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I was on the 21st floor of the Hilton Hotel in San Francisco, looking out over an expansive view of the city, musing on how my life had changed from one of a scared and uninformed mom of a very sick child, to one of a rare disease advocate giving voice to a national audience.

Last month, I had the opportunity to attend LinkedIn’s Global Sales Kickoff to speak with 2,000 of their employees about how LinkedIn changed my life and the lives of 1 in 10 American patients who are affected by rare diseases.

Ever since my book, Found in Translation, came out this past October, people have been asking me how I landed a major publisher. My response: I sent a pitch via LinkedIn.

For many years, I had been pitching my book concept to publishers. Like many authors, I believed in my idea. I worked with an agent, who pitched my proposal to all the major New York publishers using traditional methods to no avail. After years with no success, I terminated the agreement with my agent.

In May 2012, I was one of the many new college graduates to finish school unemployed. Not knowing what to do with myself, I moved in with my parents, applied to jobs, ate Spaghetti-Os and watched all seven seasons of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Not exactly a resume filler for an aspiring marketer!

Like every twenty-something with a problem, I turned to the internet. With a combination of blogging, social media and “inbound job hunting”, I was thrilled to land my dream job at HubSpot, the all-in-one marketing software company on a mission to make marketing people love. This is my story.

Editor’s Note: Building Excellent Schools is part of the LinkedIn Board Member Connect program which helps nonprofit leaders easily identify connections to potential board members. Sign up for the next LinkedIn Board Member Connect webinar on February 7th.

On the first Sunday morning of 2013, I found myself in the inaugural meeting of the founding board of directors for a proposed public charter school. Seated around a long table in a sunshine-filled conference room, the six board members introduced themselves, and over plates of eggs, black beans, and rice, shared how they had come to join the team. One by one, each thanked the proposed school’s founder for inviting them to join the board, and one member thanked LinkedIn. Exchanging a knowing glance and chuckle with his colleagues around the table, the member reminded us that every individual on this board had been identified through an exhaustive search on LinkedIn.