Salesforce Trailblazers We Love: Jokonda Millan
The Salesforce Ohana is truly something special, isn’t it? Join us as we introduce you to some of our favorite trailblazers. Today we introduce inspirational, driven, and action-oriented Lory Tibbetts, who shares how she got her start in the Salesforce ecosystem, her favorite Salesforce resources, the best-kept Salesforce secret, her Salesforce prediction, and more!
Visit Jokonda here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jokondamillan/
…and while you’re here: if you’re having Salesforce user adoption challenges, we have a brand new guide that takes you step by step through the principles of teaching adults technology, and drives you to develop a plan for implementation. It’s got room for you to make your own plan – check it out: https://cloudadoption.solutions/teach…
Contact us with your Salesforce challenges at info@cloudadoption.solutions – we love to help!
Cloud Adoption Solutions is a 100% woman-owned registered Salesforce partner, specializing in implementation, integration, and optimization for Technology, Healthcare/ Life Sciences, and Financial Services/ Professional Services organizations in the small and mid-commercial sectors.
VIDEO TRANSCRIPT:
SPEAKERS
Sam Teele, Jokonda Millan
Sam Teele
We’re back with another Trailblazers we love. Today we’re with Jokonda, Millan, how are you doing today? I’m doing good. How are you doing? Well, I haven’t seen you since Life Sciences dreamin’, which was a blast. Yes, it was. And for everybody out there, we were actually we just announced that Life Sciences Dreamin’ two is coming next year. So we’re really excited about that as well.
But yeah, so just a little bit about the idea behind this series Jokonda, we interview people in the Salesforce ecosystem that we think have really good stories to tell? You know, you’re so I listen to your speech at Life Sciences dream. And so I knew this was going to be a good one. But
just to get into it, if we could, how did you get started in the Salesforce ecosystem? Or, you know, tell us a little bit about that?
Jokonda Millan
Sure, um, well, let’s see, I am a military spouse, I’ve been in the Navy. And I had the opportunity to move with my husband from Virginia to Florida. So that was back in 2020, during the pandemic, so of course, it was a little bit of a challenge finding employment going from state to state, especially when everybody was being released. Well, not everyone, but most people were being left relieved from their jobs, right. So they’re in Florida, I actually had one of my husband’s co workers spouse, just share information with me about Salesforce. And so being that I have a technical background, I normally work in IT customer support, I actually started looking into it. And it was very similar to what I did not quite the same, right. But it was very interesting. So I started digging into that. And what really kept me here because of course, these exams are very challenging. What really kept me here was just a community, being able to connect with people from all over.
I started attending virtual events. So that was really, really interesting to meet people from from around the globe, I was connecting with people from India, I was connecting with people in Boston, you know, I’m in Florida and Virginia. So for me as a military spouse, that was like one of the biggest benefits,
getting to move around and leaving my job was, you know, challenging. So being able to be part of a community that allowed me to work remotely and keep my network as I moved. It just ended up working out. Right. So I found out about Merivis, which is a program that supports the military community, and obtain opportunities within this Salesforce ecosystem alongside Trailhead military, so that, to me was amazing, one of the best programs I’ve been part of within the military community. And that’s, you know, that’s the reason that I’m here. I’ve been working as a business analyst for the past two years, supporting the Department of Veterans Affair. And before that, I actually started my first role working as a consultant for a small consulting company. Wow, that’s awesome. That was a lot. Um, you know, and that sense of community, definitely, I’ve
been in the ecosystem for about a year now. Something that’s also really apparent to me, you know, meeting you all down in Florida, and just like seeing how people interact with each other on internet groups, or like sharing resources and helping everybody. But you know, knowing that Salesforce has, you know, resources for military families, and other, you know, different groups to support different groups is really great to hear.
Sam Teele
So that’s awesome. What has been your favorite resource for acquiring Salesforce knowledge? I know, you’re a big trailhead, or you mentioned, but community, things like that.
Jokonda Millan
Yes, so definitely, Trailhead is the place to go. Especially because it’s a requirement for me as part of our military. So that’s awesome. But I am a big fan of Salesforce Ben, they have a lot of good news, whether it’s Salesforce community, I feel like any, anytime something is released, that is the place that you want to go to get your information. So Salesforce is a great tool. There’s Apex hours, they have great free training.
Fours I mean, these are like the strongest resources that I look into whenever I want to take a certification or learn something new within the ecosystem. Yeah, I’m following Salesforce. Ben also has a good fall. Yes, definitely mixes the practical and the technical with the lighthearted fun and the good news, which is important.
Sam Teele
Just to let you know, we also have a lot of resources on this very same shameless plug time. But we do have really good resources on our YouTube page, how to things in your Salesforce org. So I can definitely lead that. And also put it in the description for people watching. But yeah, definitely Salesforce Ben is great.
The trailheads are great. And I know that you’re also like, you’ve linked up with Lory through the community groups. So there is a lot of resources out there, which is great, because it can seem kind of, I’m sure, when you first started 2020, it felt like there was so much to learn, and we’re gonna get started.
