Announcing Soaring Peaks Consulting!

It is with great excitement that I get to finally announce the official launch of Soaring Peaks Consulting! After wrapping up almost 7 years on the Salesforce Education Cloud engineering team back in November, I knew my time in the Salesforce ecosystem and in education was nowhere near complete. I am proud to leverage my 13+ years of Salesforce experience to work directly with educational institutions that are utilizing Salesforce Education Cloud for their staff and students.

I’ve seen the challenges that universities face when implementing and customizing complex admissions applications, advisor appointment scheduling, degree programs, and more, and I’m determined to use my skillset to ensure these institutions are set up for success on the Salesforce platform — both now and into the future. And as a first-generation college student who had to navigate college while working 20-30 hours a week and juggling FAFSA and scholarship applications, I know firsthand how important it is to be connected to the right people and the right resources in order to stay on track, graduate, and land that first professional job.

Education has always been deeply important to me. When I was a child, I wanted to grow up and become a teacher; while I didn’t follow that exact career path, my most rewarding experiences have always come from helping others — whether that be by posting Salesforce content on my personal blog, speaking at Dreamforce or community conferences, launching a Salesforce Play-by-Play on Pluralsight, or just helping a fellow coworker get unstuck, these are the sorts of activities that bring me joy and is the foundation of Soaring Peaks Consulting. If you’re using or considering Salesforce Education Cloud at your institution, let’s connect and discuss how we can partner together on resolving your challenges and achieving your goals.

2024: House Renovations, Babymooning, & Parenthood

In case you missed my last post, I’m a dad!

That sums up 2024 pretty well, but I can also talk about a few other significant events of last year, such as our house renovation (which did bleed into 2025 a bit…), and my husband and I’s travels.

Jacks Point – Queenstown, New Zealand

The highlight of my year (besides my son being born, of course) was probably our “babymoon” to New Zealand. New Zealand’s been on the travel list for quite some time, and it certainly didn’t disappoint! I got to drive on the wrong side of the road (after having a small panic attack), spend a lot of time hiking and sightseeing, and even saw a few penguins in the wild! If you’re ever in southern New Zealand, I highly recommend visiting Kiwi Park in Queenstown and Pōhatu Penguins in Akaroa.

Continue reading

Oliver!

Oliver James

Say hi to Oliver! Oliver James was born on December 2nd, and I couldn’t be happier to finally be a dad. The last few weeks have flown by as Tym and I have adjusted to our new routines (in addition to moving back into our renovated home the weekend before Christmas). We are loving our new roles as parents, and I’m so grateful I get to spend the next several months with Oliver before returning to work.

This will likely be one of the only photos I post of Oliver publicly, but I felt compelled to share the news here for the few folks that do read this blog.

Happy holidays!

— Robert

The Year of Slow Progress: 2023

Well, another year has sped past us. I’ve deemed 2023 as the year of slow progress and titled this post as such before even beginning to write out how the year unfolded. As mentioned in my last update post, my husband and I were hoping to complete a major house renovation in 2023 — however, we had higher expectations than reality! We are now almost ready to begin construction and recently moved into a temporary apartment, so I am excited to see it completed by the fall.

So what did I actually accomplish last year? Some of the things I’m most proud of include:

  • Completing my exercise goals (except for 30 hours of ice skating — but I was close!)
  • Getting back to the weekly runs with Fleet Feet Seattle after a long, several-year hiatus
  • Serving my second year as the volunteer coordinator for the Run and Walk with Pride
  • Traveling to Arizona, Hawaii, and NYC
  • Reading 16 books

Another Year of Traveling: Arizona, Hawaii, & NYC

Antelope Canyon, Arizona
Antelope Canyon, Arizona

I obviously can’t mention my travels without posting at least a few photos from my adventures! The picture above was taken from a trip with my best friend in April 2023 to Arizona and the Antelope Canyon. The canyon was mesmerizing and the weather was perfect (as was the pool), especially after a long Seattle winter.

Continue reading

My Stress & Mental Health Journey

Hello, readers! May is Mental Health Awareness Month, and so I’m going to be a little bit more serious than usual: today’s blog post is about prioritizing one’s mental health, and how I have done so over the past year and a half. I briefly mentioned that I started going to therapy sessions in my 2021 recap post, but I wanted to dedicate a post specifically to this topic.

My health realization #1: I should have started therapy years ago!

Regularly talking to a therapist for the past year and a half has greatly decreased my stress levels, improved my work/life balance, and positively impacted my overall mental health. I developed bad working habits early in my career that have been hard to break — first and foremost, I just simply work too many hours out of fear that I’m not contributing enough to justify my salary. I struggle with perfectionism. However, I’ve improved my relationship with my work by setting better boundaries, and I’ve also focused on improving other areas of my life — like making sure I stay on a consistent sleep schedule.

Some of the things I’ve done to break my bad habits:

  • I rarely work in the evenings now
  • I keep my work laptop and phone in my office (something I’ve done for a long time, but continue to do)
  • I block out my calendar in the afternoons in order to have more focused time
  • I decline more meetings that don’t have agendas or don’t fit into my typical working hours
  • I try to go to sleep around the same time every night, and try my hardest to get at least 7 hours of sleep
Continue reading