Joseph Powers and Jen Wang

I love connecting people across the data science community to share what they're accomplishing with data and help others do the same through community discussions, industry meetups, and more.

Joe took a very indirect path to data science. He was a Great Books major in undergrad, a custom furniture maker for 7 years, a teacher for 3 years, then completed a PhD in Educational Psychology in his 30s, which was the first time he learned any programming or statistics. Efficient training and deep (personal) learning are lifelong interests for him. He now lives in San Diego, where his learning pursuits include surfing, cooking, and raising two young learners with his wife.

Jen's approach to teams and organization-building has been informed by two decades' worth of interdisciplinary expertise and leadership across sectors and cultures. Her training includes an undergrad in molecular biology and a mixed-methods PhD focused on human behavior, organizational science, and environmental decision-making, and which also included a deep dive into R and data visualization. She most recently led Product & Growth for thredUP's core secondhand clothing marketplace. Having faced many career transitions herself, she's particularly passionate about helping to spread evidence-based practices and bridging the gap when it comes to early-career and DEI issues.