My ASA story began in 2005, when I met statistics professor Dr. Baidoo while studying in my junior year, or level 300, at the University of Ghana. I had decided I was going to quit the statistics major I was pursuing along with the computer science major and opt for psychology or geology, following a couple of bad grades in statistics. I believed I had come to the end of my limits with statistics.

As a course adviser who is a Ghanaian American, professor Baidoo introduced me to the American Statistical Association when he learned my mother lived in the United States. I called my mother—who lived in Alexandria, Virginia, at the time—and she said she saw the ASA office while sitting on a bus. Knowing this was a credible request from me to join, she sent me money, and I gave the money to my course adviser to get me enrolled.

After a couple of months or so, my dad came home to Ghana with several ASA magazines, and I went to my room and began perusing the pages. I remember seeing the impact of statisticians and resolving to continue with my statistics major. In December 2007, I attended my first ASA conference in Atlantic City, New Jersey. There, too, I renewed my commitment to pursue an advanced degree in statistical science at George Mason University.

Another key touch point with the ASA was when I served as a teaching assistant in one of the statistics trainings during the 2017 Joint Statistical Meetings at the Baltimore Convention Center. I was given free course materials for my efforts that were relevant to my applied statistics education while working at Deloitte.

Today, I’m a senior data analytics consultant/data analytics consultant alumna of Deloitte Consulting LLP/Deloitte & Touche LLP, as well as a senior programmer analyst II alumna at Mathematica Policy Research.

I also run a nonprofit organization, Coders Who Travel, with the mission to inspire and advance the careers of coders—computer and mathematical programmers—in emerging markets and underserved communities. I have led the organization to train US military veterans, career professionals at Deloitte Consulting LLP, students at the University of Ghana, and women via three-month Python, SAS/SAS Viya, and R boot camps. 

I’m also a composer and recording artist of more than 24 Christian songs. A picture is worth a thousand words, so I’m pleased to share my mind map!