First, I'll explain why I changed my name. In addition to that, I tell you some details about me and share links to stuff on the web that is associated with my former name "Markus Slabina". I do this just to make it easier for you to find this when searching for my new name. If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to me via email.
This decision wasn't an easy one at first! I did think about my future name and the traditions of changing one's name after a wedding a lot. Just some things that were on my mind: How will this affect my career? How about my publications under my old name? What about my personal brand? — And even more personal ones: What will my family and friends think? What about my colleagues and customers? Will they react negatively because I am acting against the traditions and against what is expected of men?
But when thinking about all that I asked myself: How on earth can I expect the love of my life to change her name when I have all these concerns?! Just because it "has always been that way"? And why should I let myself be forced into these gender stereotypes? No, not happening!
Considering all the facts and what is most practical, it was also clear to me that changing my name to "Markus Dang" was the right decision:
| Dang | Slabina | Slabina-Dang | both keep names | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shortness | + | ~ | — | ~ |
| Name complexity (with firstnames) | + | + | —— | + |
| Easiness to spell | + | —— | ~ | |
| Effort for rebranding & new documents | ~ | ~ | — | + |
| Sign of belonging together | + | + | + | —— |
| Naming for children | + | + | — | —— |
| .at-Domain availability 😉 | + | — | + | ~ |
I currently work as a "cross-cloud architect / consultant" in the Marketing Automation and CRM (Customer Relationship Management) field. So what I do is essentially helping my customers set up systems to provide their customers with a great customer experience. To achieve this companies need to transform from traditional business with siloed data towards a 360-degree view of their customers that can be utilized across departments (Sales, Service, Marketing, etc.).
And all this I achieve for my customers at DIGITALL by trusting Salesforce, one of the market leaders in that area, and their products. With my main focus area being "Salesforce Marketing Cloud" and the Salesforce CRM (Sales / Service Cloud).
To find out more about my professional life, follow me or send me an invite to connect on LinkedIn.
In 2020 Salesforce first recognized me as a "Marketing Champion" and welcomed me to their Champions program. That's due to my expertise with their Marketing Automation platform "Salesforce Marketing Cloud" and because of my activities where I give back to the Trailblazer Community. I do this by writing about technical topics on my blog, publishing related content on my YouTube channel, doing webinars, publishing on the official Salesforce blog, speaking at events and answering questions on Salesforce StackExchange.
Here you can find related resources:
In my spare time I love travelling the world and learning about other cultures. I'm also an aviation afficionado and enjoy discovering interesting routes across the globe and of course great deals - like the "Round the World" ticket I secured for my wife and myself for the not even half the air fare usually reqired to travel from Europe to Asia.
My adventures include the mentioned Round the World trip, flying a small plane myself, urban exploring on an abandoned international airport, trips to volcanos,... And there is still so much more I'd like to explore! To share my adventures I also upload some of my best pictures on Shutterstock, so go check them out!
I used to compete in motorsports and also worked for a motorsports team as Head of IT previously. My main passion when it comes to motorsports is rally! I participated in several national and international events and secured some podium finishes and even one or the other win. Here are some of my best results: