On May 20th, a group of UMPO employees (Dave Cho, Shahriar Panahi, Ashley Hunter, Katie Fitzgerald, Marisha Mahadevia, and Jillian Warren) proudly launched the new IMPACT speaker series. IMPACT highlights the journeys, insights, and accomplishments of progressive leaders across diverse industries both inside and outside of UMass. This first session set a high bar with Yolanda Lam, Pinterest’s Global Head of Agency Partnerships.
During this chat with Dave and Shahriar, Yolanda provided an in-depth look at how Pinterest leverages data science to predict emerging trends for its over 500 million users. She shared invaluable insights into how Pinterest leverages data to provide value to its user base, which has helped shift its user demographics and usage patterns in recent years. Yolanda also outlined Pinterest’s commitment to youth mental health and using social media as evidenced by the UC Berkley study.
Reflecting on the inaugural IMPACT event, Dave expressed his enthusiasm: "Shahriar and I discussed facilitating a forum where our colleagues could engage leaders across various sectors and hear what they do that could be very different from what we're used to in Higher Ed, their perspectives on career, and what simply makes their organizations stand out and perform beyond normal conventions. These sessions are being held much more frequently across sectors, so we wanted to ensure UMass can tap its vast network and hear from voices we might not traditionally be exposed to. Pinterest's Yolanda Lam was a terrific inaugural speaker, and I'm looking forward to seeing who the next series of guests will be!"
If you would like to suggest a speaker or spearhead an event, please feel free to contact Jillian Warren (jwarren@umassp.edu) and Ashley Hunter (ahunter@umassp.edu).
Missed the event with Yolanda? Check out the recording to see all the insights she shared!