As the world becomes more and more data-driven, the gender gap in the field of data science only becomes harder to ignore. Women occupy only 15% of data scientist positions, with the percentage only getting smaller in senior roles. 

This underrepresentation can have harmful societal repercussions— it can prevent other women from wanting to pursue data science in the fear of being sidelined in such a male-dominated field. It can also reinforce negative stereotypes like ‘women aren’t good at math’, or ‘women can’t handle the pressure of working in such an analytical field’. 

This lack of visibility around female role models in data science has a personal significance to Odetta. Our mission as a female-owned, and female-led remote working platform is to amplify and empower highly educated women in developing countries. Our team is mostly made up of female data analysts and scientists, all working to deliver superstar quality work to our clients.

So here are 5 female data scientists of 2022 that inspire us: 

1. Fei-Fei Li

   Dr. Fei-Fei Li is an American computer scientist who is best known for her work on artificial intelligence technology. Born in Beijing in 1976, she moved to New Jersey at the age of 16 with her father. She studied physics and computer science at Princeton University, later obtaining a PhD. in Electrical Engineering from the California Institute of Technology. 

   She then went on to work at Stanford, and later joined Google as the chief scientist of AI in 2017. Around this time, she also founded ‘AI4ALL’ a non-profit organization focused on making the field of AI more diverse, and accessible to minorities. Dr. Li is widely regarded as an AI pioneer, often credited with emphasizing the importance of humanity in machine learning. 

2. Jeannette Wing

Dr. Jeannette Wing is a Professor of computer science at Columbia’s Data Science Institute. She is best known for her essay ‘Computational Thinking’ published in 2006, which argued that thinking computationally was a skill that would benefit everybody, and had the ability to decrease difficulty in solving problems in any industry or facet of life. 

She also previously served as the Corporate Vice President of Microsoft Research where she created a program to help scientists envision how technology will impact societal trends 10 years into the future. 

She has received multiple awards for her research and contributions to the field of computer science. She is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) and the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM).

3. Monica Rogati

Monica Rogati is a data scientist who served as the VP of Data at Jawbone, a wearable technology company. She was also a senior data scientist at LinkedIn. Dr. Rogati obtained her PhD in Computer Science from Carnegie Mellon University and was part of the “100 Most Creative People in Business” list by Fast Company in 2014. 

During her time at LinkedIn, she built the initial job matching system software and the model for the ‘People You May Know’ section. Dr. Rogati also regularly publishes articles about data science, machine learning and AI. 

4. Kate Strachnyi

A data scientist widely known for her contribution to the field of data visualization, Kate Strachnyi is the founder of DATAcated, a company that provides branding services to AI companies. She also founded DATAcated Circle, which houses a collection of courses on dashboarding, data storytelling and data visualization techniques; along with providing a community for data scientists globally. 

She has also written multiple books on the subject, the most recent being ‘Mothers in Data Science’, co-written with Kristen Kehrer. Published in 2020, the book details the experiences of the 10 leading female voices in data science— who also happen to be mothers. 

5. Emily Glassberg-Sands

Emily Glassberg-Sands is a data scientist currently working for Stripe, the payment platform, as Head of Data Science. She formerly served as the Vice President of Coursera, one of the leading online platforms offering college courses.  
Her work at Coursera led to her being included in Silicon Valley’s ‘Women of Influence’ List of 2020. Dr. Glassberg-Sands holds a PhD from Harvard in Economics and is mainly interested in machine learning, consumer decision-making, and econometrics. She has also been featured in pieces for the New York Times and National Public Radio (NPR).