New team member: Divya Sasidharan, developer, mentor, civic technologist

Earlier this month we introduced you to a new Knight Lab developer (Rebecca Poulson), today we’re happy to introduce you to a second: Divya Sasidharan.

Divya joins Knight Lab from Sparkbox, a web agency in Dayton, Ohio, and brings strong technical ability, a history of civic hacking, and a focus on mentorship that will serve her well at Knight Lab.

Divya Sasidharan

“Divya is a great addition to the Knight Lab team,” said Joe Germuska, Knight Lab director. “Her experience mentoring younger developers will really benefit our Fellows. As importantly, her experience shipping products for commercial clients will bolster our focus on building tools that newsrooms around the world rely on to tell intriguing stories.”

While at Sparkbox, Divya focused on front-end development and served as mentor at Girl Develop It, an organization that provides opportunities for women to learn web and software development.

Like many journalists and civic hackers, she’s focused on inspiring change.

“I see technology as a medium and means to an end,” Divya said. “I’ve always aspired to work on projects that have an impact on people. Last year I built an interactive map of Singapore during the general elections to show voting districts and parties running for seats in parliament.”

At Knight Lab she hopes to further explore how data can impact storytelling.

“The concept of extracting and telling a story from data intrigues me,” she said. “I'm excited by the opportunity to explore it further.”

Her first day will be July 5th.

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