Get to know Equity Task Force member Candra McRae through her conversation with fellow Task Force member Allen Hillery. 

Candra is a Seattle native currently residing in Columbus, GA. CEO of Lumodis that loves a thrill for the “data chase”. She shares her data journey and how her non-traditional background influences her simple and focused approach to visualizing data. Check out her insights on the joys (and pains) of running her own business, building passion projects and her take on how we can all begin to embrace data.

Getting to know Candra

Allen Hillery: Can you tell us a bit about yourself? 

Candra McRae: I’m a Seattle native, Columbus (GA) transplant, entrepreneur, wife, and mom of one. I’m a seeker of knowledge, understanding, and meaning, and about 800 other things on any given day. 

AH: How would you describe your data journey?

CM: I have a really non-traditional background for an analytics leader. I’m a liberal arts graduate with a lifelong aversion to numbers. My career hasn’t been built on my ability to make robust models or dynamic vizzes. While those certainly have helped me, I’ve built my expertise on my ability to ask solid questions and communicate complex “number things” in ways that most people can understand.  

AH: It sounds like your journey has been a non-traditional one?

CM: My data journey is a “happy accident” in that someone took a chance on me and stretched me in ways that helped me grow. Earlier in my career, I had a boss, now mentor, that exposed me to projects that required me to hone my technical skills. After he would tell me to “figure it out”, I immediately spent a lot of time Googling, scouring Stack Overflow, and many tech forums.