Welcome back to Episode 5 of Qlik Luminary Life! This week we caught up with Kelsey Fautsch to learn more about her previous 12 years of experience at Deloitte (*spoiler alert* SHE’S AVAILABLE FOR HIRE so if you’re reading this and looking for an MVP for your team, employ her before another company does), her passion as a competitive volleyball player, and her amazing advice for women entering into the field of Data Analytics.
What company do you work for and what is your job title?
It’s interesting timing actually. This week I had my last day with Deloitte where I have spent the last 12 years. I’ve had a variety of roles at the firm but for the past 5 years, I’ve been working with a Deloitte proprietary technology platform called TrueView as a business analyst, implementation specialist, and most recently a sales engineer.
Why did you decide to apply to be a Qlik Luminary?
The TrueView platform I was working with uses Qlik Sense as its reporting and analytics tool. I believe this is one of the largest implementations of Qlik Sense, and definitely the largest Nprinting shop Qlik has. So it seemed like a good fit to become a Luminary to get more connected and share our experiences. What I’ve liked best about the Luminary group is that it allows early access to important information and more importantly, in my opinion, connections with key stakeholders within Qlik and other super users. I’ve found it to be a great network to learn about what others are doing and to have those valuable connections with people like me.
How has Qlik improved your work and how was it used at Deloitte?
Qlik is the reporting component for the SaaS technology platform. We sold it to companies to either use with our field services or on their own to collect information about brand consistency, customer experience, or other types of compliance. The platform had over 500,000 users and they are often excited and impressed by the amount of information and analysis they can pull from a simple Qlik dashboard.
Tell me about a challenge Qlik helped you to overcome.
When setting up our instance of Qlik, the team was critical in helping us set up the structure and various components. We had a group of developers who hadn’t worked with the technology much yet, so we relied on their team for help. We’ve also worked together on new security models and things of that nature.
Advice for those wanting to become a future Luminary?
Be on a team for large implementation haha. I’m sure that helped, but also I believe they are looking for people who are key users and who are interested in being involved in the details to give candid feedback. I had also spoken at their annual conference a few times, done a few social media and webinar recordings, and was on a panel at one of their data literacy roadshows. Being active on social media or helping them out with those types of eminence efforts would help you get seen and on track for joining the Luminary family. Speaking of that, I may have to step up my game now that I’m not with Deloitte ha.
Do you have any advice for other women who may want to get into the Data Analytics field?
Good question, it tends to be a very male-heavy specialization. I think it’s important to know that there are a variety of roles associated with data analytics. One that I think I specialize in is being what I call a purple person. Meaning that I understand business needs and requirements but can also speak enough tech to translate those and make sure that we’re configuring the technology components in a way that meets and exceeds those needs. Business being red, technology being blue, making me the bridge – purple.
For women, I think it’s important to highlight areas that may come more naturally to us. Maybe design and color coordination, empathy, and having good relationships with end users can be great value adds. But also being confident in knowing your technical abilities and voicing them can help you to earn respect and land a role that you are looking for.
When you’re not working and being a Luminary what hobbies or activities do you enjoy?
Well…I stay very busy! I love to travel and go to events which has been a little challenging this year. The concerts, food festivals, and sporting events I normally attend have of course been canceled. I have started traveling again though, and just took a 4-day road trip through Southwest Colorado, which by the way is a must-see and some of the most beautiful landscapes I’ve seen! I suppose a silver lining to all of these events getting canceled is that it is forcing me to do more road trips and enjoy the wonders our country has rather than flying off to other countries. I am also starting to play beach volleyball again. I have played volleyball since 6th grade and all through college, I am 6ft so it was a natural fit for me ha. There are quite a few volleyball tournaments in the mountain towns of Colorado throughout the summer. If not for tournaments it’s always nice to get outside and get some exercise playing pickup with my girlfriends.
Name a song you have completely memorized.
John Michael Montgomery’s – Sold. I like a wide variety of music, but country is one of my fallbacks. I won’t be singing it for you today but you should go check it out, it’s a good one.
What would be your first question after waking up from being cryogenically frozen for 100 years?
Oh wow, That’s a fun question. I am definitely a visual person so I would ask for a tour or to see what things looked like. You can learn a lot about people’s mindsets, the state of an economy, and a general feel for the culture by just looking at an environment.
Watch the full video interview – https://youtu.be/RlGGLF_pe8Q
Interested in learning more about Kelsey Fautsch? Be sure to follow her on her social media handles listed below and be sure to stay tuned for episode six!
LinkedIn: kelsey-fautsch
Twitter: @kfautsch
If you’re a Qlik Luminary and are interested in being featured for our blog series contact Michael Daughters at mdaughters@motio.com
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