Picture of me taken at the Salesforce HQ in San Francisco when I contracted as an Illustrator and Art Director, circa Spring 2017.
In 2023, I walked away from my recruiting career without knowing what came next. After 15 months of unemployment, freelancing as an artist, and questioning everything, I found my way back—this time as a Salesforce UX Designer.
From 2018 to 2023, I worked full-time in creative and tech recruiting—helping companies hire designers, engineers, and product teams. But by the end of that chapter, I hit a wall. I knew I needed a change. What came next wasn’t planned, but it was intentional. A single conversation with a recruiter sparked my curiosity about Salesforce. I started researching, discovered there were over 1,000+ open jobs for Salesforce-certified professionals, and decided to go all in. I studied on Trailhead, mapped out a certification plan, and rebuilt my creative tech career from the ground up.
Those four long months studying on the Trailhead website felt like I was stepping into the unknown. I couldn’t see exactly where I was going, but I felt a deep knowing that this was the right path. It made sense—I had worked closely with product teams and web development teams in past roles, and I realized this pivot was actually a return to what I’d already been circling around for years.
Here’s how I made the pivot into UX design—blending intuition, intention, and a whole lot of hustle.
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The Creative Hustle That Kept Me Going:
Before the UX pivot came into focus, I kept my creative energy alive through freelance work.
– I landed a short-term illustration contract through an agency—a 20-hour/month project that lasted about two months.
– From August to December 2023, I worked on a freelance artist collaboration with SHEINX, creating surface pattern designs for their capsule collection. [View the designs here](https://thegypsygoddess.com/shein-designs-update/)
– I also began preparing a Boho Landscape collection for an art licensing company. I created three pitch decks, each designed to showcase a cohesive body of work. That experience taught me how to build a collection with intention and polish.
(Side note: I’m planning to turn this pitch deck process into a mini course soon—stay tuned!)
These projects didn’t just help financially—they gave me structure, creative focus, and the confidence that my skills still had value.
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The Salesforce Spark That Changed Everything
In late fall of 2023, a recruiter on LinkedIn reached out to me to have a conversation about my Salesforce skills and she casually said to me:
“Companies are always looking for people who are certified in Salesforce. The platform’s huge.”
That one sentence planted a seed.
I immediately started digging deeper—searching LinkedIn, reading job descriptions, and analyzing hiring trends. What I found was clear: there were thousands of active job listings looking for Salesforce admins, designers, developers, and architects. The demand was real.
That’s when I discovered Trailhead, Salesforce’s free training hub. I set up a study schedule, tracked my modules, and treated it like a boot camp. I broke everything down by week and stuck to the plan, determined to pass the certification and get back into tech.
Mind you, I already knew about the Trailhead website, I contracted onsite as an illustrator and Art Director at Salesforce in 2016-2017. I had helped built some of the content on Trailhead with a small team of two other designers and we built graphics, illustrations, and animated GIFs. As I dove into the modules, I could see that most of my work was still on the website!
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Studying in the Dark (and Trusting My Gut)
Those four months on Trailhead were intense. I was studying mornings, nights, weekends—often unsure if it would actually lead to anything. But deep down, I knew I was walking the right path.
I had worked in product and web development teams before. I knew how to speak the language of design, strategy, and systems. The Salesforce UX Designer path felt like a perfect bridge between what I had done and what I wanted to do next.
In April 2024, I passed my Salesforce UX Designer certification.
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Landing the Role
I began applying and interviewing. Some rejections came—but so did better opportunities.
In June 2024, I had a great conversation and interview with a small IT consulting firm. The fit felt right, but I didn’t get the offer right away. I waited. All of July passed.
Then in August 2024, I officially received the offer. I started working full-time again—this time as a Salesforce UX Designer, building solutions for government clients and internal software systems.
The work was meaningful. The team collaborative. The paycheck consistent. But more than that, I had done it—I had rebuilt my career with intention.
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Why This Journey Matters
The world doesn’t always tell creatives that they can reinvent themselves. That it’s possible to shift gears and still hold onto your artistic soul.
But I’m proof that you can.
You can listen to your intuition, follow the signs, and still take strategic action. That one conversation, one spark, one rabbit hole of job searching—can change everything.
🎥 Watch the TikTok that inspired this post:
“Success Leaves Clues” —my mantra during this journey
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✨ Lessons Learned from My Career Pivot
– Trust the creative flow—but build structure around it. Freelance gigs kept me anchored while I worked toward a long-term career change.
– One conversation can change your direction. The recruiter’s comment about Salesforce was the breadcrumb I needed.
– Do the research. I saw thousands of job listings for Salesforce roles and realized the demand was real. That gave me confidence to commit.
– Certifications open doors. Getting certified in Salesforce gave me an edge in the job market and proved I was serious. And this doesn’t just have to be Salesforce, there’s certifications in Microsoft and many more!
– Create before you’re ready. My pitch decks, art collections, and certification weren’t perfect—but they were *done*. And that mattered.
– Mindset is everything. I held my vision tightly, even on the hardest days. Especially then.
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Want to Pivot Into UX or Creative Tech? If you’re interested in any of these topics:
– How I pitched my art licensing collections
– How I structured my Trailhead study plan
– How I transitioned from freelance to full-time UX
Send me a Message Here: Contact
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