I received a Microsoft MVP Award, thanks to my Mom

I got a nice Hanukkah present from Microsoft this year. On December 1, 2017, I received an email from Microsoft telling me that I have received the Most Valuable Professional (MVP) Award.

According to Microsoft, “this award is given to exceptional technical community leaders who share their remarkable passion, real-world knowledge, and technical expertise with others through demonstration of exemplary commitment.” I am honored that Microsoft recognized my passion for SharePoint, knowledge and expertise that I am so happy to share with others via my blog and webinars! I do not take this award for granted. Publishing educational blog posts is a lot of work and stakes are even higher now with the Award :-)

Here is an award email I received…

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I want to thank Simran Chaudhry, MVP Community Program Manager for help with my application and submission to the award committee. I also want to thank and recognize Rez Khamis for nominating my name to the award review committee.

I was never spoiled by the awards in my life. As I went through kindergarten, school, college and then graduate school, I never got any awards. There were all these kids who were better than me, who got the award for being the best in judo, best in math, best in science or had the best GPA. I never had any of that. I always remained this quiet introvert in funny glasses who was never good enough for an award :cry: . The lousy curse was broken the year I turned 40 years old – in November 2016 I got the first award in my life: my SharePoint Blog was recognized as the best blog on the web by European SharePoint Community.

This second award of my life – MVP award from Microsoft also feels special. I grew up in the former Soviet Union, raised by a single mom. Due to the grim economic environment in 1990’s, she was brave enough to take our family and emigrate to the country of opportunities – the United States. Throughout my childhood and especially after we moved to the US, she instilled two very important qualities in me: hard work and patience. She led by example, working extra hard to make sure the family had food on the table. As for me, I can safely say, that if it were not for her, there would not be SharePoint Maven or any of these awards  – my blog and my business simply are not possible without lots of patience and hard work.

So, I devote this award to you, Mom! We did it together. Patience and hard work are paying off!

With my Mom, Regina, December 2017