Some Things About Mary

I am a human experience consultant and data fluency advocate. I have worked with all kinds of humans in all kinds of scenarios including users, patients, customers, employees, students, visitors, patrons, and community members.

I read A LOT. Then, I use what I’ve read in my work.

I have spent an equal amount of my career in the weeds (analysis, project management, operations) and mapping the landscape (strategy, trendwatching, planning) in sectors like business-to-business, healthcare, technology, placemaking, and education—with non-profit and for-profit organizations alike.

When I heard someone describe career progression more like scaling a mountain face than climbing a ladder, I thought, “that sounds about right.” The terms multipotentialite, versitalist, and interdisciplinary weirdo sound like me, too.

In college, I was an engineer for as long as I was an English major. I learned to code in BASIC and FORTRAN and developed a knack for thematic analysis. I landed a job editing women’s fiction in New York City through persistence and a willingness to spend my last dime flying out for interviews. When the novelty of sleeping on the floor in Washington Heights and Brooklyn Heights wore off, I moved to Chicago to answer requests for proposals at an enterprise software company. I still use what I learned there about relational databases, data warehousing, and metadata management in my work today. 

In the height of the dot.com boom, I held marketing positions at several tech startups. I learned to adapt while weathering the upheaval of multiple acquisitions and layoffs. After one of those shifts, I landed at Cardinal Health managing a $1 billion custom sterile pack product and service line. Raised in a medical family, married to a surgeon for 16 years, followed by numerous healthcare research studies, I’ve had a pretty holistic view of the American healthcare system. When the surgeon finished his first residency, I went freelance in anticipation of years of frequent relocation. I am an expert at packing and moving.

The agency I had hired while at Cardinal Health was my first client. And, while project managing for them, I met a market researcher with whom I partnered for the next fourteen years. We conducted hundreds of projects, co-authored two proprietary research studies, and pioneered a method for the design and on-the-fly analysis of digital qualitative studies. We worked together through my three pregnancies, countless moves, and one divorce. 

I never intended to move back to Michigan, but once I did, I became invested in Detroit’s economic development ecosystem. A volunteer role at TechTown Detroit became a full-time strategy and operations position with freelance workshops and small business support on the side. I left that position for the chance to get back to consulting with a women-led strategy and insights firm serving Detroit nonprofits. There I was able to deepen my expertise in economic development, civic infrastructure, participatory community research, system design, and trusted messenger activation. I even got to lead a campaign to reach historically-undercounted populations in Southeast Michigan to achieve a complete and accurate count in the 2020 Census (a once-in-a-decade opportunity!). 

I developed an interest in data literacy and began writing about data visualization in real life in order to help non-data people see the underpinning of data in everyday life. What started as a volunteer opportunity, rooted in my distant past, became a two-year stint as managing editor of Nightigale, the journal of the Data Visualization Society. In addition to the chance to help all kinds of amazing people to develop, polish, and publish their ideas, I operationalized and launched a print magazine--the first of its kind for data visualizers--including printing and distribution for both subscription and single-issue sales models. Twenty years after leaving publishing things came full circle!

Now, as a first-time college parent, I have the privilege of working with a dedicated team of educators, researchers, designers, and engineers on psychology-based tools that help people with different perspectives try to understand each other — without giving up their own beliefs — in order to live, learn, and work together.

I have met and collaborated with people through Twitter and Slack I would never have met otherwise. I walk and talk. I have a supportive village. I have flourished due to the generosity of many, many mentors. I use processes and behavioral nudges on my three children who I hope will develop into lifelong learners and good humans.