Senior Data Operations Manager Nazia Khan joined Upside in 2023. We asked her to share more about herself and her career — plus why she chose Upside.

Q: What stood out to you about Upside’s culture when you joined, and what keeps you excited to be here? 

Nazia: As someone who transitioned careers and industries when joining Upside, I appreciate Upside’s strong ‘learning’ ethos. From day one, I was surprised by the strong sense of curiosity and desire to learn across all teams, and the willingness of many to teach others. 

With time I realized that this is not an accident – constant learning is an intentional culture set by the company’s founders and early joiners. 

Q: You made a big career shift before joining Upside. What led you into tech and data operations in the first place?

Nazia: I ended up in tech by following curiosity. I started my career in international relations and foreign policy in Washington, D.C. I took up a weekend job at a local coffee shop because I simply needed to learn how to make a latte before my policy career “took off.” Well, to my surprise, coffee turned into my career when I realized I loved it and had a business mind. 

Seven years later, after opening and managing a few coffee shops around D.C. and serving as a coffee buyer and trainer, I realized I wasn’t learning everyday anymore. I had so much business data at my fingertips, but I wanted to develop better skills to analyze and catalyze it. I took a data analyst course and then found Upside, where I could leverage my ability to talk to merchants easily while incorporating work that dips into merchant data review and high-level analysis.

‍Q: How would you describe your team here at Upside, and what makes it work so well together? 

Nazia: The Data Operations Team is the best! Shoutout to Emily Grist – she is an awesome manager who challenges each of us to do our best work with support and empathy. 

However, my favorite thing about the team is that we each have fairly distinct tasks, and certainly diverse professional backgrounds, which brings more thoughtfulness and creativity to how we approach challenges. The team is kind and collaborative, but wildly smart and agile.

Q: Tell us a bit about your current role — what does a typical day look like for you?

Nazia: Every day starts the same for me: reviewing every single one of Upside’s data feeds and ensuring we’ve received the data we expect from our merchant partners. If we have not, I reach out to our merchants to request what we need. 

From there, every day looks different. On a given day, I usually have a few team or cross-functional meetings, work on some ad-hoc requests or data questions from across the company, and a few hours of focus time on longer-term projects. My role is the right balance of predictable and not, with just enough surprises and urgency to keep things interesting.

Q: What kind of skills does your job demand, and what’s been most essential to your success so far? 

Nazia: The Data Operations Team often interacts with external and internal cross-functional partners regarding highly complex merchant data. An ability to be both technical and personable is a must given our common role as data translators. Attention to detail and a thirst for problem-solving are also vital, plus some basic SQL skills help! 

Q: Looking back on your career, what’s a professional moment you’re especially proud of?

Nazia: My proudest professional accomplishment was opening a coffee shop during the pandemic. We were preparing to open in February 2020 and construction had been delayed. Months of planning and defining a business model all crashed on its head in 

March 2020, and I spent months trying to figure out how to hire and train remotely, conduct menu development and team training safely, and finish a complicated build out in a new-normal where everything felt tricky. 

Despite it all, we opened our doors in September 2020 and, while the challenges didn’t stop there, seeing my vision come to life and hearing from neighbors that they so needed our space felt worth it all.   

Q: Outside of work, how do you spend your time? 

‍Nazia: I am a serial hobbyist with my newest obsession with pilates and lifting, which are deeply supporting my O.G. yoga and running hobbies. I love cooking from cookbooks and buying seasonally from farmers markets. I hope to own my own kayak someday, but until then, you can find me on a rented dinghy in the Potomac. I also write for a local newsletter every week: 730DC!

Q: Best books lately? 

Nazia: Not super recently, but my three all time favorite books are: Pachinko; A Place of Us; Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow

Q: What show is currently at the top of your binge list?

Nazia: The Pitt is outstanding.

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