Sara Philibotte

Hi, I'm Sara! I love learning how people behave and think to better serve other people and to help positively change how we interact with and understand each other in an unpredictable world.

I have always loved the irrefutability of working with data and the creativity and empathy involved with storytelling, and as a self-proclaimed nerd, I am always excited to tackle a new research question and expand my knowledge of a new field. I have found the perfect way to combine these seemingly disparate skills through the world of market research, analytics, and data science. 

I have experience working with organizations of all sizes, from Fortune 500 enterprises to Inc. 500 startups and grassroots non-profits. As a detail-oriented researcher, I have worked in fields ranging from cognitive neuroscience to government technology implementation and I love learning about new industries.

EDUCATION & COMMUNITY SERVICE

As a first-generation student with a lot of ambition and a lot of love for my childhood community, I was awarded a prestigious Daniels Fund Scholarship for my scholarship, leadership, civic engagement, and community service. 

Becoming a Daniels Scholar changed my life, coming from a supportive and humble working class family. It granted me a full-ride scholarship to any university in the country. While I completed my freshman year of college at the University of Colorado Boulder, I transferred to my dream school, New York University.

At NYU, I doubled majored in economics and psychology, completing the College of Art and Science's honors program with a senior thesis on a music perception study I conducted with the psychology lab I co-founded. While at NYU, I was also fortunate enough study abroad in Florence, Italy and to intern at a hedge fund, a youth development nonprofit, and a large media company while also working part-time as a tutor with a local non-profit.

I love to challenge myself and learn about a variety of topics, so I enrolled in courses such as: econometrics, statistics, calculus, linear algebra, neuroscience, cognition, scientific programming, microbiology, organic chemistry, finance, economic development, and Italian and Spanish language.

RESEARCH & SCIENCE

I've always loved problem solving and learning about people, but I fell in love with academic research in college. While taking a cognitive neuroscience class taught by Dr. Wallisch, I approached him during office hours and asked him how to get started in doing psychology research. By the end of the semester, with a few students, we co-founded the Fox Lab - a new research lab focused on the intersection of psychology and music.

In the Fox Lab, I learned how to do a research project from beginning to end. From recruiting participants and obtaining IRB approval to spending a year preparing my experimental stimuli, I learned how to be thorough in ensuring the quality of my research - principles that have served me well in the professional world, from digital marketing to business strategy consulting.

I learned the value of diligence in the scientific process as I ran over 600 participants through a 2-hour study. I also got my hands dirty in a massive data set, learning to analyze and visualize my data in order to tell my story. After I graduated, I published a research paper in PLoS One and presented my findings at the Society for Neuroscience annual conference.

I still support the Fox Lab ad hoc and actively cultivate my data analysis skills. In my full-time role as an Associate at Booz Allen Hamilton, I completed a full-time data science professional course through General Assembly where I solidified my Python coding skills and learned the principles of data science, and today, I leverage tools like Tableau and Databricks to support some of the firm's largest internal databases.

2023 Music Perception Journal Publication

2018 PLoS One Publication

TRAVELING & MEETING NEW PEOPLE

While I solve problems for clients through my day-to-day research and consulting work, my love of learning about people extends into the rest of my life. I grew up in Colorado and New Hampshire, and while my family taught me to appreciate the natural beauty of both places, I also love the buzzing energy of living in a big city. That's what drew me to living in New York City, Washington DC, and now, Denver.

I love to learn about new cultures, try new foods, and form relationships with the people I encounter in every place that I visit. I learn something new from every person I meet. I have visited over 32 countries and I make it a goal for myself to see at least 4-5 new countries a year!

I love photographing the places I visit to capture each place's unique beauty, from the fiery foliage of West Virginia in November to the endless sand dunes of the Sahara Desert. While I love writing as a means to express myself, nothing captures the beauty of a moment in time like the perfect photograph.