Join us for DataConnect Conference on Oct 2-3, 2025. Round 1 pricing ends December 31, 2024.
Each year, Women in Analytics and DataConnect Conference is proud to offer a Fly-In Scholarship to up to 10 data enthusiasts from all over the world. Fly-In Scholarship recipients receive a FREE ticket to the DataConnect Conference, reimbursement for travel, discounted hotel rates, and a chance to network with other scholarship recipients the evening before the event!
Join us in meeting a few of our scholarship recipients from our 2022 event, courtesy of JobsOhio:
Karin currently works as the Data Manager for the City of Kalamazoo, Michigan, where she is tasked with creating the City’s data program working with both internally- and externally facing data. Over the last four years, Karin was able to work with City leadership to create a data governance committee and a data stewardship team that work together to create and implement data standards ensuring data quality and driving data-use adoption across the organization.
Prior to working at the City of Kalamazoo, Karin worked for a pharmaceutical company in several roles, including sales and operations planning for product lines totaling $750M in revenue.
Karin believes strongly in transparency in leadership and working to mentor others, as well as encouraging an understanding of how decisions are made and promoting the effect an individual can have on the process by bringing their own passion to work.
RW: Why were you interested in attending WIA?
KC: WIA was an opportunity to learn more about current data topics from thought leaders
RW: What are you passionate about in the analytics space?
KC: I am passionate about data literacy and increasing the use of data for decision-making and continuous improvement.
RW: What did you enjoy about being a Fly-In? Why would you recommend the experience to others?
KC: I would definitely recommend the experience. It provided an immediate shared experience with other attendees
RW: What did you find to be unique about the conference? What did you gain from your experience?
KC: The majority of attendees were women – it was a great way to increase my network of female data professionals, something that is often more difficult to do at larger conferences like the Gartner Data conference for example.
Karolina is a data analyst with an interest in data visualization and enjoys turning raw data into informative insights. Her goals are to develop her analytics skills and continue working in a data-driven environment.
RW: Why were you interested in attending WIA?
KG: I just started my first data analyst job this year and I wanted to connect with other women that work with data. I was looking for some professional advice and ideas for a good career path in data.
RW: What are you passionate about in the analytics space?
KG: I love data visualization - creating dashboards and uncovering insights from raw data is definitely my favorite part of doing any analyses.
RW: What did you enjoy about being a Fly-In? Why would you recommend the experience to others?
KG: It has been a great opportunity to participate in many amazing talks and also to meet other data professionals. The fly-in mixer gave us all a chance to get to know each other and find people to spend time with in Columbus. If I didn't meet all those great women, I'd probably be eating lunch alone every day but we tried spending more time together in between the panels.
RW: What did you find to be unique about the conference? What did you gain from your experience?
KG: I loved that so many speakers were female! Usually, when I look at any networking events, I get discouraged when the participant list is predominantly male. It was great to feel comfortable in the room and actually, all the participants turned out to be very nice and not patronizing, even though I'm still at the beginning of my data journey.
Leigh Norman is a Marketing Data Analyst in the cybersecurity industry. Customer experience, search enhancements, and content curation are her focus areas. When she's not hitting Power BI with a stick or cackling in victory over SOQL, she enjoys reading beside a good lavender latte.
RW: Why were you interested in attending WIA?
LN: My future - what was possible next? I'm a data analyst now, but what next step makes sense? And how do people go from here to there, and with what skills? Turns out, the possibilities are whatever you want them to be. WIA offered a wide range of talks from a variety of speakers. DEI specialists, Python coders, job coaches, and more, all with unique takes on the core theme. It was invaluable.
RW: What are you passionate about in the analytics space?
LN: Personalization and customer experience with machine learning. As many sessions in the conference explained, it's a delicate balance of customer satisfaction without forcing them into an echo chamber. You need to know what they're looking for and how to tailor content. Right now, I'm working on search tuning, or improving user results based on similar users' problems. But there's so much to consider. What if the customer needs to change? What if business needs change? Experimenting with that is one of my favorite things.
RW: What did you enjoy about being a Fly-In? Why would you recommend the experience to others?
