Susan Walsh, Founder, The Classification Guru
Susan Walsh is a specialist in data classification, taxonomy customisation, and data cleaning, but didn’t set out to have a career in data, and fell into the industry ‘by accident’.
Susan spent her twenties in sales before opening her own clothing shop in Guildford selling women’s workwear. Unfortunately, she was forced to call it a day after lack of footfall and sales, which had resulted in accumulating so much debt that she was so broke she couldn’t even afford to go bankrupt and had to wait six months to save up.
But this was a blessing in disguise, as it’s where she got into the world of data. After spending five years with a spend analytics company, Susan founded The Classification Guru, and after nearly six years now has a team of 7 staff working for her.
As part of our ongoing celebration of International Women’s Day, we sat down with senior leaders from our community to ask them how they found themselves in the world of data, and what advice they have for others.
How and Why did you get into the Data industry?
Susan told us how she obtained an entry-level role as a stop-gap following the clothing store’s closing. However, she found she took to the role quickly, whilst really enjoying what she was doing, and decided to stay long-term, building a team from scratch to 14 in size, managing everything from projects, to recruitment to training.
What advice would you give to a college or Uni leaver considering a career in Data?
Susan emphasised that she isn’t from a data background, she doesn’t code or analyse data, and yet she still has a successful business cleaning and classifying data. Susan pointed out that there are so many areas of data you can go into, there’s an assumption that you had to be good at maths to work in data, which really isn’t the case.
“There is something there for everyone, do something you enjoy, there are so many different types of people in data, it’s not restrictive at all”
Susan also made the point that the Data community is a friendly, welcoming, and supportive community.
How has being a female leader impacted your journey within the data industry?
Susan expressed that she thinks it is great to show young girls the fun side of data. You can be as glamorous or as casual as you like, it doesn’t have to be the stereotypical person that works in the Tech space. Susan explained in the early days she decided to embrace the fact she stood out when there were fewer females in the industry, which could have been a risk, but ultimately paid off.
What could be done better in the Data industry to attract more females to a career in Data?
Susan believes we should be targeting girls at primary school age and showing all kids that data is a great option. She told us:
“Data is the most wonderful space to work in, so many opportunities, don’t put it all in one bucket, find the area that’s right for you”.
Tahanee Twist
Tahanee is an accomplished principal talent partner with us here at Orbition. With years of experience in the industry, she has developed a reputation as a skilled and trusted advisor to both clients and candidates.
In her role as principal talent partner, Tahanee is responsible for managing key client relationships and ensuring the delivery of high-quality talent solutions. She works closely with clients to understand their business needs and culture, and develops customized strategies that meet their specific requirements Read more.
