The Essence of Me in Machine Learning
As we start the new year in a pandemic, I have decided to take on the challenge of enrolling in General Assembly’s Data Scientist Immersive, where I am studying to become a Machine Learning engineer. Data Science is incredible and all, but machine learning has my heart. It’s not like I already have enough on my plate, for example, running a business that recently made Forbe’s List top transgender entrepreneurs of color. It’s an outstanding achievement, and I am very proud of my work, but I could challenge myself more. My business is at a level where it can sustain itself. It’s time to find something new, and machine learning is it!
What attracted me to machine learning is that I have to thank my best friend, a machine learning professor at an Ivy League university. I want to say that he started the spark in my mind that came to a full raging passion for it. I believe with my certificate from General Assembly, I will be able to take my problem-solving and quantitive analysis skills to a whole new level to be in service to others who need help.
Machine learning is a new hot topic within the tech world. The use of algorithms and data gathering to find new insights that can help people, businesses, start-ups, or industries solve their problems or help them to grow and thrive. I know because I am currently experiencing it. I plan to get an apprenticeship in machine learning and work in the finance industry. If I haven’t mentioned it before, I teach financial literacy to the lgbtqia+ community and other marginalized communities. As a person of color, I can tell you firsthand that not many of us are within the field of machine learning, especially finance.
Did you know that the average transgender person of color will only make $10k/year or less? Or that for transgender people of color unemployment rate is four times (4x) higher than the national average?
These are devastating statistics that I had to learn when I started my journey to transition. It made me upset. Desperately, I wanted to change these stats for myself and others within my community. But most importantly, I was able to learn these statistics from the collected data. Go figure, I’ve already started my data science journey, and I didn’t even know it; I kid. Anyways, transgender people are often outcasted from society because we try to live our truth in peace. Still, we must do something as a collective, meaning community, to stop discrimination and youth homelessness. One last statistic, but did you know 68% of queer youth are homeless due to family rejection? One of the main reasons I created my brand and company’ “The Trans Capitalist L.L.C.,” in 2016.
Previous employers often ask why I left civil engineering and want to work in finance? I admit it is a massive leap, but I didn’t see it coming either. Civil engineering was fun, but it was not my passion. To keep it real, I was depressed and just going through the motions of Life.
Don’t get me wrong; engineering taught me problem-solving, critical thinking, quantitative and qualitative analysis on real-world problems, and more. To see high risers built from the foundation up, chat with construction workers, gain keen insight into team building, and use my skills at U.P.S. as an operations manager where I was in charge of a team of twenty people who were twice my age.
At U.P.S., I solved workflow issues in a fast-paced environment. Only if people knew how many boxes come through the facility, especially in the Holiday season. One time, I designed a map of how to keep the pace of increased flow from shipments before all these Holiday boxes would blow out the facility itself and make the deadline 8 am because that’s when the drivers would arrive and start their day. Engineering is so engrained in me that I still use graphing paper over loose leaf any day. Unfortunately, once finance came into my Life, I had to say goodbye and move on. However, I will always be in gratitude for my engineering experience.
I knew I wanted a better life for myself, and teaching others how to manage their finances grew on me. I gained so much knowledge from books and the internet that it motivated me to go to business school and get my Masters of Science in finance with little to no experience. I didn’t care because I wanted to learn as much as possible. Desperately, I wanted to know what the people on Wall St. knew.
Jumping right into Business school headfirst was another challenge that stood before me. I WAS NERVOUS when I got accepted, but my curiosity and passion drowned out my fear — surrounded by classmates who had over ten years of experience in the banking and finance sector. I knew I had to step my game up so I could hold my own.
It led to many sleepless nights of studying, but the knowledge I learned was worth it. Immediately, I wanted to share what I learned with people in my community who were struggling. Before I knew it, word of mouth had spread about the work I was doing in my community. I held workshops, taught at colleges/universities, and had private clients — all with the common goal of gaining knowledge and putting themselves into a better position in Life.
But back to my new machine learning journey at the extraordinary General Assembly Data Science Immersive. I never back down from a challenge. I’m the type of person who loves brain games and riddles. So why would this new journey be any different? As they suggested having a “Growth Mindset,” I am precisely doing that because some assignments I’ve had my ass handed to me, and I haven’t felt that feeling in a long time. To me, that’s how I know I am on the right path. It is very humbling.
Machine Learning is so much fun to me. It’s new, it’s exciting, it is scary. It raises all these emotions within me. I never knew you could do so many things with data. I didn’t know data is so crucial in the world. Also, machine learning has taught me that failure is okay. To try again, run a model, evaluate your mistakes, and make adjustments but don’t give up. It’s practically a metaphor for my Life. I’ve faced great adversity to get to where I am today.
Becoming a machine learning engineer is an important goal in my Life. I take it very seriously. It combines all the skills I have acquired and builds more on top of that. I imagine the impact I can make on people’s lives by helping them make crucial decisions that can save their businesses, all because I was able to help analyze their data and build algorithms that can help them thrive. Plus, it doesn’t hurt either that I want to break open the tech door for marginalized communities, share my journey with them, and give them access to resources that always seemed out of reach for them.
So here I am embarking on a new journey, ready to see what is to come. I am prepared to change, dive into machine learning and empower anyone that comes across my path. That is who I am. That is the Essence of me.
Stay tuned for the next entry, as I will discuss an event that has seriously impacted the data science/ machine learning world. Stay safe out there!
