FEELING INSPIRED THE EXCHANGE Phenomenal Women SPRING 2022 INTERVIEW WITH: Jocelyn Fennewald Chief Strategy Officer & Co-Founder, OpMentors, and Salesforce MVP Phenomenal Women How has AppExchange influenced/ Salesforce MVPs who inspire us on empowered you in your career? International Women’s Day and beyond. In 2010 I joined a company that had a COO that viewed Salesforce as not only a sales tool, but an operational tool. His vision was for our team to grow our instance of Salesforce to fully encompass the front and back office. This vision is what led us to AppExchange. There we found applications such as FinancialForce, Xactly, and many others. As we began utilizing In March we honored International Women’s Day, a these solutions, our team really saw the true power of the Salesforce Platform. chance to reflect on the significant gains women have A few short years later, my now business partner, Machell achieved in our global community. While full equality Enke, and I founded OpMentors. Our vision has always been to assist our clients with not only capturing the power of remains a daily struggle, more women than ever continue Salesforce, but ensuring that our clients can take advantage of associated applications such as FinancialForce. We use to overcome barriers and leverage AppExchange to AppExchange internally to find solutions to fit our business as well as ensure we are supporting our clients with the best-in- accelerate their careers. With this in mind, we reached out class applications to fit their needs. to six Salesforce MVPs of diverse backgrounds to learn I truly feel as though those first steps to discovering What is the most important message AppExchange in 2010 assisted my journey in starting my more about how being a female has impacted their career own company. Seeing how many solutions are built on the you want to send out to young women Salesforce Platform as well as the other amazing consulting journey and outlook on life. companies out there was part of the inspiration to begin our thinking about their careers? business 8 years ago. Some of the most important lessons learned throughout your When studying the inequality between men since the pandemic began, making it harder to career will come from places you do not anticipate or expect. and women, the last two years can be viewed secure the child care that many women need Opportunities will present themselves, and I encourage as a microcosm for what has long been true. to return to work. According to research by the How can we encourage more women young women to not let the fear of failure hold them back. According to an analysis by the National management consulting firm McKinsey and Co, I encourage young women to take that new opportunity, Women’s Law Center of the latest U.S. Bureau of in 2020, one in four women considered leaving to pursue entrepreneurship or senior network with a diverse set of people to ensure your thoughts Labor Statistics report, since February 2020: the workforce or downshifting their career, leadership roles in their career? and guides can challenge you, and read a diverse set of The economy is down nearly 1.6 million net versus one in five men. books. I view these types of items as investment in yourself. jobs. Of this, women account for being down The NWLC report also showed that When you invest in yourself and do not let fear overrun your over 1.1 million net jobs. unemployment rates among women of color I believe encouraging women to pursue entrepreneurship or thoughts, you will be able to succeed. were higher than those for white women. In senior leadership roles is not a one-size-fits-all approach. Each There are 872,000 fewer women in the labor January 2022, 3.6% of all women were jobless. woman may have different barriers to entry or experiences force. However, nearly 5% of Latinas and nearly 6% that they carry with them. One of the top areas I try to focus There are 493,000 more men ages 20 and of Black women were unemployed. Women on is intentional mentoring. I believe it is not enough to over in the labor force. with disabilities were most affected, as nearly encourage women to pursue entrepreneurship or senior 8% of this group were jobless, the NWLC report leadership roles, but actually give guidance. Many areas that Ongoing caregiving demands play a role in showed. are overlooked when starting a business, such as bookkeeping keeping women out of the workforce. The child systems, having a tax person to assist, and how to market, are care sector is still missing one in nine jobs lost areas in which, if there is not a solid foundation, can lead to business failure even in the best endeavors. 17