2023: The Best Year Yet

2023 was a big year for my professional and personal life. From sharing more of my maps???, to significantly increasing my network from 100 to 500 connections??, to getting a dream job at NASA Earth Observatory??, this has been an extraordinary year.

Here are some highlights from this year:

I started the new year strong with the #52WeeksMapChallenge (official name: MapPromptMonday). Maps includes: Greenland, sea turtles, colorblind friendly pavement condition map, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang map, polar vortex, a bivarant map, a black and white map, a North American jay map, an elephants map, a map surrounding the topic of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and a DC cherry blossom map, just in time for peak cherry blossom season, this is one of my most popular maps ever! —all crafted during the 2022 #30DayMapChallenge in November 2022.

Eager for the next adventure, I was on a job hunt for a new opportunity to continue my professional journey.

• ??I submitted 7 job applications
• ??Went through 4 rounds of interviews with 2 potential opportunities

In my spare time, I:

• ??Had a lovely chat with Alison Ollivierre, MSc, GISP on NACIS, National Geographic and other mappy things!
• ??Met with Martin Gamache (National Geographic), thank you for the introduction John Nelson !
• ??Met Sarah Bell virtually through a mentorship guest speaker session, thank you to my mentor Madison Draper for organizing!
• ??Had an informational Interview with Cory Bolen, GISP on his career at Stantec, thank you Megan L. Young for the introductions!
• ??Met with Juliana McMillan-Wilhoit on a virtual video call
• ??Attended 3 mentorship sessions with amazing mentor Madison Draper , and mentees Stephanie Bennett , McKenna Price-Patak , Claire Krumm
• ??Created a holidays graphic for the Vanguard Cabinet
• And attended these events: ??12 Women in GIS Communities of Practice weekly virtual networking events ?? WiGIS Colorado Chapter January meeting Attended: ??3 WiGIS Mugs and Mornings ?? ESRI YPN's "How to Market Yourself into a GIS Career" webinar

April marked a month of thrilling transformations for me! ?? I officially accepted a job offer to become a Science Data Visualizer at NASA Earth Observatory ??. This set off a sequence of events involving relocating across state lines—??packing up my apartment, ??searching for a new place, ??making the move back to California, ???acquiring furniture, ??unpacking, and getting utilities set up.

Other April highlights:

• ??Presented at the Women in GIS Monthly Lightning Talk on one of my #30DayMapChallenge submissions
• ??Attended webinar "Closing the Gender Pay Gap: Negotiation Strategies for Women by Women"
• ∞?? Met Courtney Dobbertin at WiGIS Communities of Practice, which led to a mentor-mentee dynamic, and over time, it evolved into a cherished personal friendship. I feel incredibly fortunate to have her in my life!

In the summer months, I fully embraced my new role: from ?? sharing the exciting news of my position on LinkedIn to ?? publishing my inaugural Image of the Day,?? learning image processing and adapting to new workflows and tools, ?? badging appointments, ?? awaiting the arrival of computer equipment etc. I covered so many topics at NASA Earth Observatory, such as fires, hurricanes, typhoons, tropical storms, volcano eruptions and melting glaciers. Earth always provides new images and stories to tell. I fell off the #52WeeksMapChallenge wagon, but for good reason!

Summer highlights:

• ???Submitted a map for the GISCI Map Contest
• Made 2 trips to JPL to get badged and of course, had to take a selfie in front of the NASA sign!
• In July, I traveled to Pasadena to meet up with 3 members of my team. It was great seeing everyone in-person!
• Had the honor of being mentioned in a John Nelson youtube video!
• Attended: ??WiGIS Colorado June meeting ?? 3 URISA Membership commitee meetings ??4 WiGIS Mugs and Mornings meetings ??16 WiGIS Communities of Practice meetings ??URISA's "Virtual Mappy Hour & Resume Clinic" ?? WiGIS "Find Your Coordinates: Position Yourself in a Geospatial Career" ?? URISA's "Next Level Leadership: Transitioning from Minion to Manager" ?? WiGIS Northeast: UC Follow-Up ?? WiGIS-AZ Book Club "Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race" ?? Webinar: URISA's "Creating a Worthy Presentation" ?? URISA Connect: Lean Coffee & Networking ?? WiGIS Northeast Chapter: Mentors virtual event

Fall is here! Some of the exciting pieces I covered at NASA Observatory includes processing satellite imagery of Halloween themes, which has a spooky face from space and orange-colored waters. The piece I am most proud of is the coral bleaching animation. This was the first time my group used Coral Reef Watch data, so it was fun and challenging to be the one to figure it out.

Fall highlights:

• Presented at the WiGIS Cartography webinar with the amazing Garrett Raubinger, GISP and Anna Riling, PG, MS . Thank you Jennifer Psillas, GISP , Karen Fisher, GISP and Sage Donaldson for organizing!
• Nominated for the XYHT 24 Young Professionals to Watch In 2024 and Geospatial World 50 Rising Stars, thank you Samantha Dinning, GISP for the nominations!
• Submitted a conference abstract "UCLA to NASA: My GIS Story + Tips for Current Students"

• Attended ??12 WiGIS Communities of Practices ??Webinar: ESRI YPN's "Navigating Mentor Relationships" ??URISA's GISP Virtual Trivia Night ??3 WiGIS' Mugs and Mornings??Remote Sensing in Disasters Community of Practice ??WiGIS Colorado September meeting ??WiGIS NorthEast: Resources event ??URISA's Management for Me, You, & the NEW: A Panel Discussion with New GIS Managers ?? WiGIS GA - Quarterly Meetup ?? Webinar: "Supporting Women Working in the Geospatial Sciences: Sharing What We’ve Done & Learned" ?? WiGIS Arizona - Book Club - "Local Voices, Local Choices: The Tacare Approach to Community-Led Conservation"

• December Highlight: I was highlighted in the geospatial magazine XYHT in the issue "24 Young Geospatial Professionals to Watch in 2024", and was even featured on the front cover!

And that is it for 2023! There are lots to look forward to in 2024, including:

• Being on a panel "Using Your STEM expertise for a Creative Career" with the University of Oxford in February 2024, thank you Callum Buchanan for reaching out!
• Continue expanding my ever-growing network by attending more WiGIS Communities of Practice, Mugs and Mornings and WiGIS virtual events.
• Maybe be a guest on a podcast? I'm really into podcasts at the moment and would love a platform to talk about how I used social media to create my personal brand
• Step out of my comfort zone by holding more informational interviews! I have a list of incredible cartographers/geospatial professionals in the industry I would love to have casual chats with.
• And of course, more maps!

Stay mappy, everyone!

This article was inspired by Marco Hernandez 's annual "The year in graphics"!

If you got this far, please comment your greatest 2023 mappy win or a 2024 mappy resolution, I would love to see everyone else's reflections!