Koa Club Spotlight -
Manu Erwin

Meet Salesforce Koa Club member, Manu Erwin. With nearly 14 years of Salesforce tenure under her belt, you won’t want to miss her story! Read it here. 

Manu Erwin was born and raised in New Zealand or as she calls it, “the land where hobbits come from.” After getting her Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology and Philosophy, she told us, “ I kind of fell sideways into a career in IT.” Early on in her career, Manu held a lot of different IT consulting roles that resulted in her traveling quite frequently. These roles would take Manu from Auckland, New Zealand to Melbourne, Australia, to San Francisco, California, to London, England, and finally, back home to New Zealand. However, her move to San Francisco from Melbourne in 2004 would prove to be the most impactful for her career. 

Manu moved to San Francisco for her job with Deloitte as a consultant. It was there where she was introduced to Salesforce — which at the time, was still a small company — and the Salesforce technology. Manu explained, “the technology was quite mind-blowing for a consultant like me. The customization and data you could see in the technology hooked me instantly.” It hooked her so much that she decided she wanted to work for Salesforce. Just two and a bit years later, that dream became a reality. Manu made the move to Salesforce’s London office in 2007, where she began her tenure as a Senior Technical Architect. “When I first joined the company in London, I would go to a customer’s office for a QuickStart program (Salesforce’s implementation program for customers). I would arrive on a Monday morning and by Friday you would have the implementation all set up and complete! It was so easy back then because the technology was so simple”, said Manu. 

After a couple of years as a Senior Technical Architect in London, Manu moved back home to New Zealand. Then, in 2014, Manu moved to a new team. As she told us, “I went from being very hands-on with the technology to a role where I was helping our customers in region make technical decisions as it related to their enterprise architecture. This was a natural kind of developmental growth for me in my career.” Then, in 2020, Manu moved into a Solutions Engineering role. “To be successful in this role, you need to have a different lens of what customer success is. If a customer is successful, then we will be successful. During my time in the Customer Success Group (CSG) the customer was ”post-sales“, they are already bought in to Salesforce and the technology. In this pre-sales role, I get to show the value of the platform and how Salesforce is able to help them succeed,” said Manu. 

Manu has even surprised herself with her length of tenure here at Salesforce. She told us, “When I first started at the company, I thought to myself that there was no way I would spend decades at a company like my grandparents did. I thought it was so old-fashioned.” However, she would soon come to realize what an amazing place to work Salesforce was. She told us, “Why would I ever leave? I get to work with amazing people, amazing technology, and the culture is second to none.” We asked Manu what advice she would give to herself if she were just starting out at Salesforce again. She said, “get involved. Don’t be afraid to speak up and voice your opinion. Salesforce is a company that champions transparency and authenticity.” 

Even if you are already five years into the company, Manu still has some advice for you. “Take a few days off. Reflect on what you really enjoy about life outside of your regular day job. Then, figure out how you can bring that happiness inside of Salesforce. That will help you really enjoy what you do every day while helping to improve on our already amazing culture,” said Manu. 

Manu is part of both the Earthforce and Outforce equality groups in New Zealand. When speaking about Earthforce, Manu told us, “I am really passionate about our 1 trillion tree initiative. I am always seeking ways in which we can get people to plant more trees.” Manu is also a Culture Guide for the hub. This means she helps design and run fun, engaging events for the local employee population, as well as informally being part of our local family “conscience.” Outside of Salesforce, Manu is also involved in the local community. She told us, “I have been working with a company based out of Melbourne called FareShare. They rescue surplus food from restaurants and supermarkets and cook free, nutritious meals for the homeless in the area.” Manu even gets to help with their Salesforce implementation and has customized the technology to fit their business case.  

Manu has enjoyed being a member of the Koa Club for the last four years. She told us, “I love everything about the Koa Club. From the exclusive events to the connections you make with old teammates and friends - it is amazing.” She went on, “the sense of family within the Koa Club is quite remarkable. It is a very special group of individuals that collectively make this company incredible.”

Want to learn more about Manu’s career journey? Check out her career on LinkedIn