The team at Data Booster stated, “we had no other option than to nominate Danique Hekkema,” and the judging panel agreed. Hekkema started in the sales team, but her passion for data literacy made her return to university to complete a master’s degree in data science. Her research on the effect of data literacy on data-driven decision making in teams helped Data Booster to inspire CDOs and upskill thousands in multinational organisations, including Just Eat Takeaway and Skyscanner.
After being promoted to Data Literacy Consultant, Hekkema developed a library with over 1,000 skills in data and AI for everyone to access, as well as proactively sharing her knowledge with juniors and women in the Equals Amsterdam community.
A new generation of data passion
Hekkma mastered the complicated subject of data and AI literacy faster than her peers, and her passion for data upskilling has been evident, including going back to university to complete a master’s degree.
From her conversations with CDOs and Heads of Data, Hekkema understood that lack of resources and budget was an important roadblock to the success of data literacy programmes. This caused her to focus her research on the effect of data literacy on data-driven decision-making in teams to give data leaders a tool to overcome these challenges. Her work quickly managed to impress both the Data Booster team and her university supervisors.
“The research is about the impact of individual data literacy on team decision-making and the role of organisational data culture. This is a crucial topic as many organisations strive for a higher maturity in data-driven decision-making. It is one of the most ambitious research projects I have seen this year.” – Haydee Sheombar, Research Supervisor, Rotterdam School of Management.
Hekkema’s research helped Data Booster better enable data leaders. With a tool proving the value of data literacy, Hekkema found the missing piece that data leaders were looking for. Thanks to her work, Data Booster is now upskilling over 3,000 employees in data and AI skills across numerous organisations. As these professionals are now making an impact with data-driven decisions and data and AI use cases, Hekkema’s work has had a measurable impact across European organisations.
Thanks to her work and research, the Data Booster team promoted Hekkema to the role of Data Literacy Consultant where she developed a skill library with over 1,000 data and AI skills accessible to the business and clients. This skill library helps data leaders better structure their data and AI literacy programmes. The Director of Data Value and Strategy at the Financial Times is one of the leaders adopting and implementing the skill library: “Thank you so much, Danique! We appreciate you sharing the skill library – it is very cool and aligns perfectly with the data personas we have previously used.” – McKinley Hyden, Director of Data Value and Strategy, Financial Times.
Next to what she does in her role, Hekkema has a strong passion for sharing her knowledge with others. At Data Booster, she organises weekly inspiration sessions with juniors and interns and plays an active role in the Equals Amsterdam community; a community for women to support and empower each other in the growth and development of their careers.
