A few years back, a junior associate and I were out to lunch and he informed me that I was the official Work Mom for our company. Our company only had a few senior people, no HR, and lots of junior people. Evidently I had become the go to person for all things data and “off the record” related. How to deal with a client that screams at you? Go talk to Kristina. How to do that thing in SQL? Go to Kristina. Feeling overwhelmed and burned out? Kristina. Want to know how to get to the next level? You guessed it – Kristina.

Given my adult son was similar in age to most of our junior staff – it really made sense. A dose of pragmatic, from someone who cares. For anyone that wanted to succeed, I wanted to help. I was tired of all the websites and people moaning and groaning about millennials and Gen Z – their expectations made sense to me. (Incidentally, I think this is why females in my generation potentially make great leaders for younger generations – but that’s a topic for another day.)

The more I thought about being a work mom, the more I liked the idea. Because I like being the person you trust with your professional problems; be it data related or not. And with decades of experience, I’ve helped people of all generations along the way. So here I am: your Data Work Mom. The mom that wants you to succeed. No matter if you are 12 or 82. The mom that also learns things along the way and passes it on.

This blog will serve to help others learn data related topics, find reliable resources, learn architecture/engineering topics, alert you to happenings in the community, assist in lifting people up, discuss leadership topics, and include things that fall into that “off the record” category. Technical items will mainly focus on Microsoft products such as SQL Server, Azure, PowerBI, Synapse, etc. – but that may not always be the case. I’ve done a lot in R, Python, AI, and some may be published as is – irrespective of the platform. I may even sneak in some Google CoLab from time-to-time and general theory topics that are not restricted to any one platform or product.

Let’s get to work!