Last year was special for my professional growth. My challenge started in February 2022 when I received an email with information about the Sitecore Mentorship program. I thought that was the perfect opportunity to work arduously and become a Sitecore MVP. At that time, I was starting my studies in a master’s degree program in the DevOps area which was another important personal goal that I had pursued a long time ago. I had to take a decision if the Sitecore Mentorship program was achievable at that moment because I needed to manage properly both responsibilities. Finally, I decided to send an email to participate as a mentee in the mentorship program. I received the response with information about my mentor assigned who was Khushboo Sorthiya and the details to establish first contact. As my mentor lives in India and I am in Ecuador, we agreed to schedule our meetings early in the morning around 8 am EST time. In fact, the time zone difference was not a difficulty because we found other ways to keep in contact such as WhatsApp. From the beginning, I felt very comfortable with Khushboo because I realized how organized she was and her high-quality professional level with the appropriate experience to guide me on the path to the MVP. An important value she mentioned in our first meeting was constancy as a crucial value to not give up during the mentorship process. We designed an action monthly plan and scheduled follow-up meetings to evaluate the progress every two weeks. Each achieved task motivated me a lot to pursue with much strength and perseverance my big goal. My first task was the creation of my blog page, and the last ones were Sitecore topic presentations performed in a social user group or local universities. Working on small progress enriched me and gave me more confidence and motivation to go further. I was convinced that great battles are composed of achievements and obstacles, so my path had these two. For instance, in this experience, I felt disappointed when I couldn’t attend the Sitecore Symposium last October and missed some interesting conferences with the most valuable Sitecore expert speakers. On the other hand, one memorable, unforgettable achievement was to participate as a speaker at the SUG in India. I considered it memorable because I saw myself as an invincible, unbeatable, and powerful superwoman with immense confidence to reach the sky. My excellent relationship with my mentor had grown successfully and mainly because the effort was yielding fruit. At the end of November 2022, I sent my MVP application form, and I finally got in January 2023 that honorable award. With enormous humility, I know that this is just the beginning of an amazing experience to learn, contribute, share, and interact with the important Sitecore community that I am part of. I dedicate this invaluable award to my family and my mentor Khushboo who was the person who supported me with her experience, suggestions, and strength. Don’t give up, try to do your best, and feel passion and commitment for what we like most are only some personal learning acquired last year. Pursuing new dreams is part of my life now. Take new challenges, and continue improving in several aspects of my life in the personal and professional ambit.
