Julia Khon started her career in finance when she completed her BS in a state university in Minnesota. The decision to start Salesforce practice, Una Buro, didn’t start until after she had decided on a career change. “I worked for several international companies prior to starting Una Buro. It was after working for one of the largest telecom companies in Canada, that I made the decision to go in another direction with my career. A friend of mine who was running a shelter at the time for women and children needed help setting up a database. I helped the shelter with the knowledge I had garnered over the years and used Salesforce skills to setup a volunteer management system. The experience of helping was fulfilling. That’s when I started Una Buro”. When asked how Una Buro differed from other companies she’d previously worked for, Khon said “they were large-scale companies with a lot of bureaucratic processes and a heavy workload with little purpose. I wanted Una Buro to be a place where we focus on the people, clients AND employees. I believe if a business is an uplifting and a happy place to work, employees will put out their best efforts everyday.” With her experience with past employers, it taught Khon how she wanted to run her own business. “I had experience of working for big corporations and a startup. I saw how organization were run and I wanted to be different. Life is too short, so it is important to enjoy and be proud of the work we do. Don’t put your life and happiness on hold for a job in hopes it might be a bit better later” said Khon.
Indeed, it’s an admirable quality for any company to emphasize employees’ happiness. Differentiating themselves from the competition, Una Buro prides itself on not chasing revenue but rather chasing the mission. “Our mission is to help small and medium non-profit organizations to level the technology playing field. We’ve had many opportunities to join big organizations and work on big projects with a lot of visibility. We had to go back to them and tell them that we wouldn’t be able to work with them because our focus is to help smaller organizations succeed”.
Earlier on in her Salesforce career Khon said she and her team had to adopt the habits of absorbing knowledge at a fast pace. “In a matter of weeks, I had to learn new technical skills such as how to configure, program and design business processes. Still today, more than 4 years after our first project, the learning continues and I love it. Everyday day we learn something new. In fact, it is a requirement for the team and myself to acquire new knowledge and skills”. With Salesforce being the leading and fastest growing CRM in the world, learning opportunities and demand are in abundance. “During the onset of the pandemic organization were under extreme pressure put in place digital solutions to continue their mission, to ensure services were provided to most vulnerable. For our team it was extremely rewarding to know that our work was facilitating continued services to those who were hit the hardest by the pandemic.”. When it comes to motivation for herself and her team Khon says “My motivation to keep going is seeing the impact of our work has on our clients; whether its helping shelters manage their emergency operations or helping a food bank to be more efficient with their food basket distributions; we see the larger story.”
When it comes to working in a MetSpace office Khon says “the space is bright, members are friendly, and the culture of the place is professional yet relaxed – an ideal combination for a creative environment. We enjoy our office and being able to personalize it makes it a place we want to come to every day”.