What Is a Trailblazer?
What is a Trailblazer? Part of Salesforce culture, they're pioneers, innovators, and lifelong learners who build and improve their community.
Kris Lande
Trailblazers are truly the heart and soul of Salesforce. Everyone who wants to innovate and deliver success with Salesforce can be a Trailblazer.
Salesforce’s technology helps companies of all sizes deliver customer and employee success from anywhere. The customers, partners, and technology professionals that make up the Salesforce ecosystem are seeing endless growth and opportunity.
According to a recent IDC report, the Salesforce ecosystem will create 9.3 million new jobs and 1.6 trillion in new business revenues worldwide by 2026. This growth is powered by Trailblazers — the learners and innovators who use Salesforce to build successful careers, companies, and communities around the world.
Salesforce’s technology helps companies of all sizes deliver customer and employee success from anywhere. The customers, partners, and technology professionals that make up the Salesforce ecosystem are seeing endless growth and opportunity.
According to a recent IDC report, the Salesforce ecosystem will create 9.3 million new jobs and 1.6 trillion in new business revenues worldwide by 2026. This growth is powered by Trailblazers — the learners and innovators who use Salesforce to build successful careers, companies, and communities around the world.
So, what is a Trailblazer?
Trailblazers are truly the heart and soul of Salesforce. And we’ve made it our mission to pave pathways for anyone to unlock career opportunities and provide them with the tools needed to succeed.
Trailblazer /treyl-bley-zer/noun
- A pioneer; an innovator; a lifelong learner; a mover and shaker.
- A leader who leaves a path for others to follow.
- Most importantly, a person who builds a better world for others.
We believe everyone who wants to innovate and deliver success with Salesforce can be a Trailblazer. Whether you’re just starting your career or reskilling for a new one. Whether you’re an experienced leader helping teams to deliver digital transformation or an entrepreneur building business apps.
The opportunities are truly endless, and we invite everyone to explore the possibilities. Here, we celebrate some of our amazing Trailblazers and explore how you can start your own Trailblazer journey.
Who are Trailblazers?
Trailblazers come from all walks of life and deliver success in a variety of roles.
Here are a few Trailblazer Stories to show the beautiful diversity of our community, pathways to success, and opportunities to give back:
Brian Owens, Business Systems Analyst
Brian and his fiance had a pivotal conversation about their future in January 2020. Soon after, Brian decided to pursue a tech career and went all-in on learning with Trailhead, Salesforce’s free online learning platform.
After many hours of studying, building apps in his Trailhead Playground, and networking with the Trailblazer Community, Brian earned his Salesforce Admin Certification.
Brian landed his first job as a Salesforce Business Analyst in April of 2020. He is eager to help others follow in his footsteps and co-hosts certification study groups and spreads the word about Salesforce to Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs).
Erika McEvilly, Junior Developer
Erika walked away from a successful business development career when she had her babies. After a few years, she decided to pursue flexible work and discovered Salesforce through Supermums, a UK-based Trailblazer Workforce Partner.
During her job search, Erika was encouraged to pursue a Salesforce Developer career. So she learned to code during the pandemic, with the help of RAD Women Code and Trailblazers around the world.
Today, Erika is a Junior Developer for a major financial institution and is paying it forward as co-leader of the London Salesforce Developer Community Group.
Tracy Lim, Head of CX for Retail
Tracy started out as a risk analyst in the banking industry but quickly determined she belonged in marketing. After a stint in B2B sales where she honed her listening skills, Tracy’s leadership offered her an opportunity to break into the field.
She excelled at the blend of art and science, which led to opportunities to lead digital transformation and customer experience in the banking industry.
When Tracy attended Dreamforce, she discovered the power of peer connections and a passion for helping others. Tracy passes on her love of technology by making Trailhead learning and friendly competitions part of her team’s regular routine. She also leads the Salesforce Marketer Group in Manila, Philippines.
Max Rudman, CEO
Max is the CEO and founder of Prodly, an app that helps businesses automate low-code app development. Before Prodly, Max took a Configure-Price-Quote app from an idea to a thriving company that was acquired by Salesforce with 200+ employees.
In 2019, Max had new inspiration to solve app development challenges. He decided to build Prodly, which now has 50+ employees and 40+ five-star reviews on AppExchange. Max pays it forward by sharing experience and lessons learned with other entrepreneurs and always enjoys the mutual benefit of shared learning.
What’s the story behind the Trailblazer hoodie?
The creation of the iconic black hoodie is central to the Trailblazer origin story. In 2015, the Trailblazer spirit was thriving in our community, and we wanted to create a way for them to showcase that identity and spirit. So we created the first black hoodie with “Trailblazer” written across the front in script font.
Originally, Trailblazers earned hoodies by learning during Salesforce events. Now anyone who wants to wear their Trailblazer pride can get one on the Salesforce Store.
We also give golden Trailblazer hoodies as a gift of gratitude to Trailblazers who share their stories of doing well and doing good at Salesforce events around the world.
How do you become a Trailblazer?
Anyone can be a Trailblazer with Salesforce. Here are a few ways to get started on your journey:
- Connect with Trailblazers from Anywhere: Join the Trailblazer Community to collaborate with Trailblazers online, and choose from more than 1,300 local and virtual community-led Trailblazer Community Groups in 90+ countries around the world.
- Skill up on Trailhead: Build your tech and business skills on Trailhead, our free online learning platform.
- Build your business: Learn how to extend the power of Salesforce with apps and Build Apps as an AppExchange Partner.
- Share your inspiration and expertise: Encourage friends and family to explore career paths in the Salesforce ecosystem. Provide answers to product questions, and volunteer to help new Trailblazers skill up and find jobs through Trailblazer Mentorship and Trailblazer Workforce Partners.
Trailblazers are the true heart and soul of Salesforce, and we love to succeed together. We can’t wait to hear your #TrailblazerStory. Please keep us posted on the Trailblazer Community and social!
Don’t forget to spread the word to your family, friends, and communities you love.
This post was originally published on the U.S.-version of the Salesforce blog.
