I joined the American Statistical Association about three—no, five; it’s already five—months ago, as your marketing and online community coordinator. My first taste of ASA was being thrown right into JSM 2015, so I hit the ground running. Since then, I’ve been dedicating my time to learning my way around the ASA Community website, planning ways to improve it for you, ordering swag for upcoming events, helping out new student chapters, and taking stock of the ASA Store. (One of my goals is to get some cat-themed #statlady gear in production …)
I’ve worked and played online for years now. As a theatre BA (playwright/dramaturg), I graduated right as the recession hit and was lucky enough to be hired by the Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media at George Mason University. After working there as a social media and content manager for several projects, I moved on to the ASA. Here, I work with many tools that are old friends (it’s rare to see me logged off of Twitter @Amstat_Lara) and am enjoying learning others that are new to me.
My online community work and play has made me friends all over the world. As a result, I read and understand German very well and translate short fiction in my spare time. (I’m not published yet, but I have a lovely science fantasy story about ready-to-seek publishers.) My Spanish comprehension is good enough that I can read children’s novels. I also know a spattering of French, Japanese, and Irish, and my bucket list includes working my way through all 15+ courses on Duolingo. Communication, community, and the equitable exchange of ideas are my life, and both my language hobbies and work here at the ASA tie into those passions.
By the way, if you have recommendations for popular books about statistics and data science, I’m eager to hear them! Tweet titles to me at @Amstat_Lara. (So far, people are passionate about David Salsburg’s The Lady Tasting Tea.) The more I learn about the language of data science and statistics, the more clearly I can understand your needs and the more unobtrusively I can move around behind the scenes to meet them.
I’m looking forward to working with you!
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