15 November 2023 - In memory of Gemma Blezard

I first met Gemma in November 2017 when Bluewolf hosted the London Admins Community Group at their office. Gemma was our contact point. She sat in the audience and heckled us the whole evening. I immediately liked her. 

After that moment Gemma became a regular of the London Admins and also volunteered to speak at our meetings, one memorable talk was about her certification journey and how she had her eye set on becoming a Certified Technical Architect. 

It was also late 2017 when Gemma was working on her Architect certifications that she realised that there wasn't the support or content to help her achieve them. So, she created it herself and decided to share it with the world, under the monica, Ladies Be Architects. Only 10% of the Salesforce Certified Architects were women, and few people came from a non technical background; Gemma wanted to change that. The LBA grew traction as more content was added and promoted. The group grew as there was a real thirst for this knowledge. With it, awareness of Gemma grew too. 

In May 2018 Gemma was awarded the golden hoodie at the London World Tour and I was grateful to her for being invited to be one of her special guests, to sit at the front and celebrate her becoming a member of the golden hoodie collective. 

Soon after, bad news hit with her breast cancer returning. I remember one night, after a London Admins meeting, we were in a bar and she allowed me to feel the cancer in her left breast. As a woman, it helped me to think I could recognise a cancerous lump in the future. Oh the irony, that my cancerous lumps didn't feel like hers. 

An absolute trooper, Gemma underwent large scale, invasive surgery to combat this disease, opting to have her breast tissue and nipples removed and breast reconstruction surgery from belly fat. She was impressed by the results from her belly, now more svelt from using the fat for the breast reconstruction. 

Surgery didn't stop her from attending Dreamforce that year, with a busy schedule to promote the Ladies Be Architects with theatre and breakout sessions to help others on their architect journey and a drinks party to celebrate too. By now, Gemma had been joined by Susannah and Charly to help run the movement and deliver regular online study groups. 

Gemma spent New Years Eve 2018 with my partner and I to bring in the New Year, 2019. Over a boozy dinner, Gemma asked me to join the Ladies as she needed help with process and organisation. I happily accepted, even if my personal journey was not towards a CTA certification. 

In January we ran a Ladies Be Architects solution workshop evening at a London Admins meeting at my office to great success. The workshop format had been a success at Dreamforce and it was a concept that we wanted to offer as a package for other groups to run with. 

By March 2019 Gemma was awarded Salesforce MVP status, a well deserved title for all her efforts to the community, even if it was an unofficial one. Salesforce was certainly interested in what the LBA was doing, Gemma had regular conversations with the CTA certification and board team, ensuring that the content that the LBA put out was relevant and supportive to helping others with their journey. Salesforce, in return did their best to support the LBA, behind the scenes. 

The LBA couldn't function on love alone and so Gemma made moves to convert it into a charity status of sorts so that it could get a free Salesforce Org and other benefits. But mostly, it needed funding to survive and that came in the form of sponsorship from Salesforce related businesses, ISV's and Consultancies for which Gemma drummed up business for. 

In June 2019, the LBA was invited to be the keynote speakers for the inaugural Yeur Dreamin' community conference in Amsterdam to an audience of 350. We came together to build our presentation, all taking the stage to each deliver our section of the talk. It was a great moment for the Ladies and a real cherry on top of recognition for the efforts made so far. 

By this point in time, the LBA group had grown to add Ambassadors Vickie and Emily, living in Australia and New Zealand. We now had coverage for study groups in Europe, US and Southern Hemisphere timezones.

All the way through Salesforce had been watching and listening behind the scenes and seeing how this thirst for Architecture knowledge, content and support was needed in the ecosystem. They started to respond by creating Salesforce Architects, headed up by Zayne Turner, who she in turn built a team and website brimming with Architecture supporting materials. 

In September the next phase of surgery to combat any future cancer risks came into play with a full  hysterectomy. Gemma took her surgery well and was healed in time for Dreamforce.  

Dreamforce 2019 was a real turning point for Architects. For the first time, there was an Architect track in the Trailhead zone, and the Ladies Be Architects team was all over it. In addition, a new mascot was launched, introducing Ruth. The LBA were regular members in the new Architect theatre, in addition to other breakout sessions and the obligatory celebration party too. 

