Women in Data Science Worldwide

Highlights

• Google’s new Agent Development Kit (ADK) (3:16)
• Getting production agents ready (8:33)
• Taking risks in career (11:10)
• Balancing life (13:22)
• How being a WiDS Ambassador impacted Shir’s career (19:31)

Bio

Shir Meir Lador leads a team evangelizing applied AI at Google cloud. Previously, she worked as the AI group Manager of the Document Intelligence Group at Intuit, where she led teams in developing AI services that helped consumers and small businesses prosper. Prior to intuit, she

worked at 2 Israeli startups as a data scientist and researcher.

A recognized leader in AI and data science, Shir is a former WiDS Tel Aviv Ambassador, co-founder and organizer of PyData Tel Aviv, and co-host of Unsupervised, a podcast exploring the latest in data science. She frequently speaks at international AI and data science conferences, sharing insights on applied machine learning and AI innovation.

Shir holds an M.Sc. in Electrical Engineering and Computers from Ben-Gurion University, specializing in machine learning and signal processing. Passionate about fostering inclusive data science communities, she actively contributes to initiatives that bridge AI research and business impact.

Links and Resources

Google Developer Workshop

Connect with Shir

Shir Meir Lador on Linkedin, Medium, and X

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Shelly Darnutzer on LinkedIn

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Highlights

• Time at Mathworks (17:27)
• Being a team leader (18:52)
• Staying in touch with the technical side (20:04)
• Advice (27:07)

Bio

Sohini Sarkar is a Principal Product Manager and a Senior Team Lead at MathWorks. Her career started with earning a Ph.D. in Civil Engineering and then working on DOE and EPA projects as a postdoctoral researcher. She has held various positions at Dassault Systèmes, ranging from a solution consultant to a market and competitive intelligence analyst, concurrently earning her MBA. Currently at MathWorks, Sohini focuses on established areas such as Math, Statistics, Optimization, and Machine Learning, to more emerging technologies such as Quantum Computing, Large Language Modeling and Generative AI, as well as Scientific Machine Learning.

Connect with Sohini

Sohini Sarkar on Linkedin

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Chisoo Lyons on LinkedIn

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• Predictive Modeling (4:15) 
• Human judgement and processes (14:06)
• Imperfection in models (21:40)

Bio

Claudia Perlich is Managing Director and Head of Strategic Data Science for Investment Management at Two Sigma, where she has worked for seven years. In this role, Claudia is responsible for developing innovative alpha strategies at the intersection of alternative data, thematic hypotheses and machine learning in public markets. Claudia joined Two Sigma from Dstillery, an AI ad targeting company, where she worked as Chief Scientist. Claudia began her career in data science at the IBM Watson Research Center, concentrating on research in data analytics and machine learning for complex real-world domains and applications.

Since 2011, Claudia has served as an adjunct professor teaching Data Mining in the M.B.A. program at New York University’s Stern School of Business. Claudia received a Ph.D. in Information Systems from Stern School of Business, New York University, holds an M.S. of Computer Science from Colorado University and a B.S. in Computer Science from Technical University Darmstadt, Germany.

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Claudia Perlich on Linkedin

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Margot Gerritsen on LinkedIn

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Highlights

• Vulnerability and honesty in leadership (12:07)
• Finding leaders who are willing to take risks on talent (13:48)

Bio

Maritza is an engineering manager at Klaviyo, where she leads a team focused on creating tools that help marketers better understand and optimize their campaign and flow performance. She enjoys collaborating with her team to develop solutions that provide clear, actionable insights for users.

Before joining Klaviyo, Maritza worked at startups in the clinical trial management and natural language processing (NLP) sectors, where she gained experience in applying software to solve practical challenges. She began her career as a research assistant in a computational neuroimaging lab, where she was introduced to software development through the lab's open-source projects. This experience sparked her interest in using technology to address real-world problems.

Outside of work, Maritza enjoys knitting, though much of her time is happily spent caring for her 1- and 3-year-olds.

Connecting with Maritza

Maritza Ebling on Linkedin

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Tina Tang on LinkedIn

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• Math and Computer Science (2:51)
• Graph Alignment (20:38)
   

Bio

Huda Nassar is a senior computer scientist at RelationalAI working on building the graph algorithms library offered as part of RelationalAI's product. Previously, Huda obtained a PhD in Computer Science from Purdue University and was a postdoc fellow at Stanford's School of Medicine. Huda is also known for her "Julia for Data Science" course which had over 13,000 students and focused on Data Science methods including graph analytics.

