Stephanie Herrera is a Trailblazer

Stephanie Herrera's life took an unexpected turn when she became a mother at the age of 17. Despite being an excellent student with straight-A grades and being a member of the National Honor Society, she faced immense challenges in juggling her responsibilities—raising a baby, working, and attending school. She made the decision to forego college and focused on working to provide a better life for herself and her family.

When Stephanie was encouraged to apply for an entry level job at Dell, she initially hesitated due to her lack of computer knowledge. However, the company took a chance and offered her the role. She later worked for a small startup, ESO Solutions, where she became familiar with the Salesforce ecosystem. The valuable skills that she learned at both Dell and ESO Solutions are what made her successful as a Salesforce Administrator. With these skills, along with the support and guidance of her managers, and her eagerness to learn, Stephanie's career took off, leading her to become a Director of Technology on the Einstein 1 Platform.

The support that she experienced at the beginning of her career inspired Stephanie to reach out to her local community in Austin, Texas. In January 2014, she co-founded the Austin Women in Tech Community Group chapter with the goal of leveling up more women in tech in the Salesforce ecosystem and creating more female leaders. The following year, when she started studying for her Salesforce Developer Certification, she created #SalesforceSaturdays, which is a community-driven initiative where individuals gather to collaborate, learn, and work on Salesforce projects and Trailhead, together. It has grown tremendously with over 60 chapters globally. But she didn’t stop there. 

Stephanie co-founded PepUpTech alongside fellow Trailblazer Selina Suarez. PepUpTech is a nonprofit that provides motivated and underserved students with the access, skills, mentors, and confidence needed to begin a career in the tech industry. She also served on the board of directors for Merivis from 2017-2023, another nonprofit organization focused on supporting military veterans and spouses taking the initiative to begin and advance their careers in the Salesforce ecosystem. Stephanie, along with other mentors from the Salesforce community, provides guidance, mentorship, and support to the program participants, leveraging her expertise to assist them in their career journeys.

Stephanie is dedicated to enabling success with Salesforce, both within the workplace and beyond. Fueled by her own journey, she understands the power of giving back to her community and empowering others to pursue their dreams, in a safe, welcoming, inclusive space. In addition to all of the impactful work she does with the community, Stephanie also helps develop and mentor technical talent in her workplace, so they can efficiently work with their stakeholders to better solution and deploy Salesforce successfully.