erin

If you're looking to get to know me a little better, here's a place to start.

Professionally, my industry and education experience, coupled with a sincere affinity for learning, would undoubtedly be an asset to any organization. After several years working a variety of roles in the private sector, I'm hungry to throw myself into technical work that I love, for a mission-driven organization I believe in. I yearn to leverage my experience in nuanced analysis and multidisciplinary collaboration to facilitate the accessible distribution of critical information and services in my own communities and around the world.

My penchant for research and analysis revealed itself in my undergraduate education. With four other seniors from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, I was chosen by the Finance Department Chair to represent our school in the annual CFA Institute Equity Research Challenge. We won the Los Angeles Regional competition, advancing to the international semifinals in Atlanta, GA. For each round of competition, we presented and defended our findings to a panel of industry professionals. We invested hundreds of hours researching the Walt Disney Company (DIS), selecting models to calculate the stock’s projected return. Our conclusions were articulated in a 10 page summary report supported by 100+ pages of appendices, including a market profile/business description, a multi-sector industry analysis, an investment summary & valuation, financial statement analysis, and risk analyses.

I began my career as a Consultant at Ernst & Young, after completing a summer internship there, where I created business development proposals and management action plans for major banking, asset management, and fintech organizations. While performing policy research, regulatory analysis, and compliance audit tasks, I developed technical skills in SQL and Tableau, writing queries, creating dashboards, and compiling analysis reports for clients.

Then, I followed my ambitions of transitioning into a more tech-focused role, and started as a Compliance Analyst at Uber. Reflecting back on the early months after starting, the manager of my three-person team went on maternity leave. For five months. Which is freaking awesome that she was able to do that. But as a freshly hired analyst, that was a lot of responsibility hoisted into my lap while I was still adjusting to the learning curve of such a demanding work environment. I'm not going to lie, internally, I felt panic. But the fact that my manager hired me for that role and believed in my abilities gave me the confidence to commit myself to the challenge. I became the primary point of contact for all of the company’s Airport audits. I took ownership of projects overseeing a cumulative >$15 million in payments to government agencies.

Listen, I possess enough self-awareness to know the glaring issue with my resume - my work history for the past two years has been somewhat...inconsistent. This raises some important and justifiable questions. Can she hold a job? Is she committed, reliable, accountable?

Before leaving Uber, I provided my boss an advance notice of 4 months before making my departure. It was not a decision I made lightly. I cared about my team and didn’t want to leave any loose ends for anyone to be burdened with. The space I was leaving wasn’t an easy one to fill. It called for a nuanced understanding of complex trip pricing models and the internal operations of one of the fastest growing software companies in an intricate microservice architecture. It demanded a deep well of regulatory knowledge and audit methodologies. It required the ability to communicate clearly and effectively with engineers, lawyers, municipal regulators, external auditors, and senior executives. And I took the initiative to transform my role into a technical one, by incorporating SQL and Python into our team's audit practices. So, I worked extensively with my myriad of stakeholders to ensure a smooth transition for whoever would be taking over my responsibilities. After all, I had become the Subject Matter Expert for all things Airport Compliance.

I learned more at Uber in my 2+ years there than I have anywhere else for that same duration. I still miss it sometimes, but I also knew I was ready for something different. When I was living in San Francisco, I volunteered my free time as an arts journalist & producing events for a local nonprofit and creative agency. Quite honestly, it was one of the most fulfilling and enriching times of my life, and at the dawn of my mid-twenties, it felt like the right time to change course and pursue a more mission-driven career path, something that felt a little more personal. It felt like now or never.

Tangentially, I'm very fortunate to have had access to quality mental health care as a young adult. Twenty-five was also when I decided it was time for me to quit drinking. Without the support network afforded by a lucrative professional job and a patient, loving family, I may not have had the resources to improve myself on such a fundamental level. Though this level of candor about my own past struggles with substance abuse feels risky, I find it hard to be anything but truthful about this journey, especially because I know that this darker phase of my life is over. I was high-functioning, but suffered in private for years, which is why I view it as one of my proudest personal accomplishments thus far. It was a challenging process to hone the self-awareness and determination needed to access the tools within my reach to change my life for the better.

Now, I feel so much more grounded in my capabilities and focused on what I can contribute to the world. The experience helped shape the core tenants of my matured ambition and deepened my sense of empathy for the difficulties other people face in their lives. Everyone's experience is unique, but we should all have access to the support we need, regardless of socioeconomic status. I often think of how many people could be saved if we could get treatments to people more efficiently and affordably. And I believe we can reach these solutions through the right mix of tech innovation and thoughtful public policy.

The mental clarity sobriety gave me reaffirmed why I left my beloved team Uber -- to deepen my level of civic engagement and pursue further education in data analytics. After a few months of traveling, nonstop reading, volunteering as a community organizer for a Presidential Primary campaign, and catching up on my anime backlog, I began the Data Analytics & Visualization program at the University of California, Irvine. Immersing myself in my studies allotted me some time to gain civic work experience. I was employed to operate multi-day polls in the 2020 Primary Election to enable the implementation of new voting processes/technologies, and later, federally contracted as an Enumerator for the U.S. Census Bureau. There, I collected resident data for the decennial Census by going door-to-door surveying my neighbors and community.

After completing the Data Analytics course, I got a taste of the startup life working at an Artificial Intelligence (AI) startup, VITRU AI. As an intern, I designed the brand identity and website using Wix, Canva, and Photoshop. As a Research & Business Development Manager, I perform in-depth prospecting and industry research, source new leads, coordinate networking and sales meetings, draft impactful project proposals, and compose marketing copy for the organization. What drew me to VITRU was its clear potential to generate meaningful, technological impact through the architecture of custom AI systems for organizations in environmental, healthcare, and civic/governance spaces. I’m so, so proud of the work our small, but mighty, team has accomplished in the past few months. At this time I’m simply seeking a full-time position with a bit more structure than an early-stage startup, at least while I continue to deepen my technical skills.

In her poem, Autumn, Nobel Laureate Louise Glück alludes to “the part of life devoted to contemplation [being] at odds with the part committed to action.” I've meditated on this line frequently during my recent sabbatical, constantly asking myself how these two ideals can be fused together. How can we leverage rigorous research for more effective, human-centered contributions to an ever-changing world? To perceive deep thought and forward momentum as diametrical is not new. Ancient I Ching philosophy denotes the Receptive and the Creative forces as natural complements, on account of their polarity. It is the intersection of these two forces where meaningful change is generated, and where I hope to work in the next stage of my career.