Creative & Trapped in the STEM World

I’m a right-brain creative trapped in the left-brain STEM world.

Well…I’m not really TRAPPED. I’m part of a fortunate selection of folks who actually enjoy their corporate career.

What do I do? I’m glad you asked that question.

There are many titles for my career. Data analytics. Data Scientist. Database Administration. I support businesses by translating data (Sales, volume, performance measures, etc.) into meaningful information by which to make business decisions.

I’m a total geek. I write Visual Basic and SQL code. I’m certified in both MS Excel and MA Access. I can build process maps in my sleep. Mathematics, data modeling and equations are strengths of mine. My career has been grounded in completely left-brain work.

I can’t complain. I’ve worked for some pretty awesome companies through the years including the Coca-Cola Bottling Company managing production operations; Paramount Pictures tracking television syndication sales; Capitol Records tracking record sales; and now I work in healthcare, building and maintaining systems and processes to audit clinician billing.

If a company has data, (and they all do) I can transfer my skills to assist them in some way.

I’ve encountered some really great STEM minds; people whose knowledge I have literally soaked up. I’d see a peer do some really cool thing and say “Hey, teach me that”! Cool stuff like how to run loops in code to preform repeat functions. Or how to create a button that literally automates any action a human can do.

While these brilliant minds have been just that, brilliant, there is one thing almost all of them have in common. Most are not great communicators beyond the technical space.

These coders can build almost anything to satisfy a business need but often they fail to effectively communicate with folks who don’t write code. They can create the perfect solution to the problem but struggle to explain to executives how to use the new fancy thing they’ve built.

Over the course of my career, I’ve come to realize there is literally a language barrier between techies and the lay-person who just needs the thing to work.

This is the space where I soar.

Why? Because I am an equally balanced, left-brain techie and right-brain creative.

We are few. But we exist.

While my left-brain has been completely fulfilled, my right-brain has been kinda starved.

That’s what brings us to this blog. I am a writer. I’m here to write. And I really hope you are here to enjoy some juicy content.

In my corporate career I’ve written many technical manuals. I’ve also written many, MANY scripts and monologues in my day. I’ve got a whole Hollywood adventure under my belt complete with acting, directing and producing credits. More on that in another post.

If you’ve read this far, thanks! Here’s a little more about me.

I was born and raised in Philadelphia, PA, USA.

I graduated from the Philadelphia High School for Creative and Performing arts…where my right brain was nourished.

I graduated from Drexel University with a Cum Laude BS in Operations Management…where my left brain was nourished.

I graduated, valedictorian, from Bible Enrichment School of Theology with a AA in Theology…where my spirit was nourished.

I got married. I got divorced. I got married again. I got divorced again. All while being a lover of Jesus, go figure. Relationships is obviously an area where I have struggled, to say the least.

I have a beautiful daughter who is a creative force of her own. She’s everything to me.

My life is a literal paper-mache, patch work, masterpiece which means you’re in for a good ride.

I enjoy my corporate career and as a single mom, I am especially grateful that my career has sustained a decent life for myself and my kid. But now...it’s time to shift gears a bit. It’s time for me to do what I was born to do…create.

Clicking through these pages you’ll be on a journey with me to exercise my right-brain in many ways.

I hope you laugh. I hope you learn. I hope you ponder. You may just cry. You will hear my heart, feel my soul, experience my creativity and sometimes encounter my twisted thinking on things.

I’m grateful you are here.