In episode six, David speaks to Corey Patton, co-founder and CEO of Pramana – a platform that’s reshaping self-service BI by allowing users to search databases using natural and conversational language.

Corey caught the data bug through his love of sports – because there’s nothing a sports nut loves more that stats. His obsession with sports facts led to his first job as an editor and broadcaster for CNN/Sports Illustrated. But when he found out that the data being broadcast was found by “a guy in the corner reading through an almanac,” he knew that there had to be a better way.

After stints as a private chef and the owner of a racehorse stable, Corey returned to the world of sports data and ultimately became Director of Sports Development at Intel, where he took the company’s Saffron AI technology to professional sports leagues, teams, and athletes.

Founding Pramana in 2018, Corey is helping data become a two-way conversation through natural language processing – with sports teams, financial institutions, and pharma companies all able to ask simple questions to get instant answers from their data.

David was keen to get Corey on the data therapy couch to learn from his wealth of experience helping businesses to work more intuitively with their data. Is conversational questioning the future of data collection? How can businesses empower their people with more data curiosity? What has most surprised him from developing a new data tool?

Listen now to hear Corey’s story so far, and his thoughts on how everyone will be working with data in the future.

In episode five, David is joined by Zaf Kassam, head of data analytics at British B2B publishing company Informa.

Zaf explains how his early career saw him undertaking humanitarian development work in Afghanistan, where he discovered first-hand how data and analytics can shed light on problems that had previously been hard to quantify.

After a stint working at Google, Zaf built MeasureGrow – a marketing dashboard that helped companies improve their lead generation by unlocking unusual data sources. Here, he discovered that best way to present data to customers is similar to a successful sales pitch: lead with the conclusions and let the customer ideate on top of your base.

Find out how Zaf thinks data and development has become more democratic. Are data analysts becoming a thing of the past? How should businesses structure their teams to spread their tools to non-data professionals? And who is the person who’s had the biggest impact on his own career?

Listen now to find out Zaf’s answers to these questions and more.

In episode four, David speaks to Lee James, an experienced technology leader and strategist who is currently working at AWS.

Lee has been fascinated by how data feeds human interactions since spending his youth on his parents’ market stall. It was there that he learnt how finding and using the right information fast could influence a customer’s behaviour and purchase decisions.

He carried this passion for exploring patterns of customer behaviour into his career in data and technology. Before joining AWS, Lee was CTO at RackSpace where he helped lead the company’s transformation into public cloud, application, and machine learning and AI services. He was also the voice of RackSpace, responsible for analyst relations and the executive sponsor across many of their strategic accounts.

He has also held senior strategy positions at Betfair, where he built the first ever iOS application, and BP, where he rolled out the first global VMware farm.

Lee’s breadth of experience provides the basis of a fascinating session on David’s Domo Data Therapy couch. Together, they discuss the mentors who have shaped Lee’s thinking, explore why technical ability must be linked with human psychology to make lasting change, and reveal that happiness is the crucial metric that more businesses should consider.

Listen now to find out Lee’s thoughts on the biggest topics in data.

In episode three, David speaks to Brad Woodward who is currently building a data practice from the ground up at fashion retailer, Hush.

Brad has been working with data since leaving school, when he took up an apprenticeship at a consultancy in his hometown of Cheltenham, England. From this “serendipitous” start, he has since worked for well-known British streetwear brand, Superdry, before becoming Head of Data at women’s fashion and lifestyle company, Hush.

With experience both consultancy-side and client-side, Brad has seen data landscapes and cultures of all types. He shares his experiences of turning “spaghetti”-like data processes into valuable single sources of truth for fast-moving organisations.

Since 2021, he’s been building an entire data ecosystem from scratch at Hush – something that brings its own set of unique challenges and illuminating stories. Find out how Brad has worked to build a collaborative and unified data culture from a blank slate.

How can you bring people on board with a new vision for data? How do you germinate new ideas throughout your technology teams? And which is better, a centralised data teams or total self-service across a business?

Listen now to find out Brad’s answers to these questions and more.

In episode two, David is joined by Mohammed Aaser, Chief Data Officer at Domo. Mohammed joined Domo in 2022 after leading McKinsey’s data team as Chief Data Officer, where he championed strategic and innovative uses of data across hundreds of clients. He has a wealth of knowledge in both data management technology and creating successful data cultures within large companies.

Mohammed’s obsession with data began as far back as elementary school and, ever since, he’s followed one key rule: keep asking questions. His thirst for answers has seen him play out a fascinating and varied career from consulting to global leadership positions — and even launching a series of children’s books.

But now the tables have turned, with David asking the questions that will get to the bottom of Mohammed’s data expertise. What moments have shaped his career? How can you build true value from technology? How can you inspire people throughout an organisation to ask more questions? Find out by tuning in to this episode of Domo Data Therapy.

Welcome to the first episode of Domo Data Therapy. In this new podcast series your host, David Johnson, will act as "therapist" for some of the data industry's leading figures. By getting a picture of the people behind the data, we hope you'll find lessons that you can take into your own work and help data become more actionable and accessible for all.

For episode one, David is joined by Ben Schein, Senior Vice President of Data Curiosity at Domo. Ben’s been “making a mess with data” for more than 20 years both at Domo and US retail giant, Target. He’s an expert in user analytics, adoption and large-scale BI implementation, and a sought-after keynote speaker.

Ben’s someone who’s seen it all, with fascinating insights and anecdotes on how data curiosity can be inspired across any business. How did he catch the data bug? What are the biggest challenges he’s overcome? Listen in to Ben’s session on the data therapy couch.