Honoured and thrilled for receiving the Microsoft MVP Award for the 3rd consecutive year! Yay!!

Very often people ask me how they can become an MVP. From my experience, the answer is: simply share your knowledge and serve your community with joy without expecting anything in return. Just have fun doing what makes you happy.

In my case, I get excited about the new stuff I learn about Excel and love to spread the news and teach what I learned. I also get super-excited when I get the opportunity to learn from other professionals. My contribution to the community flows naturally from this impulse of wanting to tell the world about Excel and Power Query magic.

There are many ways to contribute and help others. In my case, I publish tutorials on my YouTube channel and blog, I run a space where people interested in learning Excel have the opportunity to get together to learn from each other, and I deliver presentations about Excel and Power Query at various events.

I did not start any of these initiatives with the purpose of becoming an MVP. In fact, I had never even considered that a possibility. (I still catch myself not believing it happened.) The funny thing is that when you act out of excitement and generosity, the universe sends you at least double of what you offered.

I feel overwhelmed when I think of the learning and connection opportunities that happened over the past three years that are somehow related to the MVP program itself or my activities for the community that end up being recognized by that program. The people I have had the opportunity to learn from are the most valuable outcome of all this. Having direct access to the Microsoft Excel team and the other 100 or so Excel MVPs in the world, getting to see the behind-the-scenes of the development of the best piece of software in the world and getting to participate in the discussions that contribute to the product, is a priceless privilege.

I want to thank the Microsoft Excel team for having renewed their trust in my work for another year, and my fellow MVPs for all their support (they are so many that I can’t mention them here,) the MS Excel Toronto Meetup group members and organizing team (Grainne, Vivek and Dick) and all of you who have followed my publications and supported this work with any kind of interaction, helping to improve the content and spread the word to more people.

If you find something helpful, share it with others. You never know when a piece of information can save someone else’s day. And, by the way, I became an MVP for doing exactly this.

I am ready for another year of adventure!