It takes a (global online) village

Heartache, grief, and all in between

In the early days of the pandemic, I was overwhelmed with fear of the state of reality I was living in. From shutdown time in NYC in March 2020, it just became rolling weeks to months of unprecedented events in the city shutdown to skyrocketing death rates related to COVID-19. For a while, I was trying to hold to a sense of “normalcy” by keeping with whatever routines were safe to do, like saying good morning to my cube mats virtually, keeping the same meetings, reports, and data analysis. Even trying to safely meet my parents to hand over groceries and meals as we would, but with a distance and no physical touch (as much as my mom could stand it 😅 ). Despite these healthy routines, I still felt unsettled – surely didn’t help to live in one of the epicenters and check John Hopkin’s COVID-19 dashboard religiously multiple times a day (so much so I could tell you what changes they made to the dashboard and when 😐 ).

While living through what felt like the most volatile time in my adulthood and early career, I also faced national stories of Ahmaud Arbery and Breonna Taylor’s deaths at the same time. When these murders happened, I was still in my “need-to-keep-pushing-through” phase. I didn’t give myself much time to process or question because it is hard enough as a Black woman in America to take in every story like this AND keep up with life obligations.

But then the murder of George Floyd happened. And that broke me.

All the grief, anger, and pain of all life happening came to a head for me. I couldn’t “push through.” And much of the world couldn’t either. I heard the cries outside my window from the protests in the streets and worried about my family, who were essential workers. I took to social media to research materials on anti-racism, vent with like-minded friends, and call out “friends” who did not get it. All this happening at once also became a moment where I had to assess my values. I had to ask myself: What impact do you want to have in this life? What do you want to experience and achieve? And how will you get there? These were the tasks and questions I assigned myself in the “summer awakening of 2020” and kickstarted my the “choose-myself-and-my-life” phase.

The communities that built me

When it came to my professional career goals, it dawned on me that no one would be as interested or invested in my development as I am. So that meant I needed to take charge of finding the resources and investing in myself. (In retrospect, I don’t know why it took me so long to see that, but that is life 🙃 ) So my answer to my professional goals was to find communities that know more than me and ask them for help as I figured it out. My priority was to find other Black women because I needed a community to help me achieve my career goals while understanding my life experience without much explanation.

Like most folks before the pandemic, I relied heavily on in-person experiences and connections to build communities. But the pandemic reminded us how much we underutilized technology to connect with people across the country and the globe. There are so many benefits to online communities: Get out of your comfort zone (can’t grow if you are comfortable, right?) Meet and connect with people who you wouldn’t otherwise come across in real life because of your work sector or physical location More access to materials (often free or lower price points) for your professional development, whether it be webinars or courses Get exposure to more people who can connect you to that dream opportunity in the future. Fill in gaps you need personally in a professional community that is harder to achieve where you are in person (there is a group for every background you can think of).

From a post on Linkedin a month ago, I got some DMs from folks generally wondering how I got to where I am today. So inspired by that, I wanted to share the communities that helped me get to where I am today. Journeys are rarely done alone, and I certainly did not do this by myself 😁

Therefore here are the communities I tapped into from July 2020 up to today that helped me get to where I am professionally (and a little bit personally). The resources are listed generally in the order as I was exposed and access them.

List of people, slack/discord communities, and resources

📚 Sydney Savage and Taina Brown: These two exceptional individuals jump-started my journey to finding professional communities. They hosted “The Memo Mastermind Group” for Black and Brown women to read The Memo by Minda Harts together, and have prompts and discussions every week over several weeks. Reading this book and having this community was exactly what I needed at the time. (Shoutout to Taina Brown for creating other events and content that helped me personally, such as her core values workshop and the 1:1 strategy sessions – check her out!)

🖤 Niani Tolbert and the #HIREBLACK initiative: In June 2020, this initiative came to my radar, and I am so happy it did. Seeing Niani Toblert’s content on Linkedin about being authentically Black felt so revolutionary because I never thought I could do that - even though I wanted to - and she was a shining example of being brilliantly yourself. The HireBlack community is filled to the brim with amazing Black women and allies supporting folks in getting to the next step in their career journey, from jobs to promotions. I have attended every HireBlack Summit since its inception; it is a magical experience every time. (Shoutout to Sequoyah “Databae” Glenn, whom I have met through HireBlack and who has helped me in so many ways.)

👠 Latesha Byrd and Career Chasers: When Latesha Byrd created this community, I signed up immediately. She offered a treasure chest of masterclasses, materials, and discounted career coaching. Having this community has helped me through every step of my career process to this day. It is an affordable way to get career coaching and advice from professionals, and you have a dedicated community cheering you along. Everything I know about advancing in your career is through this community.

🎨 Data Science by Design: This sweet community was me looking to cross my love for data and art. The undeniable talent Allison Horst (who I live for all of her art) clued me on this project, and I attended the conference in May 2021. Sometimes you need a group for fun and not to meet any particular job goal. The slack community is full of sweet and talented people!

🌎 Data Science for All Fellowship by Correlation One: Being the data professional that I am, I wanted something specific to my technical career path. In still wanting to develop more communities, I was looking for free programs that would give me a community to work within a structured setting where I could learn Python and build a portfolio - the DS4A program fit the bill. I got a great learning experience with a fantastic cohort to match. We boost each other up and give advice all the time.

📝 Data with Danny: Hands down – one of the best resources I have seen on learning SQL. For most of my career, I ran as far and fast as I could from SQL, but this resource and community of folks learning or fine-tuning their skills in SQL helped me with my knowledge exponentially. It made technical data exams for jobs much easier once I had the practice from the course.

👜 Baddies in Tech: I recently joined the discord channel community, hearing about it through a recent HireBlack Summit. I love the energy and the great resources they have to offer for us baddies in tech 😎 😜

💃 Women in Data: I joined this community in recent months and love everything about it. This is another resource where I can continue my technical professional training and learn new things like NFT and web3 (which I am still trying to figure out lol). They have an application for scholarships for members in need. Highly recommend it! I plan on giving back soon since they have given so much to me.

🐧 (Bonus) The RStudio/Posit Community: From the greats on Twitter, the folks you meet at the conference, and the Data Science Hangouts hosted by Rachael Dempsey, this global community is my bread and butter in the R world. I have met so many people doing such impressive work all through R - too many to count and mention all here (perhaps another day - but a special shoutout to Alison Hill for helping me start blog/website, Allison Horst for always being inspiring and encouraging through her work and Rachael Dempsey for inviting me to the Data Science Hangouts). There are several slack communities and free events hosted by the company and the open-source community.

I am probably missing a few more, but this paints a solid picture of the global communities I have accessed over the years. I hope you find at least one (or several communities) that help you find belonging and develop in your professional career. Always happy to connect with folks if you have questions about any group. I enjoy singing the praises of cool people.