Featured Authors July 2021

We are excited to introduce our new cohort of Featured Authors and amazed by the work these extraordinary data rock stars have been doing for the last few months or even years!


Ali Tehrani is a recent graduate from the University of California, Riverside, and a data visualization consultant at Lovelytics. He discovered Tableau when he came across Kirk Goldsberry’s works on ESPN and was so fascinated that he looked for a way to recreate them. He started using Tableau last November, instantly falling in love with data visualization. He has been working to learn and enhance his Tableau and data visualization skills ever since. He attributes finding a job right after college to the continuous support and constant inspiration of the #DataFam community. Ali’s main interests include basketball, football, music, movies, and cooking. His favorite food to cook is lasagna. Connect with Ali on Twitter and LLinkedIn

Andrea Machado is a physicist with a PhD in Molecular Physics and creates daily dashboards for research in social sciences and economics at the University of São Paulo. She always loved working with data and had a secret passion for design. Two years ago, she discovered the world of data visualization, the possibility of combining data and design—and the power of communication and storytelling. The help of the active and extremely friendly community plays an important role in her data skills development. Her inspiration comes from the numerous vizzes published on Tableau Public and Twitter. Her future interests are collaborating with social data projects and experimenting with combining Tableau with prototyping tools. Connect with Andrea on Twitter and LinkedIn.

Bold Batdorj is a freelance marketing analyst in Sydney, Australia. He began his Tableau Public journey in December 2020 and was excited by the generous support of the #DataFam community on Twitter for his first, public data visualization. He enjoys creating artistic vizzes and participates in community initiatives such as #MakeoverMonday, #Viz5, and more. He is interested in highlighting social issues worldwide. His favorite part of Tableau Public is combining his design and programming skills. Connect with Bold on Twitter and LinkedIn.

Emily De Padua is a data analyst at Disney Streaming. She was a classical flute performance major at Rowan University and loves people, learning, and Tableau. Introduced to Tableau in 2016 in her first data analytics role. She credits her Tableau skills to downloading, dissecting, and reverse engineering the inspirational works she discovers on Tableau Public. She loves following the work of other #DataFam authors for design inspiration. A fan of community-led projects like #MakeoverMonday and #WorkoutWednesday. She vizzes about topics related to her personal life and interests such as music, mental health, pop culture, and embroidery. Connect with Emily on Twitter and LinkedIn.

Etido Ekwere is passionate about unlocking the voice of data in public institutions across his home country for social and sustainable development. For this reason, he recently launched his data analytics and management consulting company, Nimaj Consults. He was introduced to Tableau in March 2020 while completing his MBA at Durham University. Etido later found the very immersive and inspiring #DataFam community which has enriched his development and credits his learning and growth to the community. Connect with him on Twitter and LinkedIn.

Faris Ghunaim started his Tableau Public journey in 2020 by participating in #MakeoverMonday and other community-led projects. He was astonished by the artistic visualizations and the amazing support the community offers, which inspired him to start creating visualizations based on his interests, like music and sports! He loves how Tableau Public allows him to create, build, and share creative and engaging visualizations that may not be possible in his day-to-day work. It allowed him to escape his typical work routine and dive into a world of creativity and fun through his passion for data. Connect with Faris on LinkedIn.

Gandes Goldestan is a business intelligence analyst at Jabar Digital Service. She discovered Tableau in 2020 and started using it for projects last March. She's in love with how people analyze and visualize data in a creative way. Gandes loves scrolling through the Tableau Public Gallery and #DataFam vizzes to find inspiration and learn tips and techniques. She participates in #MakeoverMonday and #TheSDGVizProject which have grown her data skills and career tremendously: building a portfolio in Tableau Public and connecting with the Tableau Community helped her to land her current job. She is interested in vizzing about social issues, but also enjoys vizzing about other subjects like music and environmental topics. Connect with Gandes on Twitter and LinkedIn.

John Whitmer is a three-time Vizzie Nominee and a co-lead of the Boston Tableau User Group. Outside of the occasional baseball viz, it might seem like there is no consistent theme to John’s visual or analytical style一and that is 100% intentional. He views each viz as an opportunity to try out new chart types and design elements as a way to continue growing and preventing his aesthetic from feeling stale. Professionally, John is the principal Tableau designer and founder of the internal, corporate TUG at Teradyne. He uses Tableau at work to generate value through data democratization and dashboard automation projects. Connect with John on LinkedIn and Twitter.

Lorela Ferhati works in a tourism company in Albania. She discovered Tableau in 2018 while taking courses in the data science field, but started her Tableau Public journey in November 2020. Community projects like #MakeoverMonday and #DiversityinData have helped her to deepen her passion for data analysis and visualization, expanding her skills to communicate effectively with data. Tableau Public enables her to express her creativity and technical skills, while also exploring different topics and conveying insights through visualization. She enjoys vizzing about social issues, economics, and more. Her favorite part is connecting with the #DataFam community while learning new ideas and getting inspired by other talented members. Connect with Lorela on Twitter and LinkedIn.

Maryse helps people to see and understand data. After discovering Tableau as a student three years ago, she made it her mission to make data accessible and understandable for everyone. She provides Tableau trainings, creating the most aesthetically pleasing yet concise dashboards as a consultant. She also organizes #DataPlusWomen sessions and shares her passion on her Instagram profile. Maryse thrives in a great and supportive environment that fosters learning, growth, and creativity, which she gets from everyone at The Information Lab and the #DataFam. What she loves most about Tableau Public is the favorite button, helping her form a collection of amazing dashboards built by others and to see their growth over time. Connect with Maryse on Twitter and LinkedIn.

Maureen Dzifa Awumee Quist is a program policy officer at the World Food Programme in Kabul, Afghanistan, where she uses Tableau to create dashboards for easy identification of trends and quality assurance. She discovered Tableau in late 2019 and has been captivated by how Tableau can make data analytics come to life. She started vizzing for fun to discover trends about her home country related to topics like inequality in Ghana’s Parliament, but now also vizzes about entertainment topics. She participates in the #MakeoverMonday and #RWFD projects. Maureen loves Tableau Public because it opens up a new world of data visualization, picking up new tricks and beautiful design skills from the Tableau Community. Connect with Maureen on her website, Twitter and LinkedIn.

Prithak K Bhattacharyya is a data engineer for Johnson & Johnson USA, powered by vCreaTek Consulting Services Private Limited, and uses Tableau to deliver valuable and actionable insights to his clients. What started as a pandemic pet project, developed into a passion that turned into a profession. He participates on community-led projects such as #MakeoverMonday, #IronQuest, and #ProjectHealthViz, and he regularly interacts with the community—sometimes as a mentor, sometimes as a mentee, but always as a Tableau enthusiast. For him, data visualization is the art of data storytelling by fusing it with design. If you take a look at his posts, you will see that Prithak can viz about anything and everything under the sun. Connect with Prithak on LinkedIn and Twitter.

Be sure to follow this extraordinary group from around the world who are crushing it. Looking for some extra inspiration? Subscribe to Viz of the Day or Search Tableau Public where you’ll see what’s possible in data visualizations across the globe.