It was during Dreamforce 2019 that Gemma started plotting her next adventure. She wanted to run her own business and set up her own consultancy, and so she did. The Architect Club was born. This wasn't a standard format consultancy, of full implementation delivery, instead they wanted to focus on the solution design and advisory for customers. They wanted Salesforce projects to start on their best foot, with the best advice from the beginning and then continue down the best practice path. 

Gemma nurtured and slowly grew TAC during the pandemic, pulling together a band of similarly minded contractors and a few permanent employees, gaining customers, with a leaning towards helping customers with FinancialForce, (now Certinia) implementations. 

If LBA and TAC wasn't enough, during the lockdown of the pandemic Gemma created a Learn Salesforce with Gemma course for those wanting help to get into the ecosystem and was given an award for her Outstanding Contribution to the Salesforce Community from the Digital Revolution Awards and the next year became a judge for the ceremony. 

In April 2021, as the world started to come back from the pandemic, Gemma received the worst news. Her cancer had returned a third time and had spread to other parts of her body. There is no come back from metastatic cancer, it is only about managing the spread and trying to make the best from the time left. For a single mother, the CEO of TAC, a growing business and the founder of LBA a terminal cancer diagnosis was never on the plan. It was devastating news but Gemma took it and moved forward as best she could, 'keep crazy and carry on'.

I remember sitting in the hot tub at her house in October 2021, talking for hours about anything and everything. We talked about her achievements, her regrets, her plans, her energy levels, everything. I came away thinking that if that was my last meaningful conversation with Gemma then that was OK.  I appreciated my one-to-one time with her. Sometimes hot tubs are where you pour out your heart. 

Energy became a critical factor for Gemma. Cancer, and in particular its treatment, is energy sapping. She had to prioritise on what was most important to her. That was mainly her daughter and keeping TAC rolling. But Gemma always had something new that she wanted to play with, and the next project was a book. A GoFundMe was set up in her name which delivered a sizeable contribution, enough to make memories with her daughter and to write the book. 

Easter 2022 was spent in Disneyland Paris with her family, a promise she had made to her daughter and in August her book, Hurricane Gemma was launched. 

It was also in April 22 that I was diagnosed with my own Breast cancer. Gemma and I became 'Chemo buddies', and for a time we were on the same Chemo drug. She scared me with her advanced knowledge on the subject, something that I found difficult to process. At the time we were were on different cancer journeys. In September 2022 Gemma had a retirement party. An opportunity for a select group of the Salesforce Community to come together and celebrate the life and love of all things Gemma. A chance to say thank you. 

Over a year has passed and now we say a final goodbye to Gemma. It's too soon and grossly unfair to see a woman, who was under 40, with so much to give to be taken away from us. 

Gemma named her book Hurricane Gemma. Very apt. She was a whirlwind, a force to be reckoned with. She could never enter a room quietly, her presence and aura were way too large for that. I had come to know her as a friend over the years, which I have greatly appreciated and at times have driven me mad. Let's just say, we had a complex relationship.

I remember the phrase during my time in LBA - Idea / Communicate / Action! The amount of times Gemma would come up with the next great idea and spring into immediate action setting something off. It was only later when she would confess to what she'd been doing, usually after jumping in with both feet. I would try to remind her to communicate to the rest of us about the idea first. But that was Gemma. 

I admired her ability to think up ideas and run with them. To have the courage to try, without any safety net, a true entrepreneur. Sometimes things worked, other times they needed nurturing. Gemma had vision and a gun-ho attitude. Bravery. 

And Gemma had been so brave with her last cancer journey. Not giving up, taking her poison which made her sick, so that she could have some more precious time here with her family and the Salesforce Ohana. Having walked a few steps in Gemma's shoes on a similar cancer journey I really understand how hard that was, and how at some point she had to make the decision to stop and consider how best to use the remaining time wisely. 

So my parting message about Gemma is, a thank you, for being her crazy, outspoken, defiant, funny, clumsy, eccentric self. Someone wrapped up in so much genius and anxiety. An extroverted introvert who could claim a room and make it hers. Someone who defined a movement and changed an industry. She accomplished so much. She leaves an amazing legacy for the Salesforce Community. Gemma is untouchable in that and she will never be forgotten. 

Time has come to for Gemma to choose her own cloud and take a well deserved rest. The Ohana will miss her.