The Data Mind: Recent Episodes
Kali Garbaczeski
The data mind is a monthly podcast dedicated to data and the people that understand it. Many times, whether in the news or the board room, data becomes so dumbed down that its story becomes biased at best and lost at worst. The purpose of this podcast is to talk about what the data is actually saying from people who actually know.
Today we are talking to Dara Wilson. Dara is a data analytics professional with 6 years of experience leading and executing analytics initiatives in industries ranging from healthcare to utilities to software. Her focus is on turning raw data into useful insights that everyone can use, by employing a toolbox of data visualization, data engineering, strategy definition, and user empowerment. Dara is based out of Portland, Oregon, where she lives with her partner, Ryan, their puppy, Robert, and their cat, Richard.
Dara is a wonderful voice, naturally introverted she shares her thoughts on mentorship and developing your voice as a woman in data. I thoroughly enjoyed our conversation. Join us to hear her thoughts on going from zero to 1 on the scale of data-driven maturity, how to create a culture of data, increase your organization's literacy, and being inclusive while doing so.
We hope this is helpful and would love to know your thoughts in the comments below!
Follow Dara at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/darapwilson/
Learn more about our host at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kali-garbaczeski-48934a5/
Please let us know if you have any questions in the comments below. And if you enjoyed it, please like and subscribe!
Episode Details:
2:04 Intro for going from level 0 to 1
7:30 Defining KPIs
14:10 Covid-19 Data Literacy
18:45 Explain like I'm 5
23:01 Challenges of being a woman in tech
27:56 Finding a mentor
33:20 Feeling deserving of being in the room
38:37 Am I being selfish?
We hope this is helpful and would love to know your thoughts in the comments below!
Follow Dara at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/darapwilson/
Learn more about our host at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kali-garbaczeski-48934a5/
Please let us know if you have any questions in the comments below. And if you enjoyed it, please like and subscribe!
Today we are talking to Sadie St. Lawrence, the founder and Executive Director of Women in Data! A global non-profit aimed at increasing diversity in data careers. When Sadie is not spending her time further that mission she is working as an AI Strategy Consultant for Accenture Applied Intelligence.
Check out Women in Data at: https://www.womenindata.org/ https://www.linkedin.com/company/women-in-data/
Follow Sadie at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sadiestlawrence/
Learn more about our host at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kali-garbaczeski-48934a5/
Sadie brings a unique combination of technical expertise, analytics management experience, and an ability to lead organizational change through compassion and strategic problem-solving. She has trained over 200,000 people in Data Science and is an advocate for democratizing artificial intelligence and helping people transition into the 4th industrial revolution.
Join us to hear her thoughts on approaching an organization for the first time and really digging in under the hood to understand the problem in order to define the appropriate solution. We will also, of course, touch on her experience in doing so as a woman and garner any advice she has for women in the space.
We hope this is helpful and would love to know your thoughts in the comments below!
Please let us know if you have any questions in the comments below. And if you enjoyed it, please like and subscribe!
Looking forward to seeing you next month :-)
For our fourth episode, we are so excited to be tackling a topic that we wish was more mainstream: financial and career planning with long time friend and analytical mind, Anders Moller. Anders has a background in Economics, Business, and Innovation. While Danish-born, he has graced the Swiss marketplace with his presence for the better part of the past decade except for a stint in Toronto, Canada to do some financial analytics which is what brings us to our topic today!
For all the self-development work that exists, so little is dedicated to understanding your financial self! And while money isn't everything, it sure does seem to be a big part of most people's decision making processes and ultimately lives. Arguably, your career choices have some of the biggest impacts on your financial well being and as a result, we touch on both in one go.
We hope this is helpful and would love to know your thoughts in the comments below!
Episode Details:
3:30 - Introducing FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early)
5:15 - Maximizing savings potential as a concept
7:07 - Picking college degrees
8:35 - Remote work impact on costs
11:03 - Budgeting where it counts
14:04 - Valuing today's spend vs tomorrow's
18:38 - Growth mindset
20:50 - Diving in career and constant learning
23:02 - Risk calculations with the example of housing
25:35 - Being aware of the emotional aspect
27:20 - Touching on diversification
29:45 - Understanding your own financial self
32:06 - It's all about the process
32:40 - Final thoughts
Please let us know if you have any questions! And if you enjoyed, please like and subscribe so we can continue the conversation.
In our second sit down with Doctor-in-Residence of Nuclear Medicine, Ian Alberts, we discuss relative risk and the data that is (and isn't) being looked at regarding the COVID-19 lockdowns. With a grounding in Physics and having begun his medical career in the British Royal Navy, including tours on nuclear submarines, Ian brings a unique perspective to the world. We have the pleasure of hearing his thoughts from a medical and scientific perspective on the COVID response.
For more great info on all things analytics, check us out at www.the-data-mind.com. To learn more about our host, Kali Garbaczeski check her out at https://www.linkedin.com/in/kali-garbaczeski-48934a5/
Episode Details:
1:25 - Thinking about more testing
3:40 - Describing risk
8:12 - How to be data-minded about the back of the napkin on Covid and Risk
11:58 - Who is most at risk?
17:50 - Radioactive medicine risk & other comparators
24:22 - "Health is not the absence of Disease"
28:00 - Did the lockdowns help?
32:02 - Which measures were most effective?
