Hi, I'm Amber
In my professional life, my work tends to fall somewhere at the intersection of data analysis and visualization, journalism, front-end development, and web accessibility.
I'm currently a Data Visualization Engineer at USAFacts and I'm not available for freelance or contract work.
My Background
Technically speaking, I'm a marine biologist by training. I have both undergraduate and graduate-level degrees in Marine Sciences and worked for a few years as an Aquatic Research Associate at Disney World.
In those roles, I found that I enjoyed both doing research and communicating complicated science with the general public. So, when I left the field in search of better career opportunities, data journalism was a logical next career choice.
I spent around 4 years working at the online editorial The Pudding, creating visually-driven essays around topics debated in culture. My "magnum opus" from that time detailed just how much smaller the pockets are in women's jeans than men's. (Spoiler: it's a lot)
Later, I led data for good efforts at the start-up data catalog service data.world. My largest contribution during that time was coordinating efforts to collect and standardize hospital pricing data from hundreds of hospitals throughout the US.
Talks & Workshops
Occasionally I give talks at conferences, meetups, or in classrooms. Here are a few examples:
conference talk
Making US Hospital Pricing Data More FAIR
data.world Spring Summit 2022
2.5 years ago
conference talk
The Why and How of Open Data
data.world Spring Summit 2022
2.5 years ago
conference talk
Things We've Learned from Telling the "Fun" Data Stories
IEEE VisInPractice
5 years ago
conference panel
More Than Numbers: Data Analysis for Storytellers
SXSW
7 years ago
Podcasts, Radio, and News
Every once in a while, some kind person wants to talk to me about my work and share that conversation with others. Here are a few examples:
podcast interview
Jeans Pockets
Data is Plural Podcast
1 year ago
tv interview
The Uphill Battle for Disability Benefits
NBC 6 South Florida
1.5 years ago
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RLadies Dallas
4 years ago
podcast interview
Data Journalism & Interactive Visualization
DataFramed
6 years ago
radio interview
Women's Pockets are Trash
KUOW Radio
6.5 years ago