Short Intensive Courses (e.g. Kaggle x Google Gen AI): Short intensives give you concentrated exposure and momentum for testing new skills quickly without a long commitment.
Breaking Into Data Science Without a Formal Background: Credibility comes from consistency like personal projects and public contributions.
Overlaps Between Draco Work and Academic Research: Even across different domains, problem-solving patterns, experimental design, and data fluency often connect the dots unexpectedly.
Most Rewarding Part of Life Science Research Role at Stanford: The dual impact of advancing human health while constantly learning.
Consulting to Data Science: Structured thinking and stakeholder empathy are just as critical in data science as they are in consulting.
Choosing Tools in Evolving Environments: Letting the problem dictate the method.
Mentoring vs. Judging at Hackathons:The key is timing to guide with empathy, clarity, and fairness during and at the end of the process.
Personal Interests Shaping Professional Identity: Integrating personal passions into professional life makes your work more authentic, relatable, and impactful.
Community STEAM Access: Bringing STEAM into community spaces helps break barriers to access and makes learning feel more approachable and inclusive.
Engaging Young Minds: Making STEAM fun, hands-on, and adaptable across ages keeps young learners curious and engaged.
Designing for All: Teaching across educational stages informs the creation of activities that are both developmentally appropriate and universally exciting.
Future of STEAM: The future of STEAM education depends on creativity, accessibility, and community-driven initiatives like Amazelab.
IT Support Misconceptions: She shares the surprising fulfillment and common misconceptions about working in IT at IKEA.
Women in Tech: She explains why women-centered tech spaces still matter and how they empower community in 2025.
Event Impact: She reflects on the feedback and moments that make hosting events like Tech Trivia Night worthwhile.
Data-Driven Mindset: She discusses how real business outcomes at Costa Coffee reshaped her approach to problem-solving.
Purposeful Multitasking: Running both a coffee brand and a creative/engineering career requires finding shared values that guide work across disciplines.
Pivoting with Purpose:The shift from physics to analytics was driven by curiosity and a desire for real-world impact, revealing unexpected similarities like problem-solving and system thinking.
Cross-Functional Shift: Transitioning from production to a cross-functional role meant learning to balance hands-on expertise with broader team coordination and communication.
Lessons from a year of transformation: After a year of meeting over 1,000 people, Manik reflects on the most surprising personal and professional lessons that shaped his growth and leadership.
Scaling beyond courses: Shares how insights from the “Anyone Can Build a Community” course helped him grow Girls Leading Tech from just 5 participants to over 1,900 members, and how intentional community-building fueled that exponential growth.
Redefining what it means to work in tech: Taking a ‘nontraditional’ path with confidence.
Teen Skill Gaps: Teens often struggle most with self-doubt and direction bridging that gap means building confidence through exposure and mentorship, not just hard skills.
Leadership vs. Creativity: True collaboration thrives when structured leadership is balanced with space for creativity and diverse thinking styles.
Resumes & Communication: A standout resume quietly tells a story, and confident public speaking starts with authenticity, not perfection.
Online Student Guidance: Offering advice online helps build an ecosystem of peer learning, reminding us that education is communal and constantly evolving.
Real-World Spark: Early exposure to how data can uncover hidden patterns in social issues inspired a passion for using it as a tool for change.
Building Carpe Datum: Starting the podcast and community stemmed from a desire to humanize data science.
Leading as a Student: A key challenge was listening first and leading with empathy.
Data for Tough Topics: Data gives young people a credible voice to explore hard conversations like mental health, making abstract issues harder to ignore.
For the Unsure: Data science isn’t just for coders; it’s a creative, problem-solving space anyone curious about the world can grow into.
Inside the Northwestern Prison Education Program: Mena shares her role as a volunteer, what it’s like teaching inside correctional facilities, and how data could help evaluate or improve such programs.
Founding Women in Statistics at Northwestern: The story behind launching the group, how it created community, and how it led to her regional ambassador role with Women in Data Science (WiDS) Chicago.
Why Statistics?: A personal look into what drew her to pursue a Ph.D. in statistics especially in relation to social impact, health, and criminology.
Accessible Data Education: Reflections on teaching statistics and data visualization to visually impaired students key takeaways on making data truly inclusive.
Data Science with Heart: How Mena connects data science to real-world issues, community service, and education and why those connections matter now more than ever.
Link to WiDS Chicago: https://widschicago.org/
In this special Season 3 recap of Carpe Datum, we revisit 12 inspiring conversations with women who are shaping the future of data science. From AI innovation and healthcare analytics to digital storytelling, career reinvention, and advocacy in STEM, each guest brought unique insights and impact. Join us as we celebrate their journeys and reflect on the powerful themes of growth, mentorship, and making data meaningful.
Building Professional Relationships: Insights into how Maheen has built strong professional connections, leading to numerous recommendations on LinkedIn, and tips for fostering meaningful professional relationships.
