Heather Arentson's Turning Pointe
From dancer extraordinaire to principal data scientist
Some careers follow a natural course. When a retired athlete becomes a sports commentator, no one is surprised. Ditto the star chef who opens a restaurant. But then there are professional paths that pivot in a direction no one saw coming, not even the person on the journey. Heather Arentson is a model of the philosophy that it is never too late to completely change your career — and your life.
From Performing The Nutcracker to Preforming Data Analyses
From childhood, Arentson trained to be a dancer, spending long hours in ballet classes, and later, when she became a professional ballerina, in rehearsals and on stage. Dancing with Ballet Palm Beach and Ballet Southeast, among others, she was the Snow Queen in The Nutcracker, the Fairy Godmother in Cinderella, and her favorite, the lead in Coppélia.
Cut to today, and she is starring as a principal data scientist at the international enterprise strategy organization Atlassian. “If you had told me five years ago that I would be leading projects to transform executive dashboards and rearchitect data table and schema structures in an enterprise strategy organization, I never would have believed it,” Arentson shared, still incredulous and thrilled about the change in direction her life has taken.
Explaining the transition, Arentson shared that while she loved her years in the performing arts, the time had come when she found herself ready to leave ballet. “The subjectivity and toxic environments had begun to rob me of my joy in dancing, and I knew that I was quickly aging out, being in my mid-20s. So I was looking at what my next career move would be.”
“I had always loved math and science. I didn’t know exactly what I wanted to do, but I knew that data was a growing field. And I knew that if I was investing in a graduate degree, I needed to be in a field that would make me highly employable.”
Arentson chose Georgia Tech’s Online Master of Science (OMS) in Analytics as the foundation for her career transition, stating "Its reputation is really just incredible and I knew name recognition was going to be important for me in making this massive career pivot.”
Considering she has received a merit raise or promotion every six months since graduation is proof she chose wisely. “OMS Analytics has been a rocket ship for my career,” Arentaon said. “Every internship and job opportunity has been a direct result of having ‘Georgia Tech Honor Graduate’ on my resume. I have zero doubt that the only reason I am here is because of the skills, the knowledge, and the network that I gained at Georgia Tech.”
Along with the expertise acquired and doors opened, the flexibility of the OMS Analytics program was another key to her success. “I was able to do my homework and listen to lectures from a ballet studio while I was waiting my turn to dance.”
Additionally, the overlap of Arentson’s ballet years with her start at Georgia Tech served to solidify her decision to make a career pivot. “When I began the OMS Analytics program in 2017, I was still dancing full-time. I continued dancing professionally and teaching during my first two semesters until I landed a data science internship in the summer of 2018."
"That is when I decided to retire. Pursuing the degree while dancing full-time was incredibly challenging, but I was eager to apply all of the knowledge and skills I was learning through the OMS Analytics program. I hung up my pointe shoes with no regrets."
Supporting Her Community with Analytics
Reflecting on highlights from her blossoming career in data, Arentson's achievements include creating the first internship programs at two companies and managing and mentoring inaugural teams of analytics interns. “Helping these students build skills, navigate remote work, and get that elusive 'experience' that is expected even for entry-level positions was hugely rewarding,” she recalled.
In a similar vein, at a mission-based fintech startup, she built two models that were both aimed at community support. One model qualified app members to receive over $1.5 million in COVID-19 relief grants during the peak of the pandemic, and the other powered personalized alerts to users about how much money they were charged in monthly bank fees. “Our user base was mostly low to moderate-income gig workers, so this insight along with suggested no-fee banking alternatives was hugely impactful for thousands of users.”
It is no surprise that Arentson’s future dreams center on causes close to her heart. “I would love to find ways to marry my data skills with some of my other passions — the arts, climate change, financial literacy, or education. I think there is a huge opportunity for smaller organizations, especially nonprofits, to see great benefit from even basic analytics. Unfortunately, these organizations often don't have the resources to hire someone to do that work full-time. I would love to be a consultant who specializes in filling that gap, building self-sustaining data infrastructure and analytics capacity for small companies and nonprofits. For now, I will keep raising my hand to take on new responsibilities and opportunities for growth.”
Her recent opportunities at Atlassian have focused on building the foundational analytics infrastructure for sales strategy and analytics, ranging from pipeline architecture and analytics engineering to visualization and, of course, loads of documentation.
“It has been really exciting to influence and make decisions about the structure of our data knowing the huge impact that this ultimately has on the ability of data analysts and scientists to gather insights,” said Arentson. “I have felt really empowered through this work as well. Just a few years ago, I would never have imagined having the confidence and skills to build out a robust data infrastructure from the ground up, but I'm doing it!”
Credits
Writer: Laurel-Ann Dooley
Editor: Teresa Daniel
Digital Producer: Kat Bell
Scott Cardinal - Digging Data Analytics
