Melissa Lupu

(she/her)

Melissa Lupu

Salesforce

Technical Architect

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Melissa is a Technical Architect at Salesforce with a passion for understanding complexity and turning it into scalable and accurate solutions. She brings together hands-on platform knowledge, industry experience, and curiosity for how things work beneath the surface. Her journey into tech began after secondary school at Ada, where exposure to industry partnerships and mentorship opened her eyes to paths beyond traditional software engineering. Through a Salesforce mentor, she began to build confidence in conversations that once felt intimidating, while discovering the world of technical consulting. Melissa joined Salesforce as a Solution Engineer Degree Apprentice, spending three years developing skills across key industries including retail, financial services and consumer goods. After completing her apprenticeship, she became drawn to deepen her technical expertise and understand the platform at a greater level. That ambition led her to become a Technical Architect at 22, combining hands-on industry experience with a strong technical background.

Sessions

Avril Couper

Julie Palmer

Jayda Aboelata

Moumita Grimm

Melissa Lupu

From Classroom to AI-Native: How the Next Generation is Entering and Shaping the Workforce

This session brings together Salesforce apprentices and programme leadership to give a real, ground-level view of what it actually looks like to enter the workforce today. Through a mix of lived experience and practical examples, the panel will explore how young people are navigating the transition from education into industry, and how AI is already shaping the way they work from day one. It will contrast early-stage perspectives with those further into the programme, showing how quickly capability develops when given the right environment. Alongside this, the session will open up the bigger picture around digital and AI skills in the UK. It will touch on the gap between education and employment, the misconceptions around “digital natives”, and the role programmes like Future Trailblazers are playing in closing that gap. Importantly, this is not theoretical. It’s a real view into how an organisation like Salesforce is embedding AI into everyday workflows, from tools like Slack and automation through to how individuals are learning, operating and contributing. The aim is to give students, educators, and industry leaders a clearer, more honest understanding of what pathways actually look like today, and where the opportunities really are.

Avril Couper

Julie Palmer

Jayda Aboelata

Moumita Grimm

Melissa Lupu

From Classroom to AI-Native: How the Next Generation is Entering and Shaping the Workforce

This session brings together Salesforce apprentices and programme leadership to give a real, ground-level view of what it actually looks like to enter the workforce today. Through a mix of lived experience and practical examples, the panel will explore how young people are navigating the transition from education into industry, and how AI is already shaping the way they work from day one. It will contrast early-stage perspectives with those further into the programme, showing how quickly capability develops when given the right environment. Alongside this, the session will open up the bigger picture around digital and AI skills in the UK. It will touch on the gap between education and employment, the misconceptions around “digital natives”, and the role programmes like Future Trailblazers are playing in closing that gap. Importantly, this is not theoretical. It’s a real view into how an organisation like Salesforce is embedding AI into everyday workflows, from tools like Slack and automation through to how individuals are learning, operating and contributing. The aim is to give students, educators, and industry leaders a clearer, more honest understanding of what pathways actually look like today, and where the opportunities really are.