Meet Gabrielle Wong, Director of Human Resources at the CVT
Gabrielle Wong is an undergraduate at Simon Fraser University, where she is currently majoring in human geography and minoring in social data analytics. As the Director of Human Resources at the Coronavirus Visualization Team, Wong’s responsibilities currently entail:
- Serving as the connector between CVT’s general membership and leadership team, particularly for new members looking to be matched to projects
- Assisting with communication between CVT’s members for various purposes, particularly matching new members to projects
- Finding methods to more effectively recruit and retain active members in the CVT
- Refining CVT’s applications and onboarding process; welcoming members with valuable skill sets and aligned passions to the team
- Collecting information and writing for our biweekly external newsletter
After being invited by a friend who was involved in the team, Wong joined the CVT in July 2020. As someone interested in data visualization and looking to fill up her quarantine time, this space was the perfect opportunity for her to join. Wong’s fascination with the exciting projects that members immersed themselves in prompted her to continue exploring data visualization with the team.
“CVT’s projects are investigating issues of significant importance in ways that are often novel, thoughtful, and informative,” she notes. “I enjoy seeing the various final products that come out of our projects’ efforts — from a podcast on gender-based violence to published research papers, there are always new things to learn about from the projects.”
Most of all, Wong praises our membership as her primary source of inspiration. With members dispersed all across the globe, Wong values the new, diverse perspectives on ideas that she has acquired through the CVT and the incredible skillsets possessed by members. She also notes the team’s striking balance between its ambitious project goals and its welcoming and collaborative environment, a feat that draws many members to the CVT.
Importantly, through her time as the Director of Human Resources, Wong has also acquired invaluable experience in the technicalities of managing a large membership, such as her understanding of tools like Airtable and Slack.
“I also have gained a deeper appreciation for the complexities and thoughtfulness that goes into visualizing data,” Wong notes. “Making numbers tell an accessible story is about more than throwing them together and seeing what happens. A lot of work is involved in the process, and although I don’t have the same technical skillset as many members on the team, I think I better understand the processes they go through in their work.”
With its intellectually stimulating projects and diverse membership, Wong has expanded her skillsets and experience through her time as a CVT director, and she looks forward to continuing to help the team grow!
When she’s not working on the CVT, Wong is involved in a vast array of extracurricular pursuits. In her university, she serves as an executive member of the SFU Student Union, a high school student mentor, and a Peer Ambassador for SFU Public Square. Wong is also passionate about Speech and Debate as a coach and competitor, and she works as the Marketing and Communications Director of the SFU Debate Society.
Outside of her university, Wong also has a creative side to her, which she explores through music and crocheting.
Through music, she is currently pursuing an intermediate pedagogy (teaching) certificate for piano. Alongside this certificate pursuit, she is the West Coast Youth Music Society program coordinator, a musical non-profit that provides musical opportunities to young artists in her area.
If she has any spare time during quarantine, she can be found crocheting. Her favorite crochet art is specifically amigurumi, which are special types of stuffed animals! Her love of crocheting has translated into a small organization called Finding Present, which Wong has helped lead. Their mission is to use ‘art for social good’, and they’re currently working on a few projects that fit within this goal.
Check out their website below!
Clearly, there isn’t much that Wong can’t do! With her extensive duties within the CVT, alongside the numerous outside extracurricular activities that Wong devotes her time to, she adds to the incredible diversity and work ethic prevalent throughout our membership.
If you have any questions about her role at the CVT or even want to talk about crocheting, feel free to reach her at: gabriellewong123@gmail.com
