I'm a data lead, manager, and staff data scientist based in Brooklyn, NY.

I'm currently at BuzzFeed where I've worked on a bunch of different teams and projects now, most notably:

• Apps: improved our personalization models and feed ranking algorithms
• Infra: designed a new API to generate article embeddings in real-time and improve load time for related content recommendations
• Commerce: built an entirely new system to store and retrieve similar products based on image embeddings
• RevTech: actively working on improved audience segmentation and targeting to drive more effective ad campaigns
• GenAI: launched a number of first-to-market ChatGPT plug-ins and chatbots that are live on our site

Here's what a typical workday looks like for me:

I've been at BuzzFeed for 4 years (plus an internship the year prior to joining full-time). Before moving to New York I worked at a travel AI startup in Austin, where I was part of a small team of NLP researchers and engineers. I had a brief stint consulting at Underdog.io as well, and some previous internships in recruiting.

I got my MS in computer science from NYU. For my undergrad I studied NLP at the University of Potsdam (near Berlin).

Perpetually outdated but hanging in there, here it is (last update: January 2024).

• Q: Can you help me become a data scientist? A: Maybe! I'm happy to answer specific questions, but it's very, very difficult to give generic career advice in this field. I picked up a new book called Build a Career in Data Science by Emily Robinson and Jacqueline Nolis last year and it's a great resource, so I'd recommend you start there.
• Q: Book recs? A: All time favorites: The Book Thief and When Breath Becomes Air. Currently reading: The Impossible City by Karen Cheung and The Sandman graphic novels by Neil Gaiman.
• Q: What is that accent? A: It's German. One day I'm going to hire a voice coach to help me iron out my R's.

first.last@mostcommonmail.com