A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to sit down with a woman who was instrumental in not only my career journey, but many others. Her name is Tiffany Spencer, and she is a Salesforce expert!

Tiffany currently works as a partner for Esor Consultant Group facilitating Salesforce upgrades and implementation. She’s also the director at HBCU force where she guides minority men and women through a learning journey in different tech avenues like SAAS, Salesforce and cloud computing.

Tiffany also helps these students get PAID internships and employment opportunities. How dope is that!?

I’m always curious to know how people get into certain tech roles because it seems like the majority of people say they “just fell into it.”

Which is actually not that unrealistic; it’s kind of a natural progression based on the evolution of our society.

Well, Tiffany took a job in Salesforce 13 years ago as a Business Analyst. If you’re not familiar with what a BA is, it’s basically an individual who has the ability to understand business needs as it relates to systems, processes and technology and can bridge the gap between the business functions of an organization and the IT component.  Her professional background also includes work as a Configuration Analyst and a Procurement Analyst.

At the beginning of my  journey to tech, I joined a Facebook group called Black Orlando Tech aka B.O.T.

I was invited by a friend of mine, Mike Felix, who has also been a major influence during this journey. Well, I began to follow and interact within the group and saw that Tiffany Spencer was the Board Chair of the organization.

In the formation years of Black Orlando Tech, Tiffany and her husband began attending the meetups  and eventually began to volunteer and help with the meeting set-up and clean-up. As time went on, she was able to showcase her leadership skills by providing valuable input to the group. Her contributions were quickly recognized and resulted in her now being the Board Chair of the organization. Black Orlando tech started as just a meetup for tech-enthusiast and is now a 5013( c )(3) with funding from the City of Orlando and Orange County!

The goal for Black Orlando Tech is to help build more tech professionals and entrepreneurs through their tech cohorts. Some of the top tech skills in fields like cyber security, digital marketing, data analytics and IT project management are taught in these cohorts!

I asked Tiffany to give us some realistic advice for Black millennial women looking to transition into a tech role with no experience.

She said that networking and doing research was really important; also look at job descriptions and titles to verify that the job is doing what you imagine. Listen… this is some real solid advice right here!

At the start of my journey I had no idea where in tech I wanted to be. I prematurely went and spoke to the director of IT at a fortune 500 company and was so embarrassed that I couldn’t answer a basic question like; What part of IT do you want to work in?  😳 I was like… uhhh what?  

So, I understand her advice 100% at this point. Being clear on exactly what you want to do is a major key.

I also asked Tiffany what she thought the benefit was for Black women to pursue a career in tech.

Interestingly, she explained that it was less of luxury and more of utility to know technology. As society progresses, there will be more tech and tech adjacent jobs available. There’s also more flexibility and definitely a higher salary. So, pursuing a career in tech as a Black millennial woman is a great strategic decision. I couldn’t agree more.

I had one last question for Tiffany; but, after meeting her face to face, I already knew the answer. I asked her how important work/life balance was to her and what her strategy is for balancing the two. She walked into the interview side by side with her hubby. She smiled as she explained their morning and bedtime routine and that he was also a salesforce consultant. They work hard together while also making sure they’re spending quality time by enjoying nice dinners and trips to new places! 

I so wish this chat didn’t have to end as quickly as it did but I’m so grateful I had the chance to meet Tiffany and get to know her a little better. The work she’s doing is so important to our community; I can’t wait to see what else is in store! 

Connect!

@thetiffanyspencer

@blackorlandotech 

@hbcuforce

@esourceconsulting