In 2018, I took a 3-year leave of absence from my Ph.D. program in Policy Analysis.

 

I had majored in math at an HBCU, earned a prestigious fellowship, completed several internships, and been on a straight and focused path from kindergarten to Ph.D., but the experience was no longer working for me.

 

People questioned my decision to pivot when the prevailing narrative of making it through the STEM pipeline was to “stay the course”.

 

However, I switched from a CV to a resume, upskilled in SQL and landed a role as a population health analyst at a health insurance company, and that’s when things finally started to make sense.

 

I was able to lean into my passion for bridging people and technology, my skills for communicating data in engaging ways, and my passion for advancing health equity.

 

After many years of considering my data visualization, mentoring, and presenting skills a complement to my statistical analysis skills, I took every training and opportunity I could to put them in the spotlight.

 

As a result, I moved population health initiatives forward, created practicum and hackathon programs for students, and realized that we don’t all have to be data scientists - I could create my own definition of what it meant to be “in data!”

 

I founded Rose Data Studio to help others embrace their unique blend of skills and interests, and apply them to make an impact in this world of data-informed advancement.