I live a double life. Half of my time is spent on tour as a bassist—traveling around the world, playing in front of thousands of people, and going to bed at dawn. The other half of my life is spent behind a desk at Bluewolf—quietly riding the subway with other commuters, recruiting Salesforce professionals for the majority of my waking hours and participating in scrum meetings. And I love it. 

The concept of the “starving musician” is not a myth, especially in New York City. I’m a bassist, and I moved here a few years ago—with only the clothes on my back—to be closer to the Brooklyn-based band I joined, Hunter Valentine. We were touring a lot, but when we were off the road the big apple was quickly eating my savings account. Most of my fellow musicians are in the restaurant industry, but I had only worked in office settings. So, I began the search for an impossibly flexible office job that could work around my tour schedule. As my (seemingly bottomless) good luck would have it, my friend Sydney Dinoto reached out that same week saying she was hiring contract-based sourcers at Bluewolf.  

I didn’t know what Salesforce was. I didn’t know what Bluewolf was. I didn’t even know was a sourcer was, but I did my research and came in for my interview. I was prepared to talk about the cloud computing space with confidence. I hit it off with the talent acquisition team and signed a 3-month, contract role to find qualified candidates for Bluewolf. 

Fast forward to today, two and a half years later. I’m still here! My recruiting teammates are my family, my coworkers around the globe are my friends, and Bluewolf is my second home. 

A lot of companies promote their ability to give you a “work / life balance”. Bluewolf has given me so much more than that. A work / passion balance, a work / dream balance, a work / livelihood balance. Music is my livelihood, and once I proved myself as a hard-worker on the team, I was given the freedom to leave as long as I need to when I’m on tour. 

Bluewolf supports my dream in more ways than one. I’m allowed the flexibility I need, but also my coworkers come to my local shows in full force, screaming my name from the crowd. At my last show, my boss was in the front row wearing my band’s t-shirt, singing the words to our songs and hyping up the audience for us. Thanks, Nick. 

I have talent, but the reality of the music industry is that a lot of us still need day jobs. When I’m home in NYC, my Bluewolf paycheck covers the cost of my subway rides to rehearsals 4-nights a week. It covers my apartment that I’m happy to come home to after weeks of roughing it on the road. It covers travel to bass auditions all over the country. And the best part, Bluewolf is more than just a paycheck to me. I LOVE my “day job,” and am most definitely part of the pack. So, here’s to the work / livelihood balance, and to a company that not only supports, but encourages you to chase your dreams. 

If you're a big dreamer and attending Dreamforce, we'd love to meet you at our recruiting team's happy hour. Not attending? You can still view open positions, apply, and chase your dreams right here. You can also follow Leanne's adventures on her Instagram @leannekbowes and connect with the recruiting team @bluewolf_talent.