LN: When I won this award, I actually laughed. It was a neon sign of "YES, this field is for YOU (we mean it this time)!". I do excellent work as an analyst, but I always fear I'm pretending. Tuning results aren't what we expected? I'm a terrible analyst. Salesforce gives up on itself? I'm a terrible analyst. It's imposter syndrome to the max. But this - this showed me something bigger agrees that I'm worth my salt. Speaking of salt: the cheese plate. The meet-and-greet mixer was superb. We gathered in small groups and chatted away. Projects, work, recruiting, company culture - everything. Ever discuss data silos over mocktails? Or send a group howling over a lost name tag? Surrounded by my kind of folks - perfection! Everyone should give the Fly-In scholarship a try.
RW: What did you find to be unique about the conference? What did you gain from your experience?
LN: I toasted champagne with a 40 under 40 data leader, a nonprofit team of one, and a company president. The whole room sang a birthday song over the world's happiest little cake.
The walls between everyone were broken down by default. It didn't matter if you were a project manager for a national corporation, a new practitioner, or a startup maven - knowledge was shared freely. I chatted with a grad student working on this amazing project using drones and predictive models to test water quality. Where else can you find such a wide range of experiences? A toast to the conference!
Heidi Schmidt is a Data Specialist who graduated in Architecture. Her path led her to early sys, web, network, firewall, and database admin from which she focused on databases, then data. Heidi's love of tech resides in how data and systems come together to solve challenges. The strengths in tech she has cultivated come from reverse engineering, hunting for the data, and understanding frameworks to identify and close gaps in technology. Within the last 10 and the advent of data hybrid roles, and emerging ETL frameworks - Heidi has found a way toward data to get deeper into driving answers to business questions with data analysis.
RW: Why were you interested in attending WIA?
HS: I was excited to see what companies were doing with their data, and what they felt were common methodologies and tech solutions.
RW: What are you passionate about in the analytics space?
HS: With the right information, folks can unlock so many possibilities. I feel it's like playing "Open Sesame" -- if I have the right terms from looking at the data in that space, then it unlocks a discussion to ferret out more value and information.
RW: What did you enjoy about being a Fly-In? Why would you recommend the experience to others?
HS: I loved being able to meet others who flew-in. It made an instant common connection with other fly-in folks and an ice breaker for conversations with them.
RW: What did you find to be unique about the conference? What did you gain from your experience?
HS: The Data Visualization gallery was great to see how folks were trying to teach the world through data. Knowing Kroger has worked on so much AI to make the user shopping experience better was mind-blowing. Lori Silverman's workshop on Data using s.m.a.r.t.e.r really resonated with me from the perspective that your data is only as good as the questions and context that drive it. And that to win the hearts and minds with data you have to be able to connect with folks and tell a meaningful story they can connect with. That workshop confirmed my feelings that data isn't just technical requirements. It has to have a purpose and drive an informed system.
Hani Patel is a Business Intelligence Engineer working in the Digital Customer Experience domain. She enjoys finding solutions through advanced data analytics which help make customers' experience simpler when engaging with digital products. She also enjoys running, outdoor activities, and traveling.
RW: Why were you interested in attending WIA?
HP: WIA provides a great opportunity to learn from the industry's best and network with women in analytics. It provides an opportunity to meet women across the industry who share a similar passion for data and analytics.
RW: What are you passionate about in the analytics space?
HP: Data, Challenges, and Impact! I am passionate about the data and challenges that come with it but when the puzzle is put together the reward is big!
RW: What did you enjoy about being a Fly-in? Why would you recommend the experience to others?
HP: I enjoyed the whole experience! To start with there was a pre-conference meet-up for Fly-in where I got the opportunity to meet other fly-ins one to one and learn about their experience. Fly-in was super helpful for me especially as I am in Seattle so I had to fly across the coast which would have been a challenging budget otherwise.
I got to learn about different organizations from Ohio and meet people who work there and learn about their mission. Also, I am a member of a WIA now and engage with online webinars on a day-to-day basis. This was my very first in-person conference after the pandemic so it helped me boost my confidence in my work and contribution within the Analytics domain. Overall, It was a great experience and I would definitely recommend it to all my connections in this space.
RW: What did you find to be unique about the conference? What did you gain from your experience?
HP: Few unique things I really enjoyed were - Data Viz competition, conference engagement activities for the raffle, many networking blocks to connect with people, and talks on different topics.
Is your organization looking to get involved? Sponsoring the annual Fly-In Scholarship offers an opportunity for your company to support individuals within the WIA Community directly. Reach out to us at info@womeninanalytics.com for more information on how to support this initiative!
