cole nussbaumer knaflic, founder & CEO
Specific focus areas: I spend the majority of my time writing, creating, and supporting an amazing team. I also enjoy the occasional keynote presentation, podcast interview, and university guest lecture.
Promotional materials
Need an official bio or photo of Cole to help promote your session? See the text and images linked below.
Official bio: click here (or scroll down)
Photos for web/mobile: 750 x 750px | 900 x 1350px
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Social media: X (Twitter) | LinkedIn
In her own words…
Where are you from?
I grew up in Washington state, a ferry-ride from Seattle, which is where I went to university (BS in Applied Math & MBA, both from the University of Washington) and also where I started my career in banking. Since then, I’ve lived in Houston and LA, spent more than a decade in the San Francisco Bay Area, and currently call Milwaukee home.
Do you have a favorite chart type?
If I were stranded on a desert island and only had a single graph with me, it would definitely be a bar chart. They are versatile and common—in other words, they can be used in a lot of situations, and people generally understand how to read them. Get rid of the clutter, focus sparingly with color, and add a takeaway title, and you’ll have a winning bar chart nearly every time.
What inspired your interest in visualization?
I’ve always been drawn to the place where math and business intersect, and learned early in my career that turning data into pictures—graphs—can make it more understandable and accessible. I love that I get to teach others this superpower through my work!
How do you spend your time outside of work?
With my kids and husband, traveling, cooking, drawing, reading, and enjoying life in the Midwest.
Official bio(s)
Feel free to use or share the following bios in promotional materials in support of your event.
SHORT & SWEET | Four-time best selling author and CEO of storytelling with data, Cole Nussbaumer Knaflic helps people and organizations all over the world create graphs that tell compelling stories and influence change.
STANDARD | Cole has always had a penchant for turning data into pictures and into stories. She is CEO of storytelling with data, the author of best-selling books storytelling with data: a data visualization guide for business professionals, storytelling with data: let’s practice!, storytelling with you: plan, create, and deliver a stellar presentation, and the new children’s book Daphne Draws Data: A storytelling with data adventure. For more than a decade, Cole and her team have delivered interactive learning sessions sought after by data-minded individuals, companies, and philanthropic organizations all over the world. They also help people create graphs that make sense and weave them into compelling stories through the popular SWD community, blog, podcast, and videos.
EXPANDED | Cole Nussbaumer Knaflic tells stories with data. She is founder and CEO of storytelling with data and author of best-selling books storytelling with you: plan, create, and deliver a stellar presentation, storytelling with data: let’s practice!, Daphne Draws Data: A storytelling with data adventure, and storytelling with data: a data visualization guide for business professionals, which has been translated into a dozen languages, is used as a textbook by more than 100 universities, and serves as the course book for tens of thousands of SWD workshop participants. For more than a decade, Cole and her team have delivered interactive learning sessions highly sought after by data-minded individuals, companies, and philanthropic organizations all over the world. They also help people create graphs that make sense and weave them into compelling stories through the popular SWD community, blog, podcast, and videos.
Prior to SWD, Cole’s unique talent was honed through analytical roles in banking, private equity, and as a manager on the Google People Analytics team. At Google, she used a data-driven approach to inform innovative people programs and management practices and traveled to Google offices throughout the US and Europe to teach the course she developed on data visualization. Cole has acted as an adjunct faculty member at the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA), where she taught Introduction to Information Visualization, and regularly guest lectures at prominent universities in the US and beyond.
Cole has a BS in Applied Mathematics and an MBA from the University of Washington. When she isn’t ridding the world of ineffective graphs, Cole is undertaking the adventures of parenting three children with her husband at home in the Midwest and on travels abroad. Learn more at storytellingwithdata.com.
See Cole in action
Cole’s speaking experience runs the gamut—from small groups around a table to thousands from stage. Get a sense of her style from the following videos. Also check out the storytelling with cole playlist.
Read words Cole has written in her books and on the SWD blog. Listen to her audiobooks or on the SWD podcast.
Learn more about other members of the SWD team.