Amy Folkestad

Analytics Leader & Data Scientist

Impact: Seasoned analytics leader who leverages data insights to align cross-functional teams toward shared goals. With an infectious enthusiasm for analytics, transforms complex technical requirements into clear, compelling presentations that drive product innovation and measurable business growth.

Expertise: Product roadmap and strategy, User analytics and behavioral research, Statistical analysis and A/B testing, Machine learning and predictive modeling, Cross-functional team leadership, C-suite presentations and reporting, Business intelligence and data visualization

Professional Experience

Lead User Analytics Analyst

BLN24 | Census Bureau | Remote | June 2024 – 2025, 1 year contract

• Led user analytics initiatives to drive executive decision-making, optimizing search functionality and product implementations that improved customer experience and data accessibility. (Google Analytics)
• Managed analytics sprint planning, delivering quarterly performance insights to product, web development, and marketing stakeholders to influence roadmaps, development planning, and communication strategies. (Jira, Excel)
• Diagnosed and resolved a high-impact indexing error, boosting visibility for 215 key landing pages and driving a 68.2% increase in new users within one month. (Bing Webmaster Tools, Python, SEO analytics)
• Trained business intelligence analysts on user and search analytics, improving the use of analytics and data accessibility across the Census organization.
• Leveraged ChatGPT to accelerate technical documentation creation and enhance JavaScript proficiency, enabling development of custom analytics solutions in Adobe Launch.
• Engineered a data analytics process extracting user behavior patterns from URL parameters, creating visualizations that directly informed product updates for the Census Business Builder application, identifying a potential savings of $1.56M each year through replacement of costly software tools. (Python, GA4)

Education and AI Product Development

Part time consultant | Centennial, CO | November 2023 – May 2024

• Completed a six-month intensive AI and Machine Learning certificate through UC Berkley and Calculus II at Arapahoe Community College while working as a part time consultant.
• Partnered with a local wealth management firm to develop an AI retirement simulator leveraging probability and statistics for financial forecasting.

Enterprise Data & Business Analyst

Stanley Consultants | Centennial, CO | January 2023 – October 2023

• Reduced HR admin time by 40 hours/month by pioneering an applicant tracking process. (UKG, SQL)
• Influenced HR data architecture by advising C-suite leaders on analytics research and modeling.
• Improved data quality by updating entry logic to ensure regulatory compliance. (Deltek)
• Implemented a structured processes for intake and reporting. (ServiceNow, PowerAutomate)

Founder & Digital Strategy Consultant

Design Web Design Studio | Centennial, CO | January 2013 – January 2023

• Led content, web, and marketing strategies for a diverse range of 100+ businesses.
• Scaled business operations, facilitating change management between cloud ecosystems and SAAS providers. (Cloudflare, Server migration, API, Payment integration)
• Lowered technology costs by 55%, researching more affordable solutions and identifying inventive adaptations with existing technologies. (Zapier, CMS)
• Increased web traffic by 239% and refined customer segmentation using user analytics & keyword strategy. (Google Analytics)
• Drove a 32% revenue increase by optimizing content and ad targeting for ideal customer demographics.
• Conducted A/B testing and UX improvements to enhance customer engagement and conversion rates.
• Prevented security breaches by implementing proactive eCommerce attack countermeasures. (Authorize.net)

Adobe Instructor

Arapahoe Community College | Littleton, CO | February 2010 – October 2017

• Designed and led professional development courses for the workforce and community program.
• Taught the fundamentals of Photoshop and Lightroom to empower students to reach their personal and professional goals through the use of Adobe’s Creative Suite.)

Technical Skills

Python, R: Data science, AI, machine learning, model selection, cross-validation, statistical analysis, probability

SQL, JSON: Data analysis & optimization

Azure, AWS: Cloud computing, data storage, networking, IAM (identity and access management), security, DNS

Google Analytics (GA4, GSC): User analytics, search engine optimization, A/B testing, marketing research

Tableau, PowerBI, Excel: Data visualization

Jira, Asana, ServiceNow: Project management, agile and waterfall, IT support, operations, sprint planning

Adobe Creative Suite: Infographics, branding, marketing (technical manuals, trade show displays), graphic design

AI Retirement Simulator

Certificates

AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner
Machine Learning & AI | UC Berkley
Excel & Tableau | Maven Analytics