Data Science Society: Head of Marketing

Hello all, my name is Suhani Sharma and I’m in my first year at UCL, studying BSc Social Sciences with Data Science.

Through my work over the past year as the Data Science Society’s Marketing FYR, I have gained a deep understanding of the society's inner workings and objectives. An exciting achievement of mine was launching our official 22/23 hoodies (coming soon!), for which I led the design, pricing and distribution efforts. Additionally, I had the opportunity to create professional social media content that effectively showcased our society's events and workshops.

Therefore, I am now running to be the Head of Marketing, as I seek to extend my contributions to the society by helping direct the expansion of our influence and reputation beyond the UCL community. A goal of mine for next year is to enhance our visibility and appeal to sponsors and recruiters, to support our members in gaining work and career opportunities.

Moreover, I intend to explore new opportunities for collaboration with other societies within UCL, such as the MedTech society and the Behavioural Innovation Society. By fostering such partnerships, we can diversify our offerings and attract a wider range of students to our society, including those who may not have previously considered data science as a field of study. I am confident that this will help to expand our reach and sustain our position as the leading tech society at UCL.

My name is Aakanksha and I believe that I would be a suitable candidate for this role. Having worked as both a data analyst (1 year) and a social media coordinator (3+ years), I strongly believe that I have the right experience to thrive in this position. These roles refined my analytical and leadership skills which will aid me in this role. My vision for UCLDSS is as follows:

1) Data-driven decisions: measuring the success of our marketing decisions to determine what is and isn't working for the society. Through analysing the data of attendees to events and the number of new freshers securing UCLDSS memberships, I can track the effectiveness of marketing strategies and adjust accordingly, which is optimal for future events and increasing the society's exposure

2) Adaptation: keeping up with the latest marketing trends, starting by creating TikTok and Twitter accounts for the society, in order to increase social media engagement through weekly posts. Adapting to new trends and technologies will allow the society to be at the forefront of marketing innovation

3) Collaboration: the success of the team relies on their ability to discuss their thoughts with one another. I will ensure that I constantly communicate with other committee members to ensure that marketing initiatives are aligned with the society's overall mission and vision

As the VP of Marketing, I will commit to delivering the highest quality marketing strategies that promote the society to a broad audience.

Data science is an exciting, growing area and I would love to be a part of the team that can spread the word about it further. From being a marketing FYR for Fintech society, it has allowed me to understand how different team dynamics work and improve my teamwork skills. Collaboration was needed to make sure the right content was going out especially as I was in charge of the promotional posts of the FTR articles.  

I am standing for this role because of my experience in designing and distributing marketing. When I was a Maths Ambassador in school, where I was in charge of marketing, I designed a poster which consisted of information for different help sessions. This lead to an increase in people attending. I also co-ordinated a video that talked about the maths department. This experience helped boost my organisational, time management, leadership and communication skills as responsibilities had to be delegated and I had to converse with the teaching department to ensure they were happy with the promotional content that was going out. 

I enjoyed being a FYR because of the impact I was able to create. I have ideas of increasing engagement further with posts about how data science has been used in different ways so people can see how the different python workshops DS society holds are applied in real-life. Creating these different materials through the use of aesthetic styles and helping reach new audience are some of the reasons why I am motivated about marketing.