About

Hello there! I'm Gina, a self-taught data analyst with a passion for using data to make a positive impact on the world. With a background in physics and a desire to explore, I dive into datasets to unravel patterns and extract valuable insights. I thrive on collaborating with diverse teams, sharing knowledge, and empowering others to harness the power of data.

Why did I choose data analytics?

During my pursuit of a Masters in Physics, I discovered that my aspirations extended beyond just exploring physics. It was when I came accross the field of data science that I realized it included all the elements I desired in my career. As I dove into the necessary skills for a data analyst, I soon realized that my physics degree had equipped me with a strong foundation. All that remained was to acquire the technical skills specific to the field.

As I immersed myself in the world of data analysis, I found great joy in learning SQL and R for data cleaning. To my surprise, I grew to deeply appreciate the careful process of refining and preparing data. Moreover, during my academic journey, I often gave presentations and enjoyed thinking about what to share and how to present it clearly to my audience. This aspect of crafting impactful presentations became one of my favorite assignments.

These experiences have shaped my path and ignited my passion for data analysis. By combining my analytical mindset nurtured through my physics background with newfound technical skills, I am ready to discover valuable insights from complex datasets. My love for data cleaning and crafting compelling presentations has only deepened my conviction to excel in the field of data analytics. I am excited to leverage my expertise, collaborate with like-minded professionals, and make a significant contribution in leveraging data to drive informed decisions and bring about positive change.

Get to know me

I hail from the vibrant coastal city of Mangalore, India, which is where I have lived all my life. Growing up here, I was immersed in a rich tapestry of cultures, tantalized by the exquisite seafood, and embraced by the serene beauty of its pristine beaches.

-My Academic Passions

As I was growing up, my fascination with math and physics was sparked at an early age, thanks to my father, who shared his enthusiasm for these subjects with me. Together, we would watch shows on physics and space, nurturing my curiosity. While I initially struggled with math, a dedicated math teacher during my Pre-university years transformed my perspective. Watching math enthusiasts on YouTube revealed the beauty and creativity of math, captivating my interest. This passion led me to pursue a master's degree in physics. I find the entire realm of physics immensely captivating, making it challenging to specialize in a single topic. In math, algebra holds a special place in my heart, and I yearn to delve deeper into various mathematical topics. My enthusiasm for science has always been a part of who I am, as I enjoy sharing fascinating scientific discoveries and concepts with others.

-My Teaching Journey

I've always found joy in helping individuals unlock their full potential and I've have had the opportunity to share my love for math and science with students. Since 2020, while I was in college, I've been teaching subjects ranging from math to science to students in grades 6-12, even extending my support to a friend during his bachelor's studies to help him clear his math paper. I take pride in the positive feedback from students and their parents, with one parent expressing gratitude for boosting their daughter's academic confidence. My dedication to guiding students to reach their potential has consistently yielded improved grades.
In addition to teaching, I dedicated a year as an academic support volunteer for the NGO MAD (Make A Difference). What drew me to MAD was their holistic approach, not only focusing on exam success but also nurturing underprivileged children into capable adults by providing them with essential support systems. Despite the challenges, my experience with MAD offered profound insights into the lives of these children and the obstacles they face. Being a small part of this noble effort to empower India's underprivileged youth was a truly rewarding experience.

-Life on Campus

My college journey also included active involvement in the organisation of the national-level college fest 'Imprints' at St. Aloysius College, spanning three enriching years. In my first year, I provided support to my team by assisting with various tasks, including brainstorming questions. However, it was in my second year that I took on a more significant role, by leading the planning and creation of contest rounds, introducing innovative rounds by integrating popular games like 'taboo' and 'jenga' with science questions to blend fun and learning. On the day of the contest, I efficiently delegated tasks to volunteers for seamless execution. In my final year, as a co-head of 'Chaos,' I transitioned into a managerial role, overseeing the organization of main events and games, including a unique dog and bone event and a human-sized snake and ladder game. Though my second-year experience was challenging, it was also immensely rewarding, instilling confidence in my abilities and a preference for hands-on roles where I can bring ideas to life. This three-year journey has significantly shaped my understanding of my strengths and passions, and I aspire to continue contributing creatively in similar roles.

-Beyond Academics

My journey into the world of baking has been nothing short of an adventure. While my initial attempts at baking often resulted in amusing disasters, I vividly recall a particular incident when I baked a chocolate cake that could have doubled as a brick. However, my resourcefulness came into play as I steamed the cake, layered it with chocolate ganache, and to my surprise, it was a hit among my classmates. In my final year of college, I was invited by my neighbor and her friends to join their Christmas charity bake sale, despite my self-proclaimed 'terrible at baking' status. Their foolproof recipes and guidance allowed me to successfully bake a batch of delicious chocolate cupcakes. My favorite creations include my constant hit, the 'banana bread' and our best-selling 'Rose milk cake', where I find the process of making the sponge cake, especially watching the eggs whip into stiff peaks, particularly satisfying. While brownies have been my nemesis as I can never seem to get it right, I cherish every baking experience, knowing that each failure has contributed to my growth as a baker and as a person.

