A Data Science student to Speaker at WiDS Conference

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The past year has been a beautiful roller coaster ride working as a Data Scientist. Well, the title seems too fancy and every day, I try doing justice for the same.

On the 15^th of Feb 2020, I started my day at 2:30 in the morning and rushed to the airport because Bangalore traffic is as mercurial as my mind. Throughout my travel, I was thinking about my journey to date. 

Life is so unpredictable. A couple of years back, I used to think that I would be a dancer as that was my passion, but one bold decision changed my life. Passions do change with time and my current one is to work with data. I jerked back to reality as the driver hit the brakes. To my surprise, the queue for the security check at the airport was worse than the traffic. 

Time passed and soon, I was standing at Amazon’s Hyderabad campus. The tall, bold building welcomed me with warmth. There were more than 300 data enthusiasts present on a Saturday morning at the Women in Data Science (WiDS) Hyderabad 2020 event eagerly waiting to learn something new in the field of Data Science. It’s ironic how you feel most alive when your heart skips a few beats.

The panel for the day was full of alluring women from different organizations of all age groups with diverse experiences. I was sitting in the front curiously listening to them. Speakers from WeHub, Amazon, Microsoft, Intel and Novartis shared their experiences in this disrupting era of AI and Machine Learning. I learned a lot about how different organizations are working with data to solve real-life problems.

My talk was scheduled for after lunch. Honestly, it was the first time that I felt nervous as I was the youngest speaker on the committee. I walked on to the stage and looked at the vast crowd. Those eager eyes gazing at me gave me the confidence to introduce them to “Data Storytelling – The art of communicating with Data”. 

My talk lasted for nearly 30 mins engaging the audience with different use cases from Gramener. I made sure the session was interactive as I wanted to see if they were learning and enjoying, simultaneously. I smiled at the audience’s exuberance and concluded my talk with a quote, “People hear statistics, but they feel stories”.

The loud applause gave me a sense of relief. My heart was content and I got off the stage. Later, I interacted with a lot of young brains who were building data science practitioners. Concepts became clearer while answering their questions. I learned new approaches to handling different business problems.

A day well spent learning, teaching and talking to the members of the “Women in Data Science” community. It was a memorable experience, being a part of this cult.  This experience made my vision clearer, of what I wanted to be and what I didn’t. And finally, after a long time, I felt I belong somewhere!

Here’s the full recording of my session on presenting insights as stories at WiDS, Hyderabad 2020.