Account Executive and Data Analyst — Lauren Rosenthal

Today’s spotlight is on Lauren Rosenthal, an OT who took Non-Clinical 101 and is now an account executive and data analyst at Maven Analytics!

What is your full name, title, and company name for your current, primary role?

Lauren Rosenthal, MS, OTR/L — Account Executive and Data Analyst at Maven Analytics

Where are you located?

Philadelphia, PA

Where did you go to OT school, and what year did you graduate?

Thomas Jefferson University, 2013

What did you do when you first finished school, and for how long?

My first occupational therapy job lasted a grand total of about three months, and it was at a school for students with emotional disabilities.

I then moved to a skilled nursing facility for about a year, home health pediatrics for two years, and back to school-based OT for the last five years before I went non-clinical.

What types of patients did you treat?

The majority of my work was in pediatrics. I worked with students with fine motor, visual motor, and sensory processing concerns in the school setting.

What did you enjoy about your early roles? What didn’t you enjoy?

If I’m being honest, I loved my co-workers in my school OT job, and I had a supportive special education supervisor who let me make the schedule, buy any supplies I needed, etc. I felt supported for the most part, and I was very lucky that I was in the same school five days a week.

As for what I didn’t enjoy:

• I often felt like I was spinning my wheels with my students, seeing them for upwards of four years for OT services. The school model wasn’t conducive to making progress.
• I felt like I wasn’t very respected, and my skill set wasn’t utilized as much as it could have been. This was due to misunderstandings of the scope of OT, as well as legal barriers.
• I was in a contract position, so I didn’t have any benefits, sick days, or PTO, and I had to deal with self-employment taxes.
• My hourly rate hadn’t gone up in about three years. Part of that was my fault, since I didn’t advocate for myself as strongly as I should have, but it was frustrating to feel like I was not progressing in my career.
• At times, I felt that my judgment was not respected. I was asked to see students that shouldn’t have qualified for services, just to make teachers and/or parents happy.
• I didn’t see any upward mobility, regardless of how long I stayed in the healthcare professional world.

What else have you done since then, prior to your current role as account executive and data analyst?

Before my current role, I was a data/business intelligence analyst at a health insurance company. It was heavily data-focused and a great opportunity to improve the skills that I had worked hard to learn!

The only reason that I left that particular job was because my current one came along.

When and why did you decide to do something non-clinical?

I knew from my first OT job that I wanted something non-clinical, but it took me a long time (about eight years) to make the move.

A few years ago, I looked into UX design and front-end web development, and I was very close to taking the leap. I knew I wanted something tech-related, a job that I could potentially do remotely, and a career that allowed for growth in salary as well as position and responsibilities.

What are you doing these days at Maven Analytics?

I have four main roles at Maven Analytics, which is a start-up edtech company that teaches data analysis skills. My primary role is as an account executive, in which I help company leaders plan out their employees’ learning, provide updates and reports on progress, and act as a go-between.

Ironically, I’m the first person at Maven who was hired to work on internal data analytics, which is incredibly exciting! My primary ask when accepting this job was that I wanted to continue to use the data analysis skills that I had learned over the prior year.

In addition, I work directly with students learning SQL (a data analysis language), answering their questions and bettering their understanding of SQL. I also work on content creation. We recently started a Medium publication and I’m an editor and contributor.

This role has been a unique opportunity because of the size of the company and their willingness to work with me to find a role and duties that fit what they need as well as what will satisfy me.

Are you still treating patients, or are you solely non-clinical?

I’m fully non-clinical and, at this point, transitioned completely out of the healthcare realm!

Did you get any special certifications or training along the way to help you get into your current role?

I took the Non-Clinical 101 course in the summer of 2021, which really jump-started my non-clinical career!

Editor’s note: Lauren recently recorded an hourlong interview about data analytics that can be found in Non-Clinical 101 as part of the Non-Clinical Deep Dive bonus series!

For data analysis, I took the Google Data Analytics certificate, and a certificate course called Break Into Tech, taught by Charlotte Chaze.

Since it’s one of the most common questions I get asked, my opinion of the Google Data Analytics course is that it’s a good course to be introduced to multiple data analytics concepts and tools, but by no means was it enough for me to feel prepared to get my first job. It remained pretty surface-level and, while fairly comprehensive, I did a ton of learning on my own following that course.

How did you find your job? Did you apply or find it through a connection?

This is one of my favorite questions to answer! I got my job at Maven purely through networking. I had written a few articles with another healthcare-professional-turned-data-analyst over the summer about leaving healthcare, and one of them got enough traction for one of the instructors at Maven to connect with me on LinkedIn.

From there, I remained in touch, commenting frequently on their posts, and touching base via messages every once in a while. When they put out a call for teaching assistants to help answer student questions, I jumped at the chance. Some of the executives of the company recognized my name as someone who interacted with their content.

Although I originally started part-time, it quickly became clear that I was interested in a full-time position, and they were willing to work with me to make that happen.

Did you do anything special to your resume and cover letter to land the job?

I didn’t have to provide a resume or cover letter for this job since it was a slow transition from part-time to full-time; however, with my first data analytics job, I made sure to revamp my resume, and wrote cover letters that reflected the company’s values and what they were looking for.

A resume writer/reviewer helped me make my resume more data-focused, and less clinical. I also had a somewhat unique cover letter for the job I ended up getting.

What was the interview like for the role?

My current position is very unique and, while I had some talks with the CCO, CPO, and CEO of the company, it was never a formal interview process.

It would be most beneficial to answer this for my first job as a data analyst, because it’s more typical of what you might expect in a data analyst interview. For that job, I was told to expect four 30-minute interviews with different members of the company.

