About

Hi, I'm Jacky, from NYC. I got into data somewhat by accident — but I'm glad I did.

Before data was anything like a career plan, I studied Business Administration at Queens College and spent three years in the New York Army National Guard as an Air Battle Management System Operator. The military taught me how to think in systems and stay organized under pressure — turns out that's pretty useful in data engineering too.

After the Army, I worked at the NYC Department of Parks and Recreation, managing data collection for Trees Count! 2015 — a citywide tree census. At the time I was more focused on the people-management side and didn't think much about the dataset itself. Looking back, that was probably where the seed was planted.

My first real exposure to data was at the NYC Taxi & Limousine Commission, where I spent three years helping shape city transportation policy. One project I'm still proud of: I designed an interactive map of For-Hire Vehicle Relief Stands — places drivers can legally stop. The DOT had a static list posted on their website, which wasn't useful to a driver mid-shift. So I assembled a team of analysts and interns to validate every stand in the field, then rebuilt the list as an interactive map drivers could pull up in Google Maps on their phone. It's been viewed over 2 million times and featured on Uber's website. Working on data that actually affected how 8 million people got around was what got me hooked on this field.

Outside of work, I like to ride my bike, travel whenever I can, and spend an embarrassing amount of time studying how different cities run their public transit and micromobility systems — bikeshare, scooters, whatever they're trying next.

If anything on this site catches your eye, feel free to reach out.