Ashlyn (Brown) Strickland

I have been practicing data science for about 6 years now, and I actually just started my own business in data science in July of last year. As a contractor, people reach out to me and I build dashboards and other data science and data analytics solutions for them. I work with various platforms like Power BI, SQL, Amazon QuickSight, and others. My typical day starts with slow mornings, then I begin work around 8 AM and schedule out each client for the day based on the certain amount of hours I work for each client. Week to week, it looks different, which is what I love about it. I'm also working on building an app called Slow Metrics that's currently in production. It makes dashboards for people by connecting their different business platforms like QuickBooks, HubSpot, or Shopify, bringing all their data into one dashboard so they can visualize everything in one place. I'm in the Army National Guard in Tennessee as a financial manager, and I've been in since October 2016. About 7 years ago, I started getting into data analysis, learning Excel and Power BI, which led me to getting my master's in data science. Before that, I got my bachelor's degree in biology and graduated in May 2020 when COVID was happening. I worked in a COVID lab from 2020 to 2022, starting as a lab technician and working my way up to data analysis. At that point, I knew I wanted to pursue a higher degree, so I decided to do data science and graduated with my master's from MCSU last May. My biggest professional achievement has been being able to step away from the corporate world and have my own business, working for myself and running my own schedule. In the next 5 years, I want our app and business to become bigger, go to different conventions, and maybe even have a few other businesses branch off from the one we've started now.