The Education Series: Advocacy

I’ve written advocacy into my past three job descriptions. In fact, as an Analytics Advocate, it was my job. So what is advocacy and how can you get started with it? I’m sure there are many definitions of what advocacy can mean, but to me, it means this: Being present in market (via blogs, social media, conferences, etc) to share your best practices, thoughts and experiences on behalf of a practice, product, or field. Further, I think there is a responsibility built into advocacy to educate others about the topic you are advocating for, not just preach to them. I’ve spent the last 5+ years of my career advocating for data, analytics, and optimization best practices. At times, this was a “20% project” for me where I had a negotiated
Continue reading...

The Education Series: 5 Tips for Becoming a Public Speaker

This post is part of the Education Series, a series focused on learnings and tips for the softer skills of digital marketing, many of which come from my experiences over the past decade in this industry.    One of my first (large) public speaking engagements was in front of a crowd of about 300 young adults at a political networking event in Washington D.C. in the summer of 2007. I was running the event and was the Emcee + speaker for organization background and event purpose, prior to introducing our keynote for the evening (a US Congresswoman). My voice quivered uncontrollably, I turned bright red and felt faint as I stumbled my way through. Friends in the audience promised I didn’t sound nervous, but I never believed them. After a second
Continue reading...

The Education Series: Introduction

I’ve spent the past 2.5 years as Google’s Analytics Advocate (and unofficially filled part of this role for 2 years prior to that) focused on advocacy for our GA360 Suite products, including (but not limited to) product design, user feedback, training, troubleshooting, and education. This role has stretched my mind (and at times, my patience), given me the opportunity to engage with and learn from users all over the world, forced me to become a better writer, and provided opportunities to grown and scale Analytics Education more than I could have ever imagined. Breaking it down by a few stats of my time in this role, it *roughly* looks like this: ~100 speaking engagements & webinars, many of which were large conference keynotes all over the world 80-100 client and agency meetings 30 livestream/hangout
Continue reading...

2016 Travel By The Numbers

2016 was QUITE the travel year! It was, by far, the most time I’ve ever spent on the road. Mileage-wise, it actually (surprisingly) doesn’t top 2014, and barely tops 2015, however, # of flights, days away, hotel nights, etc all do. I was blessed to spend 3.5 months straight in Asia this summer (if you missed the blog series about this, check it out here) where I combined an epic work trip with a lot of vacation to equal the trip of a lifetime. So the 2016 snapshot: Total miles flown: 107,920 miles via 67 flights on 20 different airlines visiting 20 different countries (outside of the airport). 7 of those 20 countries were net new for me, increasing my total number of countries visited to 54. Of that, I’d estimate that 60% was for business, 40% for
Continue reading...

Women in Tech: Working in a World of Unconscious Bias (and what you can do about it)

As #womenintech, #ILooklLikeAnEngineer, and prominent voices such as Anne-Marie Slaughter and Susan Wojcicki become more and more mainstream in everyday conversation, and the topic of equality in the workplace gains traction, I have to pause and reflect on how this growing movement of support for women’s equality has impacted me and those around me. As women, we have made huge strides since gaining the right to vote via the 19th amendment in 1920. I can’t sit down and write an article like this without a hat tip (or a bonnet tip) to the likes of Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and many other brave women who paved the way for women’s equality, dating as far back at the 1840’s. Growing up in the 80’s and 90’s with three older sisters and two
Continue reading...

Reflecting on 4 Years at Google

Reflection is part of growth. Looking back and examining what has gone by, what has been accomplished, where I’ve fallen short, and where I still need to improve is an important exercise to move forward. This morning, I read back through my blog post reflecting on my first year at Google, and I was surprised to remember how much happened in that first year. It made me think about all that’s happened since, and most recently, this past year at the Goog. I’m writing this post while on vacation in the Philippines, at the tail end of a quarter long assignment to work in Asia. If that one sentence doesn’t sum up the adventure that the past 4 years has brought me, I don’t know what can. To hear more
Continue reading...

2015 Travel by the Numbers

Happy New Years! Looking back on this past year, 2015 was another big year in travel. Once again, I’ve taken a look back at my 2015 travel numbers and with the help of TripIt have pulled together the stats to paint a story of my year. If you missed last years, you can see my 2014 Travel by the Numbers recap here. So the 2015 snapshot: Total miles flown: 104,740 miles via 62 flights flown through 34 airports on 11 different airlines visiting 7 different countries (outside of the airport). 4 of those 7 countries were net new for me, increasing my total number of countries visited to 47. Of that, I’d estimate that 70% was for business, 30% for pleasure – blurry due to a mix of both on some trips (but a slightly
Continue reading...

Podcast Guest: Jumpstart with Jeffalytics

A few weeks ago I had the chance to sit down (virtually) with an industry friend, Jeff Sauer, who is an expert in all things Google Analytics & AdWords and who has recently kicked off a podcast series he’s calling ‘Jumpstart with Jeffalytics’. I had the distinct honor of being guest #2 (after the Wizard of Moz, Rand Fishkin) for Jeff’s new podcast and now that it’s live I wanted to share Jeff’s recap of the episode as well as a link to where you can find the podcast. I had a great time chatting with Jeff and recording this session, and am humbled by his kind words of support throughout. I wouldn’t be where I am today without the support and friendship of industry peers such as Jeff and
Continue reading...

I’m a Woman in Tech: How it Helps Me and Hurts my Gender

I’m an analytics professional. A teacher. An advocate. An advisor. I work in tech. I work with engineers, developers, marketers, sales, product, and ops. I work with all levels, from analysts to executives. And I am a woman. Until recently, I’ve hadn’t put much thought into what that really meant for me professionally. I attribute that to a couple of reasons: I’ve (almost) always had managers who have treated me with respect and pushed me, advocated for me, and promoted me based on the quality of work and the contribution to the business I’ve delivered. Not based on my gender. And also because I’ve never seen myself as a feminist (I’m not saying this is good or bad or that being a feminist would require me to think about what it
Continue reading...