In last week’s article we discussed five diverse characters in television and film that didn’t necessarily fit Hollywood’s stereotype of what a data scientist looks and acts like. While many hacker and data analyst roles are portrayed by white actors and actresses who are nerdy and/or computer geniuses that’s not the case in everyday society. The data industry is made up of men and women of all different races, ethnicities, and sexualities, so today we are continuing to celebrate characters that don’t fit Hollywood’s typical mold.

Tableau’s 11^th Annual Conference concluded another successful conference at the end of October in New Orleans. Attendees got to attend data inspired break-out sessions, Tableau training, as well as networking events. One of the main events was the Iron Viz Championship – a competition between three finalists armed with a dataset and tasked with making the best visualization. Did I mention it was all in front of a live audience? I got to talk to 2018’s Iron Viz Champion, Timothy Vermeiren and asked him more about the championship and why he thinks data visualization is so important.