About Jess (Aug 2024-Oct 2024)
From August 2024 through October 2024, this was my About.
Stories evolve. Perspectives shift. I like to keep things fresh, but I also find growth shows up in the written history. So here I’ll be keeping my previous “Abouts”.
My career path has taken me on many adventures over the last 30+ years. It started with entrepreneurship style jobs making things and selling them to neighbors, to babysitting, all of the way through the food industry, college jobs in Admissions and tutoring, to my foray into data and analytics. I’ve wandered into yoga instruction, website development for hobbyist side hustlers, consulting work for nonprofits, a moment in insurance sales, and so on the story builds.
It might seem I have no idea what I want to be when I grow up, and that would likely be an accurate summary, but fact is, I have another 30 or so years of work ahead of me, and my only success criteria is to enjoy it. While I’ve been working hard these last two years at building up my creativity and reminding myself the joy of making things, I’ve also been getting back in touch with what it means to be “me”. As you'd see in my Reflections, I struggle with being “unfinished”. In reality, we’re always unfinished.
We’re always creating.
Creating the person we want to show up as in the world, creating memories, stories, homes, careers, and relationships.
At the moment, my current creations abound. I’m working many concurrent projects to build my technical and soft skills, in the creative business and also with the intention of re-entering the traditional work force as a data, analytics, AI ethics expert.
Studying for the CISSP | in order to re-skill for Information / Cybersecurity roles, preferably in Business Intelligence Analytics, Compliance, Data Governance, or Data Management
Try Hack Me & Hack the Box (HTB) | building technical Information / Cybersecurity Skills
Salesforce Trailhead / Tableau Trainings | refreshing technical analytics skills to catch up with the latest in Salesforce and Tableau releases (Tableau Public | Salesforce Trailhead)
Deep Study of AI and Data Ethics | I’m quite passionate around the responsible use of data (and artificial intelligence). I’m happy to talk your ear off on this, but in the meantime, I’ll be building a more official and deep understanding of the current landscape. I suspect education resources to show up here as I grow this knowledge.
Adobe Illustrator & Procreate Tutorials | graphic design of snarky, funny, niche’d items is the cornerstone of my business, JA Murphy Designs, LLC.
In addition to all of the learning above, that will grow me further into the analyst, leader, and life-creative I think I’m meant to be, I will continue to make and write. Making builds up a perseverance that often reminds me of writing code and data engineering. Trying things, troubleshooting issues, and tweaking designs for repeatability, cleverness, and documenting clearly as trial and errors provide insights. Writing in the form of sharing stories makes me a better person, employee, and world citizen. You’ll be able to find my handmade work at select nonprofits (stay tuned for a list), where my inventory will be donated and all proceeds to benefit their constituents. You’ll be able to shop my designs and humor at my Zazzle shop. My writings will be offered here in the form of reflections or creative writings.
A strong, heartfelt thank you to all who have supported my creativity over the past couple of years, in the form of encouragement, purchases, and feedback. Without you I don’t know where I’d be.
Read more about me at my LinkedIn.
Updated: August 1, 2024
