Career Journey Stories
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What does a construction executive turned tech entrepreneur have in common with a graduate student who dreamed of teaching? Or a banking architect in Luxembourg with someone who stumbled into tech from a help desk job in Calgary? On the surface, not much. But each found their way to the ServiceNow AI platform - and none of their lives have been the same since.
Every year, ServiceNow University shares real career journeys from across the ecosystem. Not polished success stories, but honest accounts of risk, reinvention, and the quiet moment someone realizes they're capable of more. This year's cohort spans Tokyo to Bangalore, London to Luxembourg. Their stories prove that in the age of AI, the path looks different for everyone - but the destination is worth it.
Aya Tanaka | Superpower: Human connection
From retail floors to global consulting
Aya grew up working retail in Japan - a world away from enterprise tech. But the skills she built on the shop floor (reading people, clear communication, staying customer-focused) gave her an edge the moment she entered the ServiceNow ecosystem. Now a consultant and champion for women in tech, she's building AI skills while raising her family, proving no background is too non-technical to make the leap.
Yudai Nakamura | Superpower: Purpose-driven problem solving
He wanted to help teachers. ServiceNow gave him the tools
Yudai set out to become a teacher, frustrated that the educators he admired were drowning in paperwork. Discovering the ServiceNow Academic Program changed everything. Despite little IT background, he became a developer, earned company-wide recognition for his first major projects, and had a breakthrough at a hackathon that once felt impossible. Purpose, it turns out, is a more powerful career accelerator than a perfect resume.
Kristin Jones | Superpower: Relentless curiosity She accidentally found her calling
Twelve years later, she's leading the way
Kristin planned to be a high school teacher. Then her team migrated to ServiceNow during the Dublin release - and her career quietly transformed. Over 12 years of certifications, Knowledge conferences, and collaboration, she became the leader reinventing how an entire school district delivers support. She never set out to be a tech leader. She became one by following her curiosity and never stopping.
Santi Lauw | Superpower: Contagious ambition She earned her CTA
Then she brought her whole family with her
Santi became a Certified Technical Architect - and then things got remarkable. Inspired by her journey, her two high school sons earned their own CTA certifications, becoming among the youngest in the world to do so. Her lawyer husband pursued multiple certifications to keep up. When her company was acquired, the family turned their collective expertise into their own consulting practice. One person's ambition became a multi-generational ServiceNow business.
Shreya Wani | Superpower: Making the complex joyful
From shy student to India's trailblazing ServiceNow MVP
Shreya was a reserved college student in Pune when she first encountered ServiceNow. Certification by certification - CSA, CAD, CIS — each opened a new door into AI skills she now uses every day. She became the first woman to host a ServiceNow Developer Meetup in India, took the stage in five cities, and is the country's third female Community MVP. Her signature move: designing games where participants match movie scenes to ServiceNow features. With her sights on a CTA, her message is simple: you are not alone.
Shivalika Gupta | Superpower: Architect's instinct
The mindset that separates good from great
Shivi doesn't just ask how do I fix this - she asks what's the right way to solve this long-term. That instinct to think like an architect, and to use AI to build smarter rather than just faster, earned her recognition as a ServiceNow Rising Star. Outside work she takes craft classes and reads widely, finding the same joy in creating things as she did writing her first line of code. Now a mentor, she's passing on the mindset: great careers aren't built on quick fixes. They're built on doing things right.
Meesh Miller | Superpower: Turning reinvention into opportunity
She built a ServiceNow business from scratch — and brought others with her
After 20+ years in construction and HR, overseeing 115 people, Meesh hit a crossroads with zero tech experience. A ServiceNow skilling program in 2022 changed everything. She conquered scripting and coding, earned 216+ ServiceNow achievements, and completed paths in App Development, Project Management, and Platform Owner. Her HR and ops background turned out to be exactly what the platform rewards. Today she's co-founder and CEO of her own ServiceNow Partner company - mentoring underrepresented young people in tech along the way.
Jacques Clement | Superpower: Conviction under pressure
The pioneer who bet on a 30-person startup. And won
In 2008, Jacques was a 20-year managed services veteran at a 50,000-person company. ServiceNow had 30 employees. One meeting with co-founders Fred Luddy and Pat Casey was all it took. What followed was one of the ecosystem's most ambitious early deployments: six global service centers, five continents, two young children at home, and two years of internal opposition to push through. Eighteen certifications and a Certified Master Architect credential later, he's a Chief Architect still studying, still mentoring — proof that in the AI era, curiosity and honesty matter more than where you started.
Your story is next.
Eight careers. Eight completely different starting points. A teacher who became a developer. A construction executive who became a CEO. A retail worker who became a global consultant. A family that became a consulting firm.
What they share isn't a background in technology. It's a decision to take one step, learn one thing, and keep going.
The ServiceNow ecosystem is one of the fastest-growing in enterprise technology - and AI is accelerating every part of it. ServiceNow University exists to make sure the door is open to anyone willing to walk through it.
