the pioneers

It's International Women's Day! This year's theme is #breakthebias, so I'm highlighting a few women who have been role models in the Tableau (& a little bit of the dataviz) community in this way.  I don't have enough time to highlight everyone (so if there's a woman that wasn't recognized that you think should be, add a comment, tweet this out with your picks). 

I will help forge a gender equal world #breakthebias

Two women who influenced me (& others)

A black and white picture of Kelly Martin, who can be described as a white Canadian woman, wearing a dress with a dark cardigan, and an infectious smile that reaches her closed eyes.

Kelly Martin 
Kelly was an awesome person who made people feel welcome and was smart. The type of smart that could talk to the everyday person while also talking to CEOs and the super technical.  Kelly created these personal connections so that you instantly became a fan--whether it was of her as a person, her as a woman founder of a dataviz company, or her designs and the technical chops to get it done.
Kelly is my person that I look up to and who inspired not just me and Bridget Cogley, but whose influence is still felt, years after her passing.  There aren't enough words for me to fan-girl over Kelly.  Her work is still relevant today. Check out her site, Viz Candy.

---

Anya A'Hearn (@AnyaAHearn)
Anya is like a cool disruptor to the dataviz scene.  I remember meeting her at TCC in DC and thinking, "OMG! Someone has fashion sense and creates these cool data visualizations!" Since I was fun wearing dresses and heels at that conference, I recognized me in her.  What I appreciate about Anya, is her ability to be more well-rounded, her ability to prioritize family, and her ability to give "bitchy" feedback that was so useful I still use it today (and for those in the Iron Viz feedback sessions, you'll recognize it as "What's the point? What do you want someone to learn/do after reading your visualization?." I remember when she went from developing these beautiful dashboards to learning even more technical aspects of visualization. And, how she built DataBlick from a one woman show to a team of six, four of whom have been Tableau Zen Masters and one Alteryx Ace. 

---

These women worked to forge a gender equal world through the how they work/ed and how they empower women.  There are actually a lot of other women that have influenced others and who are helping forge a gender equal world, and I would love to hear about them.