Now that my twitter feed has calmed down a bit from the good news VMTN posted, I wanted to get down a few thoughts. I am humbled and honored to have been selected as the Q1 2019 VMTN Community Warrior.
I have always been grateful to be a part of this community and wouldn't be where I am if I hadn't been mentored and showed many tips from all of you along the way. I wanted to take the time and thank some of those that have helped along the way:
- Britton and Heath Johnson both have always been encouraging and helped me step out of my comfort zone.
- Jase McCarty has been a great encouragement and source of knowledge.
- My friends and Co-Leaders in the WI VMUG that encouraged me to get involved and start speaking and supporting the community.
- Sean Massey has been a huge encouragement in many ways.
- Matt Heldstab for giving me opportunities to speak at NCWIVMUG and Minneapolis VMUG.
- Ken Nalbone for friendship and speaking at Indy VMUG.
- Joe Houghes for friendship and fun hanging out at VeeamOn and VMworld.
- Al Rasheed for his kindness and support of many of my ventures.
- Cody De Arkland for his encouragement and friendship.
- Ariel Sanchez for reaching out when I became a vExpert and his continued encouragement.
- Tim Davis for being a great friend and always willing to help out.
- Listeners and guests on the Gigacast!
This list could go on for a long time as there have literally been dozens of you that have helped me to feel like such a part of this community. I have always tried to support and help others in the vCommunity when they have needed it because that kindness was shown to me. For those of you that haven't had the honor of helping to mentor someone and watching them succeed I highly recommend it! I enjoy helping to mentor others and help them get their start in the vCommunity. Sharing knowledge and helping others is what the community is all about. Paying it forward has been a huge part of my motivation to keep going and do all that I do. Folks took time that they didn't need to, to help explain something, or make an introduction, or just offer encouragement. I remember so many conversations when Heath was trying to get me to join twitter. "but I don't have anything to say" I would say. He would say "you have value to add and things you can contribute". I have made so many friends since getting into the vExpert program, and I do mean friends, not just industry peers. I truly count so many of you as friends. I enjoy seeing so many of you out at VMUG events and other tech conferences. It is good to catch up and see what you have been up to and enjoy some laughs together in person instead of GIF swapping on twitter.
The vCommunity has been amazing and as Al Rasheed would say Kindness matters. Thanks for reading! Cheers!
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