About Me
Career Journey
My career did not begin in data, but in retrospect, it was always my trajectory. A decade in marketing and brand strategy, spanning organizations like TruGreen and Roots Hummus, grounded me in the business questions that data exists to answer: who are our customers, what do they need, and how do we reach them more effectively. When I co-founded a construction business, I found myself doing the same thing on a smaller scale, building systems to track performance, manage client relationships, and make sense of what the numbers were telling us. Turning to data to solve problems was the core of every role I held, and the fact that it was always the work that felt most compelling eventually became a clear signal. I returned to school, pursuing a graduate degree in Bioinformatics at UNC Charlotte, where I developed a rigorous technical foundation in statistical computing, reproducible pipelines, and large-scale data analysis across two research labs. An internship at AvidXchange introduced me to business intelligence and made clear that the intersection of technical depth and business context was where I did my best work. At Coca-Cola Consolidated, I work across the full data spectrum, from ETL pipelines and SQL transformations to data modeling and delivering insights directly to business partners. It is the work closest to the architecture, the decisions about how data moves, how it is structured, and how it is made accurate before it ever reaches an end user, where I tend to operate most effectively. My focus right now is on data engineering and analytics engineering roles, where I can bring the full arc of my experience to bear on the systems and infrastructure that sit at the foundation of reliable, meaningful analytics. Every bit as masterful as the artists and scholars about whom she writes, Popova brings into clarity the intimate lives of some of history's greatest minds and most significant contributors. Journeying across lifetimes, I was captivated by the vast and remarkable cast she assembles, from Margaret Fuller and Emily Dickinson to Rachel Carson and so many notable others. The true genius of the work is the layering of historical context with vivid descriptions of interpersonal relationships that together offer a textured view of the entwined interbeing that characterizes our species. It is one I will return to throughout my life, finding something new each time. Schlanger curates a collection of the most cutting edge research on plant life today, narrating a complex picture of the inner lives of the flora with whom we share our world. This book demistified for me long held wonderings about plant conciousness and delivered moments of jaw dropping revelation and discovery. I found this work deeply delightful from start to finish. Carroll's ability to make complex ideas feel approachable has made him a favorite author and podcaster of mine. He weaves together the finer details of the laws of physics with the reflections of a philospher to produce thoughtful explorations of the foundations of existence. It is through reading this work that I discovered in myself a poetic naturalist and solidified Carroll's position in my library as a top contributor. Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer is a poet whose work I return to again and again, and this volume found me at just the right moment, arriving as a quiet companion during one of the most significant losses of my life. This collection has the feeling of sitting in a sunlit kitchen with a steaming mug of tea and a trusted friend, talking honestly about the absurdity of life and loss and the way grief colors and sharpens every experience. Her poems capture the exquisite nature of human pain, the singularity of our capacity to love deeply, and our remarkable ability to find beauty anyway.
The Why
Driven by curiosity about the nature of reality and awe of the natural world, I’m a Developer by title and a lifelong learner by nature. I hold a persistent desire to know more and to work toward incremental improvement, both in the systems I work with and in the world around me. Outside of work, I spend my time immersed in books, learning languages, climbing, and exploring natural spaces, both above and below the surface. Using Data Analytics to Drive Meaningful Change
I'm currently building a career that blends technical skill with purpose-driven work, with the long-term goal of contributing to organizations whose values align with my own. My background is rooted in business intelligence, but I'm increasingly drawn to work that bridges data and ethics, finding meaningful insights and making them visible.Influential Recent Reads
Query Everything
"When Kepler found his long-cherished belief did not agree with the most precise observation, he accepted the uncomfortable fact. He preferred the hard truth to his dearest illusions. That is the heart of science." Carl Sagan, 'Cosmos'
"I can live with doubt and uncertainty and not knowing. I think it is much more interesting to live not knowing than to have answers that might be wrong." Richard Feynman, 'The Pleasure of Finding Things Out'