Sharon Machlis

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.

I'm a data science educator and community builder who wants to help you cultivate a community of practice for yourself. I talk a lot about the benefits of making genuine human connections, the power of vulnerability, and why we all benefit when we show up as our whole selves. I'm also the host of the Data Humans podcast where my motto is: data science is not one thing.

Sharon is the author of Practical R for Mass Communication and Journalism. A long-time journalist, she started her career in local news, followed first by biz writing & editing and then many years in tech journalism. Sharon moved into a hybrid data science / tech journalism role in 2017 and has been enthusiastically exploring generative AI, both as an end user and for creating apps.

Sharon received an ASBPE national gold award for impact/investigative online excellence and two ASBPE national golds for best how-to article. Named the Digital Analytics Association's top practitioner in 2021 and winner of the Jesse H. Neal award in 2023 for best instructional content.

She is eagerly exploring her next chapter after retiring from full-time work in July 2024 and enjoys photography and digital dark room, travel, running, learning American Sign Language, meditation, nature walks, crocheting, reading, and of course spending time with family and friends.