I ended up having three “behavioral” interviews, where we talked through some of the typical interview questions (“when was a time that…” or “tell me about a situation in which you…” type questions). One of those was with the manager of the team I was applying for.

The fourth interview was a technical interview in which I was asked how I would write certain SQL queries (again, one of the primary technical skills of data analysis). From there, I heard back from the recruiter I was working with about a week later, and they extended the job offer! It was a pretty painless experience, all in all.

When I left my previous position, I asked my then-manager what had made him hire me. He said that, in short, it was my interviewing skills. You can’t underestimate how important it is to come off as authentic, excited, and passionate about the job you’re applying for!

What are some of the things you did to stand out, take initiative, and advance in your career?

In a sense, I’ve already advanced at Maven. I went from a part-time contractor who was responsible for answering student questions to a full-time employee with multiple job responsibilities. My passion for helping others learn, and my belief in the product, were key in making me stand out. I was also not afraid to indicate that I would be interested in a full-time position if one were offered.

Since I started at Maven, I’ve definitely tried to put myself out there and accept any projects that come my way. I want to make sure that I’m not only contributing, but also continuously learning and growing in my role.  

How have people reacted to you leaving patient care?

For the most part, people have been exceedingly positive and excited for me! I don’t actually think I’ve had a negative reaction yet.

My parents were nervous that I was leaving a stable career and taking a leap of faith, but they still supported the decision and respected what I wanted to do. I’ve had many people reach out and tell me that they’re thinking of doing something similar, so I’ve been really lucky in the reactions I’ve gotten.

What’s a typical day or week in the life like for you as an account executive and data analyst?

Maven is incredible about wanting to let people focus and get their work done. That means we operate on a “deep work” schedule. Basically, we have certain days that are meeting-heavy, and other days that meetings basically don’t happen unless it’s an emergency. For me, meetings include:

• Speaking to my supervisor about what needs to get done
• Helping others troubleshoot and problem-solve
• Talking through our marketing and sales strategy
• Working with our content marketing specialist on content, and more

My job is still being flushed out a little, but a large part of my days are dedicated to working with companies to help teach their employees data analysis. That might be as easy as emailing and making sure they don’t need anything from us to make sure their employees are successful, or it could be running reports on progress, meeting with people in the company to discuss what they need, or walking people through how our courses work.

I also work on internal data analytics, which means I’m continuing to use SQL and a data visualization tool to get and interpret the data that I’m being asked for. I spend about an hour a day responding to student questions on our platform and making sure they understand the content in the courses.

One part of my job that I didn’t originally anticipate but am loving is the content creation piece. I write blogs for our website and our Medium publication, as well as post content on LinkedIn at least a few times a week. 

What are some of the rewards of your role? What are the biggest challenges?

A few of the biggest rewards are that I get to: talk to people about a product I really believe in and am passionate about, continue helping students learn and grow, continue to use my own data analytics skills, and hone my creative skills with data visualization and content creation.

At this point, the biggest challenge is that my role is not 100% clearly defined, but that’s more of an opportunity for me to shape the role into exactly what I want within the company.

How did your clinical background prepare you for this role? Which skills transferred?

I talk about how transferable our skills are all the time, and I truly believe that the soft skills we have developed as clinicians lend themselves to so many different career paths. I regularly collaborate with teammates and stakeholders, use problem solving and critical thinking skills to either help companies or perform data analytics, and so much more.

My strengths in documentation and goal-setting have been essential, too. For those of us who are thinking about transitioning out of traditional healthcare careers, it’s so important to think about how to apply those skills that we possess.

Roughly speaking, how are the hours and pay compared to patient care?

When I originally left OT, I took about a $10k pay cut, but in return, I got PTO, sick days, and benefits. With my new job, it’s pretty comparable to what I was making as an OT but again, I have those benefits. Hours-wise, I basically work 9-5.

I’m lucky in that my company really values work-life balance and doesn’t want us to be available all the time. We also have cool perks like an adventure stipend and a health stipend, which I had never come across before.

What type of person do you think would do well in your role?

For someone who wants to get into data analysis, you should be:

• Detail-oriented
• Strong in oral and written communication
• Analytical
• Willing to continue learning new/updated tools and skills

Do you work remotely or onsite?

I’m 100% remote!

Did you read any books, take any courses, or do anything special overall to get you where you are today?

I took courses on Maven Analytics (which is how I found them originally), Udemy, and the two certificate courses I mentioned earlier.

If you’re interested in data analytics, and want to try Maven, you can use discount code HEALTHCARE40 to get 40% off of one month, or 40% off an annual subscription!

What is a typical career path for someone in your role?

I don’t think it’s clearly defined in my current position. For someone in a purely data analyst role, you could become a manager of a data team or potentially transition to data science or data engineering.

What is next for you? What are your high-level career aspirations?

I don’t know that I have any at this point in time. While I would love (and plan) to continue to become more involved in different aspects at my company, my biggest goal is to stay happy and fulfilled in my job, whatever that looks like.

Do you have any special advice for others who want to follow in your footsteps?

For someone who is looking to get into data analysis, the biggest piece of advice I can give is to start networking early on, and build a portfolio of projects that showcase your skills.

People in the LinkedIn community are generally incredibly supportive and welcoming. Work on revising your resume, and think about how you can data-fy (that’s not a real word) your current resume.

I would say listen to how you’re feeling, capitalize on the soft skills that we all have as healthcare professionals, and don’t be afraid to explore non-traditional careers if that’s what you think will make you happier.