From School Teacher to Data Scientist: Emani Flower’s Transformation Into Data Science

When Emani Flowers embarked on her journey into education, she had no idea that her passion for teaching would eventually propel her toward a career in Data Science.

Hailing from New Orleans, Louisiana, Emani was drawn to the captivating world of data science when she learned that minority students in her community were underexposed to computer science.

Emani soon recognised the potential to use data science to make a broader impact on the education system, leading her to the Institute of Data’s Data Science and AI Program.

After one year of debating the decision, Emani listened to her instincts, embraced her fears, and enrolled.

The support and expert training she received helped her finish the part-time Data Science program in six months and land an exciting new opportunity right at the intersection of education and data science.

In our recent catch-up, Emani shares how the spark that ignited her interest in data science has changed her life, her career, and her tech abilities for the better.

1. Tell me about yourself, where are you from?

My name is Emani Flowers, I’m from New Orleans, Louisiana, and I still live here. I’m a mother. I have two kids: two daughters, four and seven.

I have a pretty extensive background in education and an emerging background in data science.

2. Were you interested in tech growing up?

This is funny, and I made this connection while I was doing the Data Science Bootcamp. When I was younger, we had this social media platform called MySpace.

With Myspace, I could literally code out an entire page by copying and pasting code that I found all across the Internet.

I would always try to figure out ways to make my page super flashy by figuring out all these different codes.

I think at that moment, the tech baby in me was being born and nurtured.

3. Tell me a brief overview of your career leading up to the program.

I was a biology/chemistry minor and was supposed to become a doctor. But I did a bunch of internships, and I wasn’t interested in moving forward.

I volunteered with this organisation, which was about desk preparedness, weather science, and education.

Their goal was to educate New Orleans on how to be prepared for storms and how storms happen, so I joined that organisation, and I loved it.

That role had me going into schools and delivering these presentations to kids so that they could feel inspired and go home and tell their parents and so forth and so on.

I thought to myself, you know what, I think I could teach. Teaching felt so natural to me.

So, I became a science teacher. I excelled at it quickly because I’m so big on self-study.

Once I mastered teaching, I began coaching new teachers and writing curriculums. We started to look at the curriculum and say, wow, black and brown kids are underexposed to computer science.

We decided to write a beginner’s computer science unit and embed it in our existing curriculum to get kids exposed to it. I worked with a team, and we developed it in a year.

We had to learn the content ourselves.

I enjoyed being a student and studying again, and I thought to myself that I wish I had studied computer science back in college. It was fun!

4. Why did you choose to study the Institute of Data’s Data Science & AI program?

I love that the Institute of Data focused a lot on career transitioners; the Data Science & AI program gave me the impression that I could gain the tools needed to get to where I wanted to be.

That was attractive to me because of my fear of being underqualified.

5. How did you find the Data Science & AI program overall?

My trainer was super supportive and super helpful and always available to answer questions.

That support meant a lot to me.

The why behind what we were doing and the technical side of what we were doing were so exciting.

I never felt like I was doing a six-month program.

Their approach helped me retain the information because I understood that I would need it in a job setting.

6. Have you been able to apply what you learned in the program to a career in Data Science?

During the Data Science & AI program, I developed my skills and realised that education is still at the core of my heart.

But, I want to attack education in a way data scientists do. I want to uncover the why behind the data, not just the data itself.

I created a GitHub to increase the number of employers looking at me.

I was in contact with the job outcomes team at the Institute of Data.

I even passed my resume over to my trainer, who was kind enough to offer to help me out with it.

It is through LinkedIn that I connected with the organisation for which I work now. They found me!

They saw my GitHub presentation because I put my second Institute of Data project up there, which was about predicting retention rates for your university.

7. That’s great! Would you tell us about your current role?

I work for an educational consulting organisation that helps school districts with curriculum, implementation, teacher training, and other areas to improve.

They have recently acknowledged their need for data people, and it was perfect for me because it was exactly what I was looking for!

I interviewed with them, and they gave me a project that low-key simulated the projects we were doing while I was studying with the Institute of Data.

I was like, oh, I got this! This is not a problem.

They wanted to test my skills by getting me to create a dashboard. I did that, and then I got hired!

I am now a Data Manager. I’m working on teacher training projects where I have to pull data from teacher trainings, and then track different types of KPIs.

I pull the data, read it, and clean it. I create dashboards and give presentations to stakeholders about the teacher training programs, and they find ways to use that data to implement solutions.

Working from home also adds to it.

8. What do you love the most about working in the tech industry?

I am an autonomous worker, so it’s perfect for me.

I love the opportunity that at any moment I want to fall into some deep work, I can do that at my leisure.

Working in a school is very different. In a school setting, my space was constantly invaded, which would mess up my focus.

Now, I can easily fall into deep work, and of course, I do my best work there.

I am really grateful.

9. How do the skills you developed at the Institute of Data fit into your future?

I look at problems with a different lens now.

I’m passionate about moving the needle in education, so I love having a toolset to dig deeper into education for students.

I’m also passionate about data and using data to tell a story, to dig deeper, and to create solutions.

Now, I dig into my data science tool bag to figure things out.

I think I just appreciate having a toolset to dig deeper and effectively answer some really big questions.

The impact I get to make as a data scientist is bigger to me than it’s ever been in education, so I appreciate that a lot.

10. Is there anything else you want to share about your experience?

I know we’re just talking about data science, but I view this work as deeper than just numbers, coding, and being competitive in this space.

It has a much bigger role and impact.

This is especially the case when it’s put in the right hands of the right person, with enough heart, mindset, ambition, passion, and drive.

This skill set can push you beyond the basics and beyond surface-level contributions.

I encourage people to really use that power.

If data science is the way for you, use that to impart change. Just do it!

Conclusion

Are you looking to transition into Data Science and pursue a new career?

Book a complimentary career consultation with one of our experts at the Institute of Data to start your own transformational journey.

You can connect with Emani Flowers and follow her professional journey here on LinkedIn.