With a background in development studies and a passion for languages, research, and analysis, Manuela found in the Data School the perfect match to get her analytical and visual design skills to the next level.
In the past 2 years, she’s built a special bond with India.
First, she worked as an IDEX fellow at Ashoka – Innovators for the Public in Bangalore, surrounded by social entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs, start-up accelerators, and creative innovators under 20.
She then joined a small team and a brand-new NGO based in Delhi. The pilot project saw her working with government school teachers and the local Education department to improve learning levels with a special focus on teachers’ engagement.
After collecting data on the ground, it was time to turn the results into an easy-to-use dashboard for different audiences. That’s how she explored solutions online and discovered Tableau. The Data School blog gave her guidance and useful tips. Applying for the Data School was an easy choice: it was the best opportunity to learn from the best and dive deep into data analysis and visual design.
Her hope for the future is to combine these skills with her big interests: research, reporting, M&EL, civic technologies, and all that makes complex social issues accessible and digestible to citizens, especially in this complex time.
Volunteering has been and still is a big part of her life, from first aid to mental health to online volunteering in media monitoring and civic tech.
She’s an avid reader as well as a podcast and language lover. Hopefully, she will find the time here in London to resume studying languages and learning new ones.