Jokonda Millan
It’s a lot of information. So one of the recommendations that I have for anyone that’s coming into this community, or they’re looking to expand their their career within Salesforce is, you know, pace yourself, right. There’s a lot to learn. But it’s definitely worth it. It’s interesting work.
And you definitely have a strong community. And that’s what really gets you through, you know, some of the certification or being able to solve issues that you’re not able to solve on your own. And that’s one of the beautiful, I love about this community. Yeah, yeah. And the trail heads are nice, because they kind of give you a place to start. And yeah, gradually work your way to different things.
Yes, it’s like a roadmap, right? So what you need to learn, and you can expand with your network. Right? Yeah, I was really, really active in Trailhead. In the first like, two months on this job, I racked up so many points. And then I need to get back into the swing of things a little bit by taking like the tests that they have pretty regularly, like I got certified. And
Sam Teele
I know you’re given a lot of those things, too. So it is good that there’s that roadmap, like you’re saying, what are some, you know, everybody knows, like the main products, but are there any underrated Salesforce products that are or seems best kept Salesforce secrets that that you like to use?
Jokonda Millan
Oh my gosh, there’s one that I am actually not able to use right now in my computer. But the tool, oh my gosh, that you are able to use to find information quickly on your system. I don’t know the name, but I’m sure I’ll figure it out after this interview.
That’s really neat. Whenever you’re able, whenever you’re looking for something in your org, you can just kind of search it up and that this is something that you can add to your browser. I completely forgot the name of it, but it’s very useful. We’ll figure that out and put that also,
I know, I’m gonna remember I promise you I’m gonna remember right after
Sam Teele
that happens to the it happens. Yeah, so we’re I’m interesting, because we’re trying to work with you talk to a lot of different people doing a lot of different roles in the ecosystem, from partners, to people at Salesforce to, you know, admins and developers and all different kinds of things. So I’m always curious what their thoughts are about, you know, what, where, where things are going. So I don’t know, if you have any Salesforce predictions, let’s say for things coming next year, not necessarily predictions, then you would like to see otherwise?
Jokonda Millan
Well, honestly, you know, just based on what I’m seeing in myself, in my LinkedIn feed, I’m seeing a lot of talk of AI. As we know, everywhere we go, there’s a lot of AI. So I’m kind of curious to see how that’s going to be
expanding, within, you know, different fields within Salesforce. At the same time, one thing that I’ve been noticing a lot, too, is CPQ. That seems to be something really big. Right? I think there’s definitely the need of professionals with this skill sets and that certification. If you’re looking for a job, you’re definitely going to find it with CPQ. And of course, you know, Health Cloud certification just came out. So that’s big.
Sam Teele
You know, the event happening soon. So there’s a lot coming with that. Yeah, that’s exciting. I think AI is kind of being it’s a little bit of a panacea. At this point, it’s to fix everything for every ail.
But you know, Salesforce using Einstein, and integrating AI with their all the data that they have,
you know, what that what that entails for the, you know, actual daily users will be interesting to see. I’m really curious about that. Um, but yeah, so that’s definitely exciting. And I agree with you about CPQ.
So we’ll have to see what happens there.
And Health Cloud is really interesting. You know, the other one is the life sciences cloud, which is coming out for the first time next year. So we’re, we are really curious about that. And you know, what that will mean for pharmaceuticals and for biotech.
So it’s going to be a really exciting year.
next year. So we like to end these kind of on a funner note. So if you have any recommendations, something non Salesforce related, let’s say a political podcast a cooking show. Yeah.
Jokonda Millan
I did forget.
Atomic habits by James fleet right book. This is such a good book. Oh my goodness. And it was just such an easy read. And it’s beneficial, you know, for work and out of work. Highly recommended. Awesome. I’ll have to I’ve heard of the book. I’ve never read it actually, we’ll have to, I promise. It’s super easy to read. It’s just like, you can’t get enough of a you know, want to come back to the next page. I’m actually I’m reading a book on finance right now. And it is
driving me crazy. So this one highly recommend,
you know, some quotes get
Sam Teele
what was that? 100 quotes that will change your life.
Jokonda Millan
It it hasn’t changed my life just yet. Not.
Not Not yet. But we’re getting there. It was a really good books out to go back and read it again, honestly. Highly recommend. That’s a big one. For anyone that’s working within the Salesforce community. You know, if you’re working in development, definitely look at agile training, highly recommend anyone that I talked to, if you want to be a VA or just you know, a consultant on architect, whatever it is that you want to do, definitely get into Scrum, get some certifications, get some training, right. You know, you could have a certification all day, but if you really don’t understanding, there’s no purpose to it. Right? Definitely.
Sam Teele
Well, this has been great. I really appreciate you taking the time to talk to us about your story today. Yeah, sharing your recommendations and all that so
thank you so much, and looking forward to seeing you at Life Sciences dreamin’ two.
Jokonda Millan
Yes, I’ll be there.
Sam Teele
All right. Well, have a nice day.
Jokonda Millan
All right. Take care. Bye.
