It’s been a long time since I’ve written on this blog. After wifi woes in both Israel and Turkey prevented me from blogging, my daily habit fell by the wayside as life got pretty busy.

After graduating from graduate school in June, I joined the analytics team of the Hillary campaign in its Brooklyn HQ for six of the most amazing, challenging, exhausting (and eventually heartbreaking) months of my life, full of laughs, tears and good friends. I got to be inspired by amazing people who stopped by the office, from Bill Clinton to John Lewis to Elizabeth Warren. I ran a massive team to improve early vote data and analysis (44 people!). And then on November 8, I was crushed as we watched the returns come in.

But now, two months (and lots of tears and wine) later, it’s time to reflect on 2016 and start thinking about what’s next.

Looking Back at My Annual Goals

In my very first post on this blog, I talked about how I’ve been doing an annual review every December for the last few years. This week, I took some time to assess how I had done. This year, my four biggest goals were:

1. Launch my own blog: I wanted to use this space to document my ideas and philosophies around the work that I do. I started the blog, but it fell by the wayside in mid-March when faced with unreliable Internet.
2. Get a badass new job: I wanted to be picky and choose a role that furthered my career ambitions, and I wanted to work somewhere that I enjoyed and that shared my values. I rocked this one. My job on the Analytics team for HFA was one of my most fulfilling roles to date. I learned a ton and have a better sense of my next steps career-wise as well.
3. Support or train at 4+ data trainings: I set this goal assuming I would have a regular 9-5 with free time to focus on this passion. The campaign wasn’t that sort of job! That being said, I was still able to run 3 trainings, plus sat on a Data Ladies panel on “How to Get a Data Job”, so I’m calling this a win.
4. Save for 3 big trips: If you count Israel and Turkey as separate trips, I did 3 trips. My post-graduation trip got sidelined since my job started immediately after graduation. But I took a much needed decompression trip to visit my sister in Marseille just after Thanksgiving.

Looking Forward to 2017

I’ve decided that 2017 is going to be the year of STRENGTH — mind, body, career. If last year was a catapulting year, this is the year of solidification. Like last year, I have a bunch of small goals that fit into my key goal categories, but here are the big ones:

1. Get a boss lady job: This year I learned how much I love leading a tech/analytics team. In the new year, I’m prioritizing finding a role where I can continue to grow as a manager and director of a team.
2. Have healthier daily habits: I want to reinvest in my yoga practice as well as eat breakfast daily (something I’m terrible about).
3. Share life through photography: I’ve realized that while I’m pretty terrible at maintaining a regular writing habit, Instagram photos have become a regular part of my life. As such, I’m going to adjust the focus of this blog to photographing my day daily, with commentary more optional.
4. Save for 3 big trips: I love this goal too much to let it go away! I’m already planning a trip for Inauguration weekend (I don’t want to be in DC). I’m also thinking a summer trip to California and a post-election trip to someplace totally new (a safari in Africa or exploring SE Asia are at the top of the list currently).