Can you tell us your official degree and where you received it?: MBA with an emphasis in Information Systems, San Francisco State University
What were your main duties as a Microsoft fellow?: My main objective was to engage the San Francisco civic tech community by attending weekly hack nights, helping coordinate local hackathons, and meeting with government and community leaders. Attending weekly hack nights gave me the opportunity to work with a team whose project involved educating local communities about digital threats and risks. I also became familiar with Microsoft’s self-service business intelligence tools (Power BI), and was able to apply them to city-published data sets in order to build visualizations and product demos.
What has been your favorite project with the Technology and Civic Engagement Team?: It was exciting to experience the camaraderie and dedication of so many like-minded individuals who share a passion towards improving the community in which they live. As someone who is new to the data analytics field, I received a tremendous amount of support from the Microsoft team on how to properly build data models and visualizations, which I will be forever grateful.
Where is civic tech taking you next?: I will be finishing up my MBA coursework in the winter of 2016 and will be exploring opportunities in the civic tech field at that time.
What advice do you have for future fellows?: Be judicious with your time. The fellows position is an empowering and fantastic opportunity to learn about the civic tech ecosystem, network with community leaders, and work on exciting local projects. With so many engagement opportunities, it becomes important to manage where you devote your time so you get the most out of the experience. Fortunately, the Microsoft team is there to help you align these opportunities to your personal goals.
