I'm Annemarie Merchant, nice to meet you!

With nearly ten years of hands‑on cloud experience at Insight, Accenture, and TD SYNNEX, I focus on helping organizations drive real digital transformation with clear strategy and solid technical know‑how. I’m currently a Sr. Cloud Solution Engineer for Data & AI at Microsoft, where I help customers unlock the full value of cloud and AI through tailored architectures and engaging technical storytelling.

I am a Microsoft Certified Trainer with certifications across Azure, AI, Power Platform, and Microsoft 365, which go hand-in-hand with my passion for breaking down complex concepts into practical, approachable guidance.

As a millennial mom with ADHD, I thrive in fast‑moving environments and bring empathy, energy, and efficiency to everything I do. Outside of work, I enjoy mentoring, volunteering, and creating inclusive spaces through community workshops. If you’re looking for someone who blends technical expertise with genuine passion, I’d love to connect and collaborate.

Latest Posts

How To Pass Microsoft Exams and Actually Keep Them

Microsoft exams are a bit like debugging someone else's code. You feel optimistic at the start, confused in the middle, and victorious at the end once you realize everything finally makes sense. The certification landscape keeps evolving, and staying certified requires knowing both how to pass the exams and how renewals work each year. This guide breaks down practical strategies, realistic study timelines, what expires and what does not, plus up‑to‑date links to the newest ex

2 days ago3 min read

Meet the New Fabric Data Agent (Preview)

The Fabric Data Agent is a conversational AI feature in Microsoft Fabric that lets users ask natural language questions about organizational data and get accurate answers from a coworker who actually reads documentation. It works across data in lakehouses, warehouses, Power BI semantic models, KQL databases, and Fabric ontologies. The mission is to make data exploration simple because SQL is brilliant but not everyone wants to write a CTE during a meeting. To use it, you need

Jan 142 min read

Fabric IQ - The Drama-Free Data Estate

Disclaimer: At the date of this post, IQ and Ontology are still in preview, and this post reflects the current capabilities available for Azure Commercial environments. When a preview feature is delegated, it can be enabled by a capacity admin for that capacity. Working with enterprise data can feel complicated, so it helps when a platform like Microsoft Fabric IQ Preview brings clarity by giving your data a shared layer of meaning. Instead of teams each having their own defi

Dec 30, 20252 min read