-My Hobbies

I've always been into a bunch of hobbies. As of late, I love taking care of my plants, especially my neon pothos, jade plant, purple heart, and Oxalis triangularis. I've also started doing DIY home projects, making things around the house look better. When it comes to food, I enjoy cooking vegetarian dishes, like mushroom alfredo pasta and pizza. I'm not picky about the type of cuisine, as long as it's tasty and not too hard to make. I'm also pretty artsy; I like painting, sketching, and trying different art stuff I find interesting. And I'm hoping to learn dancing, especially fast ballroom styles like jive and salsa, where you get to do fun dips, spins and lifts.

-About My Dog

In the midst of these endeavors, my dog, Pupito, adds warmth and joy to each day. Pupito, whose name is an accidental misheard version of a character's name from the movie Madeline, is our beloved Indian mutt that we adopted from the local market when he was just a puppy. He may be a senior dog now, but we are incredibly fortunate to still have him by our side. Remarkably, my journey with Pupito has transformed me from someone who once had no interest in dogs or animals into a devoted animal lover. Witnessing his unique intelligence, experiencing the purity of his love, and nurturing our special bond has been immensely rewarding. I take pride in our daily walks, where I watch him explore the neighborhood, sniffing and digging with enthusiasm. In his own way, Pupito has taught me important lessons about our connection with the animal world. While I don't have a specific hobby that revolves around Pupito, our daily walks are cherished moments of connection, making each step a delightful journey.

Personal Projects

Space missions dashboard

This was my first time making an Excel project on my own. Thanks to projects I've done before, I understood how to stay organized and what steps to follow. With this knowledge, I created a Space Missions Dashboard that brings together data in a neat and clear way.
I learned from my earlier projects to clean up and sort data accurately. I also used pivot tables to make graphs that show which countries launched the most rockets and how much missions cost on average. I made it easy for you to pick things to look at by including filters like countries, years, status of the missions and the rocket. A fun part is that you can see which rockets are still doing their missions.
I really had a lot of fun making this dashboard, and I hope you enjoy going through it too.

Using SQL to clean and transform world happiness data

I carried out the cleaning and organizing process of the data for my project, which involved merging information from five different tables. To begin, I checked if these tables could work together by looking at their column details. Then, I ensured that the data had the same number of rows for each year and got rid of any repeated entries. To correct misspelled country names found in various tables, I used common table expressions (CTE). Next, I combined data from the years 2015 to 2019 using inner joins, creating a temporary table. After confirming that the merged data was accurate, I simplified the dataset by removing extra country information. Finally, I saved the merged table as 'happinessmerged'.
After saving the merged data as 'happinessmerged', I moved on to further cleanse the data. Initially, I carefully reviewed the merged table to ensure its integrity. I then eliminated duplicate entries, confirming data uniqueness. Additionally, I narrowed the dataset to top and bottom 10 ranked countries. Statistical methods and visualization tools helped address potential outliers, and missing values were carefully managed. By standardizing variables and creating a new column indicating whether the country was in the top 10, bottom 10, or was 'India', I refined the dataset for visualization.
The 'happinessmerged' table, while holding valuable data, presented challenges for effective visualizations due to its format. Therefore, a transformation was necessary. During the merging process, I had ensured that the individual tables were clean, consistent, and accurate. I also had found which top 10 and bottom 10 countries to select for analysis. As the next step, I structured the data for append operations. By adding a 'year' column to each table and standardizing column names, I set the stage for appending. Using the top and bottom 10 countries identified earlier, I refined the data to create the 'happinessappended' table. After completing data wrangling, this transformed dataset was ready to be utilized for meaningful insights through visualizations in Tableau.

Guided Projects

Bike sales analysis

I completed an Excel project on bike sales data, which was guided by Alex the Analyst. The project involved cleaning the data, creating pivot tables, and building a dashboard to analyze the relationships between demographic variables and bike sales. The dashboard allowed me to visualize and analyze the data in an interactive way, and provided insights into which types of people tend to buy bikes based on factors such as marital status, region of residence, and level of education. Through this project, I gained valuable experience in data analysis using Excel and learned about consumer behavior and purchasing patterns in the bike sales industry.

Data exploration of Covid deaths and vaccinations

In this guided project by Alex The Analyst, I have chosen to analyze the data to understand the impact of COVID-19 on India. The project involves data exploration using SQL queries to delve into COVID-19 statistics from the CovidDeaths and CovidVaccinations tables.
The initial queries select relevant data, focusing on India's COVID-19 statistics, such as total cases, total deaths, infection percentage, and death percentage. It is discovered that India's likelihood of dying once infected peaked at a little above 3%, and the infected percentage reached a little over 1%.
Further investigation is conducted to find countries with the highest infection rate and death count. The United States is identified as having the highest death count (576,232), while Europe had the highest death count continent-wise. The analysis also involves examining vaccination data. Gibraltar and Israel were found to have vaccinated more people than their population, possibly due to booster doses being counted as new vaccinations.
Finally, the project creates a view named "PercentPopulationVaccinated" to store data for later visualizations. This exploration provides valuable insights into how COVID-19 affected India and other countries.

Data cleaning of Nashville housing data

This was a guided data cleaning project by Alex the Analyst. The project focused on tidying up messy Nashville housing data using SQL.
I worked on improving date formats, filling gaps in addresses, breaking down addresses into useful sub-parts, and changing 'Y' and 'N' to 'Yes' and 'No'. I also managed duplicates and removed unnecessary columns.
This experience boosted my SQL skills and taught me useful data cleaning techniques.