It's hard to believe that over eight years have passed since I started working with Cisco. Along the way, I learned so much from peers, the industry, and about myself. As I get ready to pursue a new adventure outside of Cisco, I wanted to share some key learnings I think may be helpful to other digital and social media professionals and give a shout out to a few people!

Top 5 Learnings for Any Digital and Social Media Professional

• Carve out an individual online persona that is true to yourself and is relatable to the audience.
  • We all have expertise to offer in our roles and throughout the socialsphere. Share this knowledge and make an impact in a collaborative way. It may take time, so patience is a must. Look for ways to share and interact with others, where ever its most comfortable for you. (I personally find LinkedIn, Twitter, blogging, and Pinterest to help me create and develop these relationships.)
• Be creative, innovative, and daring...risk-taking with careful consideration can be very powerful!
  • While more cautious by nature, digital and social media taught me to take calculated risks, pilot new ideas, and learn from trial and error. Great example... creating the Cisco Global Events Social Mobile app definitely was a new experience for the entire organization. However, with the help of mobile experts @DoubleDutch's @lawrencecoburn and @therealpankaj, it seemed a lot less overwhelming and very rewarding!
• Get involved in the conversation and put yourself out there.
  • When I first started using social media for business, I submerged myself in Twitter chats such as#smchat and#socialmedia. True social leaders in this space like @Tacanderson, @wileyccoyote, @SourcePOV, @dc2fla, and @hacool helped me pave the way and learn about digital and social at warp speed in weekly discussions.
• Go after what you want, regardless of daunting work ahead.
  • I have always been curious about technology, always asking whatever team I am on "what about this..." or "perhaps we can try out that...". This curiosity led me into a social media stretch assignment which then turned into an actual role in the organization. While it was volunteer double-work for a while, working with @BrianEllefritz, @BillRobbSAP, and @SteffyMarx provided great guidance and opportunities that opened my eyes to the possibilities.
• Find opportunities to lead initiatives and impact the business.
  • In my final role at Cisco, I managed the Cisco Social Media Training program. (Thank you to those that have supported this program along the way!) This was a very fulfilling role for me because it gave me an opportunity to be creative, push myself strategically, and develop a new way to conduct business learning.
  • I am thankful for the chance to meet with customers and partners, work with executives like @ralamedd, @lanceperrycisco, @sinclairCisco, among many others...and for the openness @Petra1400 and @JeanetteG provided along the way to allow me to implement new ideas and tinker with different strategies.
  • Lastly, I'm proud to have built the Cisco Social Media Training Center, collaborating with @Petra1400 and @Kmgibbs and working with the great @On24 learning platform team. This initiative gave me the opportunity to take all of the best of what we created internally and bring it to life in a whole new way externally.

All in all, it's been a great journey and one with many life lessons for me. Thank you for continuing to  engage with the#Ciscosmt team and for making this learning opportunity even more meaningful. The social world is actually quite connected and I look forward to continuing the conversations and journey with you as we move forward.

Cisco Social Media Training Program Opportunity:

If you have any questions or are interested in other types of social media training, check out our complimentary Cisco Social Media Training Program and follow the#ciscosmt hashtag.  To request  customized one-on-one team training sessions, email [email protected].