Today was my last day at Salesforce.
On January 4th, I received an email from Salesforce Employee Success informing me that my role at Salesforce had been eliminated. In mass layoffs in the United States, there’s a minimum required notification period of at least 60 days. On that day, we were notified that our “termination date” would be today, March 24th.
April 20th would have been my 8th anniversary at the company.
On Monday, March 27th, I’m excited to begin a new role as Principal Solution Consultant at Beyond the Horizon (BTH).
I’m looking forward to returning to hands-on nonprofit Salesforce consulting work with a small organization. There are a few people that I used to adore working with at KELL Partners (the company I was at from 2012-2015 before joining Salesforce) that are now at BTH. I’m excited to work directly with impact and mission-driven customers clients again.
When I started this blog back up a few days after my layoff notification, I couldn’t picture working in the Salesforce ecosystem ever again. I was, and still am, angry at the way my “dream job” ended in a 6 am mass email.
I retooled my resume and LinkedIn profile to focus purely on Community. I had some great conversations with community leaders, took the CMX Community MBA course, and was preparing to leave Salesforce behind.
What changed my mind? The Salesforce community.
I am fortunate to live just outside of Philadelphia, where one could attend a different Salesforce-focused event within 30 miles nearly every night of the week. After nearly 3 months of therapy, career coaching, and the healing power of time, I know that 17 years of experience and connection was not something I was ready to let go. I’m grateful that my friends in the community have welcomed me back.
Salesforce.org has just announced Nonprofit Cloud, a big departure from Nonprofit Success Pack (NPSP) and the packages we’ve all become used to implementing. How will it impact nonprofits using Salesforce now and in the future? I don’t think anyone quite knows yet. I want to be a part of figuring it out as I apply everything I’ve learned the past 8 years about leadership, productivity, problem-solving, and technology.
Judi Sohn 
5 responses to “Starting a New Path at the End of the Road”
Congrats on your new role Judi. I’m a firm believer that when one door closes another opens, wish you the best!
“ want to be a part of figuring it out as I apply everything I’ve learned” I love this and I agree completely. Please let me know if I can help in any way.
Looking forward to working with you again!
I am here to also second what Anita said in that when one door closes, another opens. We only fail when we do not look around hard enough for that open door. Sometimes we have horse-blinders on but it is situations exactly like this that bring out the best in all of us. I made my way here by a link to your article featured in the Obsidian Roundup but this article got my attention when I came here. Keep on keeping on!
Thank you!
This really is a big win for the ecosystem. You were and still are such a big part of my journey in Salesforce Ohana and quite frankly was why I was hooked. I was a lost soul at Bernie’s Book Bank way back when and you always jumped in and gave me a lifeline. I am thrilled to hear that you will continue to be a part of us! Congratulations from the bottom of my heart!