About Me

Data isn't alive. Humans are.

I'm a data professional who found my way in through the back alleys and doors of corporate life.

At points in my life, I've been a high school teacher, an assembly line worker, a foreclosure processor, and a sales and marketing representative.

But then I entered the data space, and I live there now. Data itself is exactly what it is: it's only when humans see the data that the "why" behind it comes out. Only then can the data become something you carry with you, remember, and pass on to your friends.

Finding the story — it's what I've studied and enjoyed from books and games and music for over 30 years. What is that story trying to tell you beneath the surface, and why does the author need you to know this?

In the past that meant my keyboard spoke in natural language through poetry and short stories, and I worked to train others in that same art. But now the keyboard speaks a little differently. It's SQL and Python, and it's through well-modeled data and tools built to visualize that data that I'm seeking to fulfill the old promise of a picture being worth a thousand words:

An image being the story.

If you want to know more, feel free to explore the site to see some of my work or check out the blog to hear more from me about what's going on personally or professionally.

Thanks for visiting!

— Zack