It’s been a journey of transition for Kerrin Pepper, Customer Success Manager at Dynamic Technologies group company Upper Sigma, a position she thrives in. She didn’t start out on the corporate path, though. She began her professional life as a teacher in South Africa, graduating cum laude from the University of the Witwatersrand with a Bachelor of Education. Her move to Upper Sigma was as much about serendipity as it was about taking a leap of faith.
The journey from teacher to Customer Success Manager is not as unusual as you might think. In her current position, Kerrin is responsible for enabling her clients to achieve a smooth transition along with the optional adoption of a new Salesforce and Sigma Lifecycle Manager CRM system. It is her job to ensure optimal value add and success for Upper Sigma’s clients.
It's not so different to teaching, she says. “It’s all about taking a journey together. Whether it be teaching a child how to read – starting with the alphabet and transitioning into reading words and sentences; or being involved in the change management process – watching clients adopt new processes, assisting in building a system better suited to their specific needs, and helping them be more productive and efficient – building meaningful relationships is what drives me.”
Her journey into teaching started well before she left school. “My mother was a teacher and a principal in South Africa,” she explains. “I spent many happy hours playing teacher-teacher. Later, I would study by writing notes all over my mirror, explaining it to myself as I went. I have clearly always enjoyed talking far too much and enjoy the sound of my own voice! I was torn between studying education or a Bachelor of Commerce, but ultimately chose teaching. I specialised in early childhood development and upon completing my degree I taught grade one for two years at Northcliff Primary School.”
In 2019 Kerrin married and her husband moved to the UK while she stayed to finish out the school year. Once in the UK, Kerrin took up a position teaching year two at a school in London – an interesting yet fulfilling transition. But something was missing. She says, “I couldn’t escape the thought that moving to a new country presented an opportunity for both professional and personal growth. I had always wondered about the corporate world, so I decided that all I needed was a little bravery to change my career path, so I took the plunge.”
Making such a big life change was difficult, and Kerrin knew she needed to find the right fit with a company that would value her particular set of transferable skills. Kerrin discovered Trailhead, the Salesforce Ecosystem platform that allows any user to learn Salesforce for free. Kerrin explains: “Upper Sigma saw value in what I had to offer, and I started as an in-house recruiter. This was a great opportunity for me to learn about the technical side of things quickly as I was thrown into interviews very early on. The Upper Sigma team have been amazing in embracing my transition from teaching and, through frequent and open discussions with them about where I wanted to go and what I wanted to do, I ended up moving quite organically into customer success.”
Changing careers is by no means easy, admits Kerrin, but it was worth it. She says, “This journey has given me the opportunity to learn about myself. I was out of my comfort zone, and it took a while to overcome that imposter syndrome mentality, but I knew enough to know what I didn’t want out of a career, and that was a good starting point. I’m glad I took that leap of faith.”