Connect with Huda

Huda Nassar on Linkedin

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Margot Gerritsen on LinkedIn 

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• Language as the access to different cultures (2:09)
• Career journey (8:23)
• People first in leadership style (23:19)

Bio

Hannah Pham is a seasoned data leader with experience building and scaling data teams at top tech companies like Airbnb and Pinterest. Hannah's expertise spans consumer and monetization domains. As the Head of Data Science for the consumer area at Pinterest, she leverages data to bring the best experience to Pinners and drive business growth. Hannah is also a successful startup founder with Skin AI, a personalized skincare company that she co-founded in 2018.

Connect with Hannah

Hannah Pham on Linkedin

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Chisoo Lyons on LinkedIn

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Bio

Accomplished executive with P&L responsibilities with extensive expertise in product management, management consulting, strategy, marketing, and product development. Has successfully grown newly established businesses and product portfolios from conceptualization to successful go-to-market. As a strategic business and technical decision-maker, has a proven ability to turn around struggling portfolios and businesses to achieve consistent growth and profitability. Holds a strong track record in establishing and leading international, cross-functional teams with responsibilities in general management, client management, strategy development, and execution.

Connect with Jiani

Jiani Zhang on LinkedIn

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Tina Tang on LinkedIn 

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Sydney Hazen, a Privacy Data Scientist at Ford, shares her journey from a college intern to a full-time role. She highlights how internships can lead to job offers and the importance of real-world experience and corporate navigation. Sydney emphasizes applying technical skills with a socially conscious approach, understanding problems before diving into data, and credits her professor and diverse classmates for shaping her perspective. She plans to pursue further education and explore different roles, underscoring the unique position of women in data science and the need for self-advocacy and finding mentors.

Highlights

• Internship at Ford (8:25)
• Time at Notre Dame (14:55
• Influencers (17:54)

Bio

Sydney is a Privacy Data Scientist at Ford Motor Company, as a part of the Ford College Graduate (FCG) rotational program. She is a recent graduate of the University of Notre Dame, with a degree in Applied and Computational Mathematics and Statistics (ACMS) and a minor in Data Science. She has a range of experience spanning software development, data engineering, and analytics and is always looking to gain new knowledge in the technology sphere.

Connect with Sydney

Sydney Hazen on Linkedin

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Chisoo Lyons on LinkedIn

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• LLMs (1:46)
• AI systems (3:25)
• The need for humanness in AI (20:17)
• Transitioning to independent consultant (28:31)

Karin Golde, is the Founder of West Valley AI. She helps businesses and technical leaders navigate the rapidly developing landscape of AI and Large Language Models by sharing her expertise which has ranged from executive leadership roles at multiple startups to heading the language engineering division for the AI Data team at Amazon Web Services. Her philosophy is to cut through the hype, collaborate with integrity, and keep a laser focus on providing value to your business.

Karin Golde on Linkedin

Website West Valley IA

Chisoo Lyons on LinkedIn

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• 00:02:25 - Colleen’s motivation for writing a book, interdisciplinary collaborations, and explaining advanced mathematical tools in accessible ways.
• 00:08:44 - Journey from biology and social sciences to data science, and the integration of different mathematical tools in solving data problems.
• 00:14:13 - Overcoming imposter syndrome and the value of exploring beyond one's field.
• 00:15:02 - The importance of mentorship.
• 00:23:40 - Coping strategies for setbacks in academia and industry.

Colleen Farrelly is an author and senior data scientist. Her research has focused on network science, topological data analysis, and geometry-based machine learning. She has a master's from the University of Miami and has experience in many fields, including healthcare, biotechnology, nuclear engineering, marketing, and education. Colleen wrote the book, The Shape of Data: Geometry-Based Machine Learning and Data Analysis in R. 

Connect with Colleen Farrelly on LinkedIn

The Shape of Data: Geometry-Based Machine Learning and Data Analysis in R

Margot Gerritsen on LinkedIn

Listen and Subscribe to the WiDS Podcast on Apple Podcasts,Google Podcasts,Spotify,Stitcher