Data is silent until someone gives it a voice. For me, the genuine thrill of data science doesn't come when a complex algorithm runs perfectly, but when I translate raw data into a human story, share it, and watch someone's eyes light up with absolute agreement.

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My name is Zayn Seajun Oh, and I am a person who bridges data (rationality) and humanity (emotionality). As a child, I really hated numbers. This is because I consider myself a logic-driven learner, which means I dive deep into the 'why' behind everything. In South Korea, we largely approach mathematics as a tool for getting into universities. We memorize multiplication tables, cultivate a hunch for numbers, and simply learn formulas to solve problems. To me, those things were not the essence of mathematics and were not acceptable. Hence, I became a 'Supoja,' which means someone who threw in the towel on math in Korean slang.

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However, I grew up to become a musician, majoring in Jazz Piano. During a music harmony class, I realized that numbers create harmony when placed in the right positions, such as in the 2-5-1 chord progression, and I found that fascinating. Because of that experience, I looked up the definition of mathematics: 'Mathematics is the abstract and systematic study of numbers, shapes, structures, quantities, and their relationships.'

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Now, I apply that true definition to data science. I sincerely enjoy the process of 'expected value vs. observed value.' For instance, in a statistics class, I conducted a hypothesis test comparing the expected color distribution of M&Ms to my own observed counts and found that the difference fell into the critical region, leading me to reject the null hypothesis. I enjoy cleaning messy data, finding where a model starts to break, and exploring anything that is worth analyzing before making it my own. Overall, I'm not satisfied until I see how theory actually plays out in real life.

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Ultimately, I don't just want to manage my responsibilities well. I want the output I create to actually surpass what people expected in the first place, and I think that comes from ambition mixed with integrity. I'm not trying to be some magnificent analyst who only lives inside a spreadsheet. What I truly want is to be a catalyst—someone who reads human data and, through that, helps shift the atmosphere around them into something more positive.