385. Centering People-Driven Analytics + Data Equity - Meena Das

Listen to this episode

Overview

Meet Meena. She’s a community data strategist who helps nonprofits and social impact agencies advance human-centered data insights - focusing on equitable research tools and analyzing engagement. She helps nonprofits and social impact agencies with mindful research practices for a social justice-centered community. Plus, she’s just an incredible human who volunteers as advisor to 10+ amazing small-shops across North America, mentors immigrant women in technology and data science-related careers and is creating an online school called Data Is For Everyone! Don’t miss this conversation that will help us humanize data and put these principles into action 📊

💡 Learn

The importance of People-Driven Analytics

What Data Equity + Community Centric Data Principles are
How you can apply these concepts to your work

Today’s Guest

Meena Das, Founder + Principal, NamasteData

“You have to listen to your people to be able to connect with your community.”

— Meena Das, Founder + Principal, NamasteData

Episode Highlights

Meena’s story and journey to where she is today (3:00)
Humanizing our data (7:00)
Changing your mindset around data (9:50)
Human Centricity in AI (12:00)
Algorithmic behavior (13:00)
Equity in data (15:00)
Chat GPT (17:00)
Community Centric Data Principles (30:00)
Data Cycles (32:00)
A powerful moment of philanthropy in Meena’s life (36:00)
Meena’s One Good Thing: Remember your roots and practice deliberately doing something good. (39:00)

POWERFUL QUOTES

“We don’t do enough with our data.” -Meena

“We look at numbers in a very binary way. We don’t have a balanced relationship with data.” -Meena

“Data is actually like salt in our kitchen, but it is treated like sugar. Data is an enabler. We collect it, we know it’s reported, but we can’t treat it like it is magical. To humanize data, we need to shift our mindset around the word data itself.” -Meena

“The algorithms we have right now, they are too opaque and we don’t understand where a data point comes from.” -Meena

“You have to listen to your people to be able to connect with your community.” -Meena

“You are starting with the question, “How do I listen to my community?” -Meena

“If we collect data points we can’t just compare apples to apples. A lot of my work is about how do you collect these unique data points, and once you have them, how to you build a strategy around them?” -Meena

“We are so prone to comparing data. That’s the problem.” -Meena

“I never want to forget where I have come from. In the bad days it gives me another day to remember to look where I have come from and that I have made an impact.” -Meena