My Microsoft Excel Love Story

Published: November 20, 2025 • 6 min read

Picture this: a 14-year-old girl in a room with 9 other adults, the youngest of these adults probably being in their mid-thirties, all seated for an "in-depth training on Microsoft Excel" for those who use Excel a lot at work.

Now you may be wondering, what was a 14-year-old doing at this training?

Well, here goes the full story!

The Path I Was "Supposed" to Take

Where I come from, after completing Grade 9, you have to choose a domain to sort of "specialize" in from Grades 10 through 12. These domains are Science, Business, and Humanities/Arts. I chose the Science domain, and at this time, I was sure I was going to go to Medical School and become a medical doctor.

Then everything changed in Grade 10, simply because I did not like Biology. It was frankly too bulky for me. I felt the same way about Chemistry the moment we moved away from the calculation-based topics like Stoichiometry.

But you see Mathematics, and the new course which I had started, "Further Mathematics"... I was glued to those subjects. I talk more about that in the blog post where I discussed the YouTube channel I started at 16 to teach mathematics.

The Pivot

This was hard to admit, both to myself and my parents, because everyone concluded that I was simply going to become a medical doctor. However, as I had to stop lying to myself, I started researching: what can I do with Mathematics?

After countless YouTube videos, I found the answer. My one true calling (or so I thought at the moment). I was going to become an Actuarial Scientist. Everything about this profession to me at the time was exactly what I wanted to dedicate the rest of my life to doing.

I broke the news to my parents and frankly, they got scared. Where I come from, only 3 professions exist in the eyes of my parents' generation: Medical Doctor, Lawyer, or Engineer.

But I somehow managed to convince them to pay for me to attend this in-depth training on Excel and Power BI that I found online. It was going to be a 2-day conference (or 4 days? My memory is fuzzy on this detail).

Why I Felt Behind at 14

Here's the thing about those YouTube videos I watched on becoming an Actuarial Scientist. They made me feel behind even though I was only just concluding Grade 10.

Apparently this was a really hard field and I had to get started immediately if I wanted any chance of succeeding in it. Every video I watched said I had to start by mastering Excel, so I googled for a training on Excel and I found the one I attended.

The Youngest Person in the Room

Of course the host, Michael Olafusi, was confused. Why was a 14-year-old registering for this course? I'm pretty sure at that time he wished he had put an age limit on the course.

But anyways, I managed to get enrolled for the conference and then, as expected, he underestimated me, which is completely understandable. He didn't want a 14-year-old to slow down the training program, so he gave me full access to his Udemy course on Business Data Analysis with Microsoft Excel. This was the beginning of my journey with Udemy.

He wanted me to at least go through the first few sections of the online course to better understand the nature of the training program.

I Finished It in 2 Days

If you see the work I've done on this website and think to yourself, "wow, she's really intense," you are absolutely right. I am and have always been intense when it comes to learning. If there is something new to be learned that interests me, my intensity is only limited by what my human body can handle.

I finished the course in 2 days.

It was me and my computer against the world, and let me tell you, my mind was blown!

What I Learned

My tiny little 14-year-old brain was opened to possibilities I had never even thought of:

Complex functions like VLOOKUP, HLOOKUP, and INDEX-MATCH
Dynamic reports and dashboards that updated automatically
Advanced uses of basic functions like multi-level sorting
Dynamic charts and graphs by combining functions in creative ways
Keyboard shortcuts that made me feel like a wizard
PivotTables (still one of my favorite Excel features)

There were also some sections about VBA, but to be frank with you, I never paid too much attention to VBA. I was mesmerized by Excel itself.

The Conference

So when the conference started, I already knew almost everything he talked about during the workshop.

Now that I reflect on that, I probably made those adults uncomfortable with the speed at which I followed along. But oh well. It was fun!!! That was the highlight of my holiday.

Till today, when I see people using Microsoft Excel and not taking advantage of its amazing functionalities, I itch. But I stay calm. I always stay calm.

Why I'm Telling This Story Now

Well, I just heard that Claude is now in Excel.

You know that there is no way I am not getting my hands dirty with that.

I just learned about this last night and the possibilities flooding my head right now are endless. You know by now that I am on a mission to becoming a Claude God, and Excel must not be left out of that.

My Current Priorities

Right now, I'm focused on:

Finish editing the English video for the launch of Version 2.0 of the FWP app
Record and edit the French video for the same launch
Complete the HR Hub Design Showcase project
Begin the Case Study on LLM Instance Cloning for people with Dyscalculia

As I work through all of this, I'm going to let the ideas flooding my head for working with Claude and Excel keep taking form. But I am definitely getting back to it.

When I do, whatever I work on will be linked here

As always, thanks for reading!