighted to see an uptick in new followers the past few weeks. Thank you and welcome to my lil corner of the internet!
what to expect from this blog
- I write about 2-4 times per month about a range of topics
- I read every comment and I LOVE to hear from you!
- I write and publish every blog post in the same day. No content calendar, no editorial process, no sponsorships or paid partnerships. It’s raw, authentic, and quirky… or it’s not happening at all!
- I have a 2 year+ project documenting the Data Admins of the American Civil Rights Movement. This is a good sample piece if you want to read about this and you aren’t sure where to start.
- My day job is in the philanthropy sector, so occasionally I write thought pieces or technical pieces about issues concerning foundations, grantmaking, and application forms.
- I am on the leadership committee of the Data Generation Community Project in Open Source Commons. We create materials to help admins populate sandboxes with good data, so you’ll see posts from time to time on Snowfakery and open source methodologies
- This year, I set a goal to specialize in Mail Merge / document generation capabilities, which has been SUCH an incredible journey. See what I’ve been up to on my YouTube channel!
- In addition to Salesforce, I write about Google Sheets, Excel, and other CRM platforms like Nationbuilder, CiviCRM, and anything I can get my hands on! I’m deliberately not writing about certifications and Trailhead here.
- All of my posts start from a perspective of supporting and celebrating nonprofits + grassroots orgs by solving difficult data issues that might be in the way of achieving their mission
3 BIG thank yous
Seriously, I don’t know why all of these amazing things converged at the same time! It’s not usually like this!
- Thank you to Conga Composer for recognizing me with a Community Impact Award! Last week, I was honored to go to Orlando to accept the award. Here’s a photo of me meeting the Conga CEO and CCO who were SO gracious and friendly.
2. Thank you to Salesforce Ben and Christine Marshall for featuring TDAA in their 20 Most Popular Salesforce and Developer Blogs 2022 (I’m #7!). I read almost every one of those blogs (excited to connect with some new ones!) and honestly, I am humbled to be in their company.
3. Thank you to my #1 favorite neighborhood bakery (South Philadelphia), Essen, who named me the winner of Battle of the Babkas for my “Rocky Babkoa” submission!
some other amusing aspects of my life
- I love folk arts and fine crafts, including knitting, weaving, and cross stitch (images of recent projects below).
- I’m obsessed with my pet turtle, who lives in a purpose-designed terrarium coffee table.
- I love belly shirts!
- I ride an electric bike as far as it will take me.
- I love nutella, bubble tea, crocs, backpacks, spoiling other people’s kiddos, and laying on the couch.
- I HATE exercising but I take a daily 20 minute walk around my neighborhood.
- I recently got a robotic vacuum that I can run remotely!
