Meet Brandeis Marshall | Data Scientist & Data Equity Strategist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Brandeis Marshall and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Brandeis, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
Creating my own business wasn’t on my life bingo card. The entrepreneurial bug started biting me after being awarded a 3-year $500,000 grant for my former employer. This forward-thinking grant outlined a transformative plan to increase data science knowledge and its relationship to other disciplines and to highly marginalized communities. Given the lack of faculty development opportunities in emergent field, I was keen on upskilling other STEM faculty colleagues in data education in addition to their students. It was an opportunity to broaden data skills’ awareness to a wider range of undergraduates (computing majors and those who major in disciplines with computing cognate requirements). This programmatic and scholarly work resulted in 20+ faculty and 250+ students being exposed to data skills along with 5 peer-reviewed, refereed publications and numerous invited talks.

I was content — even felt like I “made it” — by working for well-established and recognized institutions as an academic. My career trajectory was on the rise with leadership roles and being seen as an authority in my field. I figured that I’d transition into academic administration leadership and retire as a college president somewhere. And even in retirement, I assumed that I’d continue advising and consulting other faculty and college administrators.

But as the too-well-known story goes for too many Black women, I didn’t experience consistent support for my leadership. It was about a 3-year uphill battle for resources, personnel and trust in my vision. My frustration led me to become overwhelmed. So when others’ reached out to serve on panels, committees or deliver a talk on data education and data/AI ethics, I tried guiding them to other collaborators and known scholars in the field. To my surprise, they wanted my unique thought leadership and perspectives. There was no substitute for me, apparently. I needed my own carve-out — what I called a side hustle enterprise (SHE).

I honestly didn’t know what I was doing nor did I have any role models to follow at first. I was looking for an educated Black woman in tech, preferably with an academic background. Every Black businesswoman I ran across worked in the corporate sector for a number of years. And finding a business owner with a PhD who shared how they were able leveraged their educational background in business proved to be a challenge too. I found that people perceived my PhD as a detriment — they assumed that I wasn’t able to translate theory to action. My self-SHE education consisted of listening to many podcast episodes from online service-based business owners and other business-focused podcast series.

All the listening in the world wasn’t going to help me build a business unless I put what I’d heard into action, repeatedly. I kept sharing my thoughts on social media. I met with people who requested me as a speaker, panelist or external advisory member. I met with people from so many industries and sectors. Looking back, it was a season of figuring out my identity outside of academia. I decided that I wasn’t going to pursue entrepreneurship half-way. I was determined to give it as much attention as I had invested into that 3-year $500,000 grant. If I did that and this business didn’t generate self-employment level revenue, then I’d abandon entrepreneurship and remain an employee. I proceeded to set a 2-year clock in early 2020 — then the COVID-19 pandemic happened.

The COVID-19 pandemic altered which business model I chose. Originally, the business was leaning non-for-profit organization. The targeting of diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, understanding the integral role of donors for non-profits and clients’ keen interest in having me consult on projects led to developing a for-profit business with a purpose-driven arm.

In hindsight, that grant served as a test run on identifying who my business’s target audience would eventually be — managers and directors in need of professional development in implementing responsible data/AI practices. My company, DataedX Group, takes managers and directors from data overwhelm to data clarity. They’ll able to integrate equity in their data operations in order to identify coping and intervention strategies to be more just. We help them build responsible data practices that’ll align their people, processes, practices and policies. It resulted in DataedX Group reaching nearly 50,000 people through our professional development engagement channels and adding two national partnerships in 2023.

Our purpose-driven arm, Black Women in Data (BWD), centers Black women’s point of view in all spaces where data lives. Right now, Black women account for less than 1% of the data industry. By 2040, Black Women in Data wants to see Black women occupying 13% of these data roles. BWD since 2022 has help connect over 300 Black women in data roles to each other, run 2 cohort programs and hired Black-owned and operated businesses for our annual Summits held in Atlanta. We’re continuing to expand our reach and impact by celebrating our 3rd Black Women in Data Summit on September 13-15, 2024 at Le Meridien Atlanta Perimeter.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
Being an Black woman with a PhD in computer science has been a journey of navigating uncomfortable conversations and situations. I’m therefore keenly aware that oftentimes others don’t have a point of reference for how to engage an educated Black person. So I spend the majority of my academic career overcompensating for others’ discomfort by seeking external validation. It was stressful since I wasn’t being true to what I thought. I came to realize and understand that my unique perspective was valuable to my field. No masking necessary. When I started trusting in myself by leaning on my skills, expertise and experiences, I saw what others saw. I accepted me for me. Being a smart tech person who prioritizes people over products is good. Being open to solving problems without using technology is good. Making data and AI more snackable to understand for everyone is a needed, welcomed and healthy space to create people-first tech innovations.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
We’d have to start the day with breakfast at Grits and Eggs Breakfast Kitchen. Once we’re full, we’ll need to walk it off at the High Museum of Art. We’ll get a little culture while we’ll get in our steps. We can head over to Atlantic Station to either catch a movie, grab a quick snack/meal and (window) shop. We’ve had a full day but not ready to go home yet. So we’ll stop by either Urban Grind or Rev Coffee to enjoy whichever relaxed, coffee and tea scented atmosphere that avoids the most Atlanta traffic at that time of day.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I’d want to dedicate this s/o to my hubby, Gemez and my work friend who became my best friend, Iretta Kearse. And a huge thank-you to the early DataedX clients for welcoming this academic as a consultant!

Website: https://dataedx.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/blkwomenindata/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brandeis-marshall/