Q: How long have you worked at Rice?
A: My one-year anniversary was this past June.
Q: What is your favorite part about working for the university?
A: My previous role was at a very small company, so I really enjoy learning about the various departments and units within Rice and how they all work together. In my role, I collaborate with a lot of different people and enjoy creating better ways to work together.
Q: What do you want people to know about living in Houston?
A: You’ll never be hungry in Houston because this city is a foodie’s paradise. I’ll never run out of new restaurants to try. Nine times out of 10, if you need to find me outside of work, I’ll be eating pastries or café-hopping around town.
Q: What do you do in your downtime?
A: I love to read. I’ve been really into nonfiction books as of lately. “Freakonomics” by Steven D. Levitt was something fun I read recently. It reminded me that data-proven statements are not always accurate, especially if you aren’t looking at the data holistically.
Q: What’s your favorite spot on campus to show someone?
A: Brochstein Pavillion is my favorite spot on campus because I get to see all sorts of people come together in one space: students, tour groups, faculty, staff and leadership.
Q: What’s the most exciting time of year for you as it relates to Rice?
A: I think the start of the school year is quite exciting, at least in regard to engagement within Operations, Finance and Support (OF&S). I like seeing how the strategies developed in the summer begin to take effect.
Q: What’s the one thing that makes Rice special to you?
A: I think everyone at Rice and especially the executive leadership team really care about the Rice community. It’s something that I see in the types of events they create, the culture they foster and the way they plan for the future. There’s a lot of intentionality and care that goes into every decision.
Q: What do you enjoy most about your job?
A: A lot of my work so far has been related to events. Now that fiscal year 2025 has come to a close, it has been a lot of fun looking back and dissecting the engagement data from each OF&S event. When I first started on this analysis project, I thought it was mainly just about cleaning the data and putting it into displays, but my colleague Angela Lipari has been teaching me a lot about storytelling and leveraging the information we have to make data-driven decisions and initiatives. I’ve really enjoyed learning from her, especially when it comes to these types of things.