TELSTRA PURPLE
214
Yafaa Ahres of Telstra Purple is the Founder and Head of Data Journeys , a forum launched in 2019 for leaders who want to ‘ turbo charge ’ their organisations by leveraging data . ‘’ My mission when I joined Telstra Purple was to build a data analytics community from scratch , for technology leaders to access a creative and collaborative environment to fast track the development of their business and people ,’’ she says .
Ahres built an enviable following amongst the data community and CIO / IT leadership on social media , and drove a lively series of well-attended meet-ups . In the first year alone , over 330 people interacted with the community .
“ It is our goal to create a membership where the collective wisdom will help each of us navigate from where we are now , to where we want to be , faster and with greater impact ,’’ says Ahres .
The community isn ’ t limited to those with “ data titles ”, but rather is open to any senior IT / tech
practitioners who own or influence the data strategy . “ Our membership is diverse , we have a mix of CXO , IT Directors , Heads of Technology – and that ’ s on purpose as this doesn ’ t tend to happen . Data and IT have different roles to play in the data journey , and as data generally sits separately to IT ( with some exceptions ), having both sides of the conversation is very useful to understanding how best to work cross functionally ,’’ says Ahres .
“ The idea is to have a mix of people from different industries so we can all learn from one another , and help each other accelerate our respective data journeys .”
There ’ s a focus on real-life examples . “ The community is a massive help in fighting the guesswork on our members ’ data journey . At each meetup , we have a case study where we bring a practical example , and we have clear objectives for each meetup . That ’ s something that our members , the community and as a whole really like about Data Journeys .” That real-life applicability means examples can ’ t just be whitewashed .
SEPTEMBER 2020