38:03 - UNICEF study of Ebola lockdown response and repercussions
42:22 - Touching on economics
44:00 - Which analyses we should focus on now
Other resources include:
- Comparative statistics outlining Covid-19's relative risk
- Normal Risk: https://medium.com/wintoncentre/how-much-normal-risk-does-covid-represent-4539118e1196
- COD: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/leading-causes-of-death.htm
- UK Mortality by Age: http://www.bandolier.org.uk/booth/Risk/dyingage.html#:~:text=in%20the%20UK-,Results,in%2010%20over%2085%20years.
- Putting the risk of Covid-19 into perspective: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/22/well/live/putting-the-risk-of-covid-19-in-perspective.html
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7327471/
- https://www.iii.org/fact-statistic/facts-statistics-mortality-risk
- Mobility data: http://www.healthdata.org/covid
- Hospital Patients to Nursing Homes: https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/fullarticle/2764369
- UNICEF Comparative Study: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3576549
Please like, subscribe, comment, and share if you liked what you saw! We will be continuing to interview leaders and experts across a multitude of industries and geographies with the same questions in mind: what is the data that you trust and why. So, if you are interested in analytics, data literacy, and data-supported decision making then please consider subscribing.
Thanks and see you again next month!
In our second episode, we are sitting down with Doctor-in-Residence of Nuclear Medicine, Ian Alberts. With a grounding in Physics and having begun his medical career in the British Royal Navy, including tours on nuclear submarines, Ian brings a unique perspective to the world. We have the pleasure of hearing his thoughts on our current understanding of Covid and what we may or may not ever know.
Tune in to hear what he thinks of the predictions, methodologies and which stats he'll be looking for going forward. For more great info on all things analytics, check us out at www.the-data-mind.com
To learn more about our host, Kali Garbaczeski check her out at https://www.linkedin.com/in/kali-garbaczeski-48934a5/
Episode Details:
3:26 - What information should we want to know when facing a pandemic?
10:15 - Complex systems and transmissibility
16:30 - Popular studies done to date
20:33 - Why the models were reasonable
25:03 - Confidence Intervals and why they matter
30:41 - A note on herd immunity
36:24 - Infection fatality rate, the flu, and HIV
40:04 - Why we might wish for this one back comparatively
45:58 - A bit about testing 48:35 - What to look at going forward
52:04 - This needs to be taken seriously but don't panic
56:02 - Scientific thinking and the art of the polite debate
59:14 - Up Next! What we think about the lockdown
Other resources include:
Emergent properties of a complex system as described by the two-armed pendulum: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AwT0k09w-jw
The Reich laboratory at UMass publish a concatenation of various models: https://covid19forecasthub.org/
One look at Covid in terms of relative risk: https://medium.com/wintoncentre/how-much-normal-risk-does-covid-represent-4539118e1196
General data resource: https://ourworldindata.org/ Good discussion of pros and cons: https://www.bbc.com/news/health-51979654
Domo dashboard with county-level Covid Data: https://www.domo.com/covid19/daily-pulse/
Other Podcasts to check out!
Recommend the Munk Debates: https://podcasts.apple.com/ch/podcast/the-munk-debates-podcast/id1486184902?l=en&i=1000471416990 And This Week in Virology https://www.microbe.tv/twiv/
Some advice regarding Fact-Checking on the Media:
https://www.americanpressinstitute.org/topics/fact-checking/ https://www.technologyreview.com/2020/06/02/1002505/black-lives-matter-protest-misinformation-advice/
Please like, subscribe, comment, and share if you liked what you saw! We will be continuing to interview leaders and experts across a multitude of industries and geographies with the same questions in mind: what is the data that you trust and why? So if you are interested in analytics, data literacy, and data-supported decision making then please consider subscribing.
Thanks and see you again next month!
For our first ever episode, I am incredibly excited to be interviewing long-time friend and kindred data mind, Jacob Courtade. Jacob has progressed up the ranks from analyst to senior leader within the airline industry over the past decade and is currently based in Switzerland. He spends his nights and weekends pouring over news from the latest and greatest from our friends in the air. With a degree in Mathematics, he sees things many others do not.
Tune in to he thinks is really happening across the industry and which stats he thinks we should be watching too.
For more great info on all things analytics, check us out at www.the-data-mind.com
Meet your host: Kali Garbaczeski
Episode Details:
1:57 - Comparing the Covid19 pandemic to historical events in the airline industry
3:32 - A look at the US CARES Act and its impact on capacity 7:29 - Other reasons we are still seeing planes in the air
10:39 - Looking forward, the metrics we can track to help us understand a rebound
14:29 - Domestic versus international trends and outlook
18:26 - Seeing increases already? When will we get back to "normal"?
21:04 - Should we fly in the near future? 24:26 - Jacob's advice to anyone working with data to drive decisions
28:03 - Next up!
We refer to BCG's TRIP quite a bit, you can find it here
Other resources include:
The DOT's second enforcement notice
BBC's airfare findings so far
IATA's Data and Webinar series
FlightRadar's findings on flight volumes
Summary of the US Cares Act:
American Airlines outlook
A take on Delta
Full transcript can be found here.
Please like, subscribe, comment, and share if you liked what you saw!
We will be continuing to interview leaders and experts across a multitude of industries and geographies with the same questions in mind: what is the data that you trust and why?
So if you are interested in analytics, data literacy, and data-supported decision making then please consider subscribing.
Thanks and see you again next month!