Career Path of a Salesforce Lead at Panthera
Kelly's career path, starting with campus involvement at the University of Arizona and an advertising role after graduation, unexpectedly led to a fulfilling career in non-profit work. Discovering a passion for volunteer work, the experience using Salesforce at various non-profits, and eventually leading a team at Pantera, shows how "figuring out what you don't want to do" can guide a non-linear path to a fulfilling career.
Nonprofit Sector, Salesforce Administration, Career Pivoting, Networking, Mentorship
Advizer Information
Name
Job Title
Company
Undergrad
Grad Programs
Majors
Industries
Job Functions
Traits
Kelly Carton
Salesforce Lead
Panthera
University of Arizona
Columbia University: Master's of Science in Nonprofit Management
Marketing
Nonprofit, Foundations & Grantmaking, Technology
Data and Analytics
Greek Life Member
Video Highlights
1. The importance of networking and mentorship, starting early in college by actively participating in campus activities and maintaining relationships with mentors.
2. The value of exploring different career paths and identifying what you don't want to do. Kelly's experience with a retail internship clarified her career preferences.
3. The power of transferable skills. Kelly highlights how skills gained through extracurricular activities (leadership, communication, handling pressure) and volunteer work translated into success in her Salesforce career, showing that diverse experiences add value to a career path
Transcript
Could you walk me through your career path, starting with your experiences in college and any internships or jobs you had before your current role?
I went to the University of Arizona. Being really involved on campus truly shaped me and has informed my career path.
Some things that stood out to me include my involvement in the Student Advisory Board for the Terry J. Lundgren Center for Retailing. I majored in retailing, and that taught me how to network from a young age and how to keep in touch with people. Not only finding a mentor, but keeping in touch with them is a valuable skill.
I also had the opportunity to be involved in my sorority. As the activities chairman, my role involved finding and helping sorority members get involved on campus. That experience taught me sales tactics and marketing, which are essential in any role.
What stood out to me most was being a recruitment counselor for Panhellenic Greek life. I guided 30 new recruits through the rush process. That taught me to stay calm under pressure, deliver bad news, and improved my communication skills, all of which I use now in my role.
I also interned with Macy's. It was a good experience and taught me that I didn't actually want to work in retailing, which was my major. It's really important to figure out what you don't want to do in order to guide your career path. Like many people, mine has not been linear.
I originally started working in advertising right after college and moved to New York City. I quickly became involved in volunteering, finding an organization called New York Cares, which makes it easy to find volunteer opportunities. I found myself scrolling through volunteer websites, thinking about my after-work activities, and it dawned on me that I was more interested in that than my advertising role.
I was then able to get a job with New York Cares and have spent my entire career since in nonprofits. I've used Salesforce at every nonprofit I've worked at, starting as an end user logging data and building reports. At the Rainforest Alliance, I had the opportunity to work on a large Salesforce implementation. Building Salesforce for them from the ground up taught me how powerful and flexible the technology is, and that made me want to deepen my technical experience.
Currently, I'm working as the Salesforce lead at Pantera, the world's leading wildcat conservation nonprofit. I'm responsible for leading two people. I gather requirements from our end users, own our backlog and roadmap, and deploy solutions. Basically, I identify problems within the organization, across the communications and fundraising teams, and use technology to solve them.