Intern, Roboyo and Half a Million Kids
Businesses see data as the next big thing in making better decisions, connecting to customers and improving sales.
Marie Axalan sees data as a way to help companies better meet their missions.
“Helping people with diverse perspectives to have a voice is really important to me,” said Axalan, who immigrated to the United States from the Philippines. “I’m very interested in the power of data, and how it can help people see the world more clearly.”
Specifically, she’s interested in how the business world can use data to better address societal challenges. That’s how she wound up pursuing a master’s in business analytics after completing her undergraduate degree at Leeds.
“I knew the master’s degree would give me a level up on other people trying to enter the job market,” she said.
An excellent student, Axalan won a coveted scholarship from software giant Alteryx that helped her focus on a full-time graduate degree and gave additional opportunities, like access to boot camps and machine-learning tools. And staying in school gave the aspiring data scientist additional practical experience, from a strong network of peers and faculty to a fourth Leeds internship; all of them have been in automation, analytics and data management.
Her role with the nonprofit Half a Million Kids has been the most meaningful for her, and is a blueprint for the kind of career she’d like to have.
“Helping people with diverse perspectives to have a voice is really important to me.”
Marie Axalan (Fin’21, MSBA’22)
“My internship is showing me how to leverage my data analytics and data science skills to help solve social issues,” she said. The company uses Alteryx, giving her opportunities to use her education in building processes for the business. “It’s an amazing learning experience, getting to build something with my blood, sweat and tears that’s really doing good for community.”
Her experiences at Leeds have guided her in that direction, as well, including the chance to take graduate classes alongside professionals who have worked in nonprofits and her involvement with the Multicultural Student Association and the dean’s cabinet.
Axalan is now looking for data science work in the Bay Area, which she fell in love with on a finance trek to San Francisco; the avid traveler also went on a trip with the First-Year Global Experience and studied abroad in Spain.
“I’ve always had an interest in seeing the world,” she said.