MEET A GRADUATE — KAREN CIZON
About the Program
William Paterson University School of Continuing Education and Professional Education worked with North Jersey Partners, a coalition of Workforce Development Boards, to offer Camp4’s Salesforce Certified Administrator Program with 21 students enrolled in the first cohort, including Karen Cizon, now a member of the sales team at OverEZ Chicken Coop. Those who pass the program receive a certificate of completion from William Paterson University.
We sat down with Karen, Wholesale Representative for OverEZ Chicken Coop, to hear more about her Camp4 experience.
What is your professional background?
I've owned 2 businesses over the last 40 years. I had two upscale full-service salons and then decided to become a full-time mom. So, I sold the salons. Fortunately, I was able to find a job that was very flexible—a manager at a barbershop for many years. As my kids got older, I realized that the barbershop was not something I wanted to continue to do. I started a construction company that refurbished homes and also demolished and rebuilt them.
After 10 years, I walked away from that business for personal reasons and resumed working at the barbershop, until it closed due to the pandemic. I did some soul searching and realized that I didn’t want to return to the salon once it reopened. And around the same time, I got an email offering the Camp4 course. And my first thought was, “absolutely not; I can't do this.” And then I thought, “you know what, why not?” I was open to exploring new possibilities and it just kind of fell into my lap.
What was your familiarity with Salesforce before starting Camp4?
I knew nothing about Salesforce at all–zero. I have a daughter that works in tech, in San Francisco, and her company at the time was in the process of implementing Salesforce, so I had heard “Salesforce” from her, but otherwise nothing.
What did you enjoy most about the Camp4 program?
I liked getting hands-on with how the platform actually works. One exercise would build on another so that when you look back, you actually see that you have a wealth of information that you put into the system and built a record around a particular customer.
The fireside chats were my other favorite part. They brought in people with various backgrounds, and it was fascinating to see where they were in the ecosystem. They provided a lot of feedback and encouragement. For example, Glen Stoffel, shared his expertise with storytelling. I was having a very difficult time translating my work experience to Salesforce. And in a matter of maybe ten minutes, he had transformed the entire way I look at this business. When we got on the phone, I said, “Glen, I have worked with people all my life. I do people, I don't do data.” And he said to me, “but data is powered by people”. And that started a whole conversation about how to look at data in a different way.
How are the skills you learned from Camp4 translating to your new job?
I’m working in sales for OverEZ Chicken Coop, based out of Pennsylvania. It was a good fit, so I took the job. I'm on the phone with people and use Salesforce all day long, but I soon realized that our Salesforce system hadn’t been set up properly. I brought that to the attention of my coworkers and they saw what I meant. That's pretty validating, right? Taking what you learned and pointing out some kind of error, and getting it fixed. Going through the course has allowed me to identify the pain points that we might have going forward. Had I not taken the course, I can tell you I would be lost right now.
What’s it like being part of the Camp4 network?
A lot of us have stayed in touch after the class via email. And I’ve been able to connect with the fireside chat presenters over LinkedIn and email. I've never felt that I couldn't reach out to any of them. They've offered feedback or advice or direction; always available to reach out to. It's more like a family in a way. People don't feel like strangers. Going through the course, and even through your computer screen, you got a sense that they really cared about where you were going and where you were at. They want to make sure that you're set up for success and you do well. I'm still getting emails from them, in a good way.
Interested in making a career shift yourself, or offering Salesforce training for your team?