Volunteering in Data Science: Advice for data professionals on leveraging their AI/ML expertise in volunteer work, making a meaningful impact, and transitioning into the volunteer space effectively.
Navigating Challenges in Healthcare Data: Lessons learned from working on statistical modeling for health insurance clients, strategies for addressing privacy concerns, and training teams to apply machine learning to real-world problems.
Website: https://red-dune-0cd91cf0f.4.azurestaticapps.net/#home
- Statistics in Community Services and Education: Discuss the application of statistical principles in optimizing local garden projects, enhancing public health initiatives, and improving educational programs at universities like UC Berkeley.
- Statistics and Personal Growth: Explore how statistical methods can offer insights into personal growth stories, such as those discussed in Soyoung’s Medium articles on career transitions.
- Data-Driven Business Strategy: Review how Soyoung’s experiences at companies like Walmart, Honeywell, Abercrombie & Fitch, and Foot Locker have influenced her approach to integrating data insights into strategic decision-making.
- Engagement with Leading Voices: Consider impactful questions Soyoung might ask industry leaders like Allie K. Miller and Carly Taylor, and discuss the value she finds in coffee chats and professional networking.
Data Storytelling and Practical Advice: Maggie discusses how she uses storytelling in her newsletter to inspire and support aspiring data professionals and shares a project that significantly impacted her approach.
Impact of Volunteer Work: Maggie reflects on her roles as a WiDS Ambassador, Mentorship Organizer at Data Angels, and Social Media Manager for MeasureCamp Chicago, and the rewards of supporting young women in data science.
Balancing Technical and User Experience: Maggie describes her work at American Express Global Business Travel on the Egencia platform, focusing on how she balances technical tasks with improving user experience and highlights a project she’s particularly proud of.
Surprising Data Stories: Maggie shares a memorable and surprising data story, explaining how it altered people's perception of the information.
Data Angels Network: https://www.dataangels.org/home
Use of Newsletters: Discuss how following the newsletters ‘Hiring For Tech’ and ‘Artificial Intelligence’ has influenced Riya's approach to data science projects and interview preparation.
Returning to Microsoft: Explore Riya’s experience taking a break from Microsoft to go back to school, how it changed her perspective, and the new skills or lessons she brought back.
Research Impact: Insights into Vaibhava's research on knowledge graphs, machine intelligence, IoT, and stock price forecasting, including challenges and rewards in transforming research into publications.
Community Engagement: Experiences and impact of roles as an ambassador for Women in Data Science, Pie and AI, and Adobe, and strategies for balancing tech education promotion with community connections.
Integration of Skills: How diverse coursework in machine learning, NLP, data manipulation, and time series analysis is applied to current projects and research, and the influence of specific courses or concepts on problem-solving.
Internship Experience: How various internships in AI and data science have shaped Vaibhava's problem-solving approach and the balance between learning from different environments and contributing effectively to projects.
LinkedIn Success: Strategies for gaining a large following and becoming a top AI voice on LinkedIn.
Computational Humor and Context: Role of context in pun interpretation by language models and the impact of language ambiguity on pun recognition.
Irony Detection in Tweets: Distinguishing types of irony (e.g., sarcasm) in tweets and the challenges of detecting irony in short, informal texts.
AI in Enterprise Solutions: Evolution of AI and Machine Learning roles in enterprise solutions over the years based on Madiha's career progression.
In celebration of International Women's Day, this special episode brings together influential women leading the charge in Data Science and AI. Hosted by WiDS TT and WiDS San Jose Youth, join us for a compelling fireside chat featuring women trailblazers sharing their insights on navigating and excelling in these dynamic fields.
Tune in as our guests discuss:
- actionable strategies for breaking into Data Science and AI
- explore valuable resources like mentorship programs
- online courses and communities
- reflect on the personal pillars of resilience, adaptability, and continuous learning that have shaped their journeys.
This episode is designed to inspire and empower aspiring data professionals, offering them the tools and confidence needed to thrive in these transformative industries.
Inclusion Impact: A story of how Malvika’s efforts in promoting inclusion made a difference, and trends or innovations in urban data systems likely to impact city planning and development.
ChatGPT in Data Analysis: Techniques for using ChatGPT to summarize large datasets or lengthy text, common pitfalls, and the limitations of LLMs in transforming data formats.
Leadership Development: Influence of past leadership roles (football captain, event coordinator) on Malvika’s approach to leading projects at Carnegie Mellon and in her current role.
Staying Updated in AI: How Malvika keeps up with AI developments, incorporates insights into podcast discussions, and future AI topics of interest, particularly in areas intersecting with human experiences like dating.
AI is Not Taking Your Job podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/1qUPErphWKUg16rsVko9PP?si=ba768ac0248f4eed
