Upon completing an undergraduate degree in linguistics and cognitive science at Scripps College in 2015, Shalina Omar spent a year as a Fulbright English Teaching Assistant in Indonesia. She then earned two degrees from NC State: an MA in English with a linguistics concentration in 2019 and an MS in Analytics—at the Institute for Advanced Analytics—in 2021. Since then, she has worked at Guidehouse, currently as a managing consultant – data scientist. In November 2023, she spoke with MSA student Teresa Meng about her background, current work, and future plans. Coincidentally, Teresa also accepted an offer with Guidehouse upon graduation in May 2024, making her and Shalina colleagues.