I would like to dedicate this post to all the amazing people in my life – my mentors, students, clients, family and friends. You rock. Thank you for making me want to be a better person. You inspire me & force me to step outside my comfort zone. After all, I think the people in my life is my real #Ikigai.

I’ve had an interesting life. I mean really, REALLY interesting. 🙂

Was a bookkeeper, had a driving school, owned an art shop and gave art classes, designed and manufactured furniture and kitchens, clothes designer and made jewellery. And now for the last 10+ years – IT / Microsoft. You might wonder how that all fits together – but believe me – every single thing I have ever done adds to my experience, empathy towards people and success in what I do. Keep in mind that I never had the opportunity or resources to study – so I promise you that hard work, passion and a lot of stubbornness goes a long way.

In 2016 I was very fortunate to be awarded Office Servers & Services MVP as well as the Metalogix MetaHero Award for End User Adoption. Totally unexpected as I came from a background of ‘working hard in the windowless basement office of a corporate company, without knowing anyone else used SharePoint’. Getting involved in the community, blogging and speaking at conferences opened up my eyes and also connected me to my ‘now’ indispensable community family.

I am very thankful to the people who saw my value long before I realised I had any, and also those who nominated me for those awards.

This brings me to what you can do to make a difference in someone’s life and show your appreciation for what they do. Do it. Today.

Nominate an MVP:

“The MVP award recognizes individuals who, over the past 12 months, have demonstrated superior knowledge, leadership and passion, combined with a desire to help and accelerate other’s learning, careers, and abilities. You can nominate yourself to be considered for an MVP Award or nominate someone you know!” Click here…

Thank you Microsoft – it’s an honour to represent and be part of this community. I am by FAR your biggest fan 🙂

2017 MetaHero Awards (Metalogix)

“It’s that time of year again! We’re excited to officially open nominations for our 4th annual MetaHeroes Awards. Each year, we recognize individuals who are leading the collaboration industry with bold and innovative SharePoint and Office 365 Solutions. Our MetaHero Awards celebrates the unsung heroes who are behind the scenes optimizing collaboration environments.”  Click here…

Thank you Team Metalogix, you made me feel like a million dollars and on top of that I was fortunate enough to be at Ignite to receive my award. 

Below you’ll see the credits with which I close all my presentations. It definitely does not include all the people I value in my life, but people who directly affected my career. I never forget to give thanks, but if I forgot to add someone here, please forgive me – I’m in my 40’s, it’s not getting any easier. 🙂

Keep in mind that we’re all here to “Walk each other home”. We’re not all natural born mentors and sometimes we learn from others purely in learning from their mistakes. Just as we should celebrate our failures and successes – so we should never forget those who paved our way.