My Data Storytelling Journey

I find myself talking about a love for “data storytelling” quite a bit. Here’s what I mean by that, and how I got here.

Credit: Kaitlyn Baker (@kaitlynbaker)

My love for what I now call “data storytelling” started at a young age when my family was selected to be a Nielsen Family. I was fascinated by the idea that our household’s viewing habits would be tracked and used to represent those of a “typical American family.” As it was explained to us, television networks and advertisers would use our viewing data to represent what other Americans were watching, thus shaping future TV programming. At the same time that we became a Nielsen family, I was taking a Statistics course, in which we actually learned how to clean and interpret datasets similar to the ones my family’s data would appear in. (To say I was a nerd was to put it lightly.)

While a career in Math wasn’t in the cards, I channeled a love of language, persuasive writing, and storytelling into a B.A. in English and Theology with a Classics/Philosophy core, followed by a MA in English after that with a concentration in the intersection of Theology/Philosophy and Literature. The best way to get to know someone is to understand what they believe, and why, and for much of early America, a key influencing ideology has been religion. I have found it fascinating to compare religious texts to secular texts to suss out similarities and influencing factors, finding a thread and pulling it until that “aha” moment and the rush that accompanies it. I’ve published papers and presented research at conferences in this vein, and have loved the dialogue that follows after sharing my ideas with the world for conversation and feedback.

While I ultimately turned away from the Academic track, I continue to bring strong training in research, data analysis, persuasive writing, and data storytelling to my day-to-day — it just looks more like data visualization and deck-building than it does churning out 30-page papers. To this day, I’m energized when combing through quantitative and qualitative datasets to form a strong product marketing or positioning narrative, using strong data analysis skills and consumer psychology knowledge, to create insights, personas, and messaging that lead to deal-winning positioning.

Are you a data storytelling nerd? Reach out to me on LinkedIn, and let’s get a virtual coffee!