Spotlight on Heather Solomon, SharePoint Rock Star

As SharePoint adoption continues to rise, the overwhelming success of the platform is based on the fundamental idea of connecting people together through collaboration.  If you have been involved in the SharePoint community for any length of time, then you've probably heard the the names of the individuals profiled in the Rock Stars series.  These are the people helping power SharePoint into the mainstream.  While it's no secret that IT is primarily a male-dominated industry, (only 24% of professional IT-related occupations in the 2008 U.S .workforce were held by women) I'm thrilled to announce that our latest Rock Star is our first Rock Starlet!   Among the men stands Heather Solomon, four-time SharePoint MVP, branding guru, and role model to women in SharePoint and technology everywhere, including me.

What do you do for SharePoint Experts as their Director for Creative Services?  

You're a four-time SharePoint MVP.  What's the most satisfying aspect of being a SharePoint consultant who bears the MVP title? 

Being an MVP has helped me in many ways.  I think it does give you a competitive edge with some projects.  But in the end, the skills you possess and services you provide (and how well you perform them) is what creates the most satisfaction.    

What is the most satisfying/challenging part of this job? 

As it seems with a lot of things, both the challenge and the most satisfying part of the job is the people.  Through projects and my classes, I have been able to meet a lot of people and I am always able to learn something from them along the way.  I really like working with universities in particular - they seem to always face a unique challenge of old technology vs. new technology with their staff and students.  I like helping people work out usability issues, I feel that a common sense approach to content organization is often ignored.  

Would you share with our readers your pre-SharePoint technical background? 

I went to art school for graphic design and landed at a dot com after graduation.  There I was taught this crazy thing called HTML.  It was all downhill from there.     I have worked on Web sites and Web applications for over ten years. In addition to your typical marketing Web sites, I have worked on Web interfaces for online banking, CRM, content management, e-commerce and online procurement sites.  I also have a lot of experience with Intranets.  Prior to learning SharePoint, I was supporting classic ASP, .NET and CMS 2002 sites.  

Given your background, was there a particular trigger event that caused you to direct your attentions towards SharePoint? 

I should really be thanking my previous boss for my success in SharePoint!  I was tasked with researching online collaboration tools for internal company use and SharePoint 2003 was one of the products I evaluated.  For my final recommendation, I actually ranked SharePoint 3^rd and wanted to go with another product.  My boss came back and told me to use SharePoint due to our existing license agreement with Microsoft.  I then spent the rest of the summer figuring out how to make the interface look different.  It was that experience that started it all because very little information had been posted at that point about SharePoint branding.  

Besides blogging and working with SharePoint Experts, what's your next challenge?

I am trying to go back to my Web roots and blend the developer world of SharePoint branding with the very non-Microsoft world of CSS and current Web design techniques.   They are very different mindsets and I think they can be combined to create well coded sites and make SharePoint more accessible to a crowd that has historically shunned it.  

What Microsoft events have you lectured at?  Do you recognize yourself as an influential woman in technology?  What do women say to you at events?  Who influences you in the SharePoint space? 

I have been fortunate enough to speak at several conferences such as the Microsoft SharePoint Conference 2008 and TechEd 2008.   Conferences are always interesting experiences because of the people that I get to talk to and the people that take the time to introduce themselves to me.  That is very humbling.  I don't consider myself an influential woman in technology but I have had a few women come up to me and thank me for doing what I do in this "man's world".  That is always a great feeling to get that type of feedback.  Over the years I have actually seen more and more women in the SharePoint space and I think that is fantastic.   There are several people in this industry that I respect.  The SharePoint community is lucky to have a great number of speakers, MVPs, community leaders and end users that take the time to give back for the benefit of all.  

Let's wrap up with a few questions that we like to ask of all SharePoint experts that we talk with, beginning with, what's your favorite feature/functionality of SharePoint? 

What kind of branding person would I be if I didn't say master pages!!  In all seriousness, the addition of master pages completely changed the face of SharePoint branding.

Conversely, what do you feel is SharePoint's biggest weakness/drawback? 

There are many SharePoint tasks that have a multitude of different ways to complete the task. It is both empowering and overwhelming to users. Its flexibility is almost a blessing and a curse, making SharePoint empowering but overwhelming to users.  I think SharePoint could benefit from simplification.

What hobbies or interests do you enjoy indulging in when you're not immersed in the SharePoint ecosystem?   

Well between work and kids, I don't get a lot of indulgence time!  However, when I do hobbies they are usually creative and rarely involve a computer.     I also own horses, which are like large yard ornaments.  

You're a wife and a mother - how do you find the time for everything?  Do you still like to decorate cakes?  What else do you do for fun?

I don't find time for everything I would like to do.  There is always something else that I would like to complete or get done sooner, but at this point in my life I have realized that you can only do what you can do and the rest probably doesn't matter all that much when it comes down to it.   

I rarely do cakes now, my creative hobbies frequently change.  Now I am into quilting.  I am also involved in my kid's activities and stay pretty busy with life and have fun along the way.