Today we’d like to introduce you to Elaine Eisenbeisz.
Elaine, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I grew up on a horse farm outside of Pittsburgh, PA (Go Steelers!), and I didn’t know what a statistician was. However, I had a knack for math and by junior high I was placing in mathematics competitions. So I always loved numbers. My father died on my 14th birthday and I fell apart for a few years. So much so that I quit school on my 16th birthday and left home for California with a dream of seeing the beach and walking the streets with movie stars. I made it to the beach many times, but haven’t seen too many movie stars since I arrived in Southern California over 30 years ago.
I did what most people do and worked at different jobs in my twenties, mostly sales, clerical, and customer service work. When my children were small I decided to go back to school and learn a trade, so that when I returned to the workforce, I wouldn’t be someone’s clerk or secretary. I wanted to be The Boss. Or at least The Supervisor. My first thought was to pursue accounting. So I started taking classes at the junior college. I again excelled at math, and one of my professors told me I was great at taking tests, and that I should pursue a career as an actuary, another word I hadn’t heard of. But upon some investigation, I saw it was a very lucrative career path and I changed to a mathematics major.
I transferred to University of California, Riverside, in my Junior year. The mathematics department was just not a good fit for me. To tell you the truth, they were so serious, had huge egos, and were not very welcoming to a 40-year-old soccer mom with a bubbly personality. It was a dark, quite place. And when I’d walk through the doors there would be light and air and birds singing. Not a good fit is an understatement. I thought to myself, “If I have to work with people like this the rest of my life, I’ll be miserable.” So I walked over to the Statistics Department. These were people I could hang out with. They were laid back, happy, welcoming and most of all, encouraging. This was home for me.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
I received my B.S. in statistics in 2006. By then I had decided that I didn’t want to be an actuary. I didn’t want to spend my days measuring the cost of a person’s life, or the amount of money a person could receive after a catastrophe. So I announced that I was going to start my own business. I didn’t have much support early on. Many of my professors said I didn’t have enough training yet to be a statistician. My husband at the time wanted me to go to work in industry, not for myself. I had a few friends who were also pursuing their studies while tending to their families, who didn’t know what the hell a statistician was either, but they knew me, and we encourage each other.
I built my own website. Back then, in 2006, it was easy with some HTML code. And I started advertising online for work. My first year, I brought in about $20,000. The next year it doubled, and then again the next year. For a couple of years I had offices and about 5 employees. But I worry too much. My constant concern over cash flow and payroll, and the long hours of supporting a business, just made my life all worry and no play. I closed the brick and mortar offices in the summer of 2016. I now do everything virtually. Some of my former employees still help on the larger projects, and I’ve been so lucky to have associations with a great network of statisticians, editors, and others who are also doing it for themselves.
I guess you can say I’ve ridden the wave of technology from the end of one century to the next. I am in my 50’s now, an older woman in a STEM field, quite accomplished, and still learning every day. My current goals are to encourage anyone with a dream to pursue it. I was a little no one from nowhere, didn’t even graduate high school.
I am not going to say that if I did it anyone can. It wasn’t easy. I had a talent for mathematics that I needed to embrace and hone. I spent many nights crying over Taylor polynomials and other concepts that I’ve never used in practice. I’ve had to close my ears to those who said it couldn’t happen (I had to do that a lot). And I am a woman. So even today, when I tell people at parties etc. that I am a statistician, they tell me I have very nice skin (They think I am saying esthetician). Or, sometimes they think I must be a teacher. And now that I’m “of a certain age” they don’t even care, LOL.
But if you have a talent, a dream, and the grit. You can do it. Whatever “it” is for you. That I do know to my very core.
I love what I’ve built and I’m going to keep building. And I am invigorated by the ever changing technology that helps me to do my job even better.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Omega Statistics story. Tell us more about the business.
I opened Omega Statistics, a private practice statistical consultancy, in the summer of 2006. And I have over 30 years of experience in both study design and data analysis. I am a great benefit to researchers in assuring that their studies are well-designed, the data are analyzed properly, and the findings are reported accurately and professionally. I create data and information solutions for industries ranging from governmental agencies and corporations, to start-up companies and individual researchers.
In addition to my technical expertise as an applied statistician working in research, I possess a talent for conveying statistical concepts and results in a way that people can intuitively understand. My Stats for the Masses series includes free quarterly webinars on statistical topics, as well as offerings for paid seminars and events. I am also available for paid speaking engagements and I travel extensively throughout the country training anyone who wants to hear about the elegance and usefulness of statistics. My Biostatistics for the Non-Statistician seminar is a favorite.
If you are on my mailing list you will receive newsletters about events and happenings. In 2018 I will begin offering a weekly email, the Stats Grab Bag with links to useful tidbits and resources I run across each week during my work as a statistician. Anyone who wishes to sign up on my email list can do so at the Omega Statistics website www.OmegaStatistics.com
Personally, I am a curious cat and love to expand my knowledge. Although I learn quite a bit working in the field, I am also finishing my graduate studies at Rochester Institute of Technology. I am a member in good standing with the American Statistical Association as well as many other professional organizations. I am also a member of the Mensa High IQ Society. And, Omega Statistics holds an A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau. I am very proud of that.
My recent work includes methodology design for numerous studies in the clinical, biotech, and health care fields. I have served as an investigator on approximately 10 proton therapy clinical trials for Proton Collaborative Group, based in Illinois. I also designs and analyze studies as a contract statistician for nutraceutical and fitness studies, most recently I performed the design and analysis for the clinical trial of Nurtisystem’s Lean 13 program. I also work as a contract statistician for numerous private researchers and biotech start-ups as well as with larger companies such as Allergan and Rio Tinto Minerals.
And, Omega Statistics sets the gold-standard in dissertation assistance, making ABD’s into Ph.D.’s for over 10 years! I find the dissertation work very rewarding and have built many professional relationships in research with colleagues I’ve helped during their graduate studies.
Throughout my tenure as a private practice statistician, I have published work with researchers and colleagues in peer-reviewed journals.
Please visit the Omega Statistics website at www.OmegaStatistics.com to learn more about me and Omega Statistics. Or give me a call at 951-461-7226.
Has luck played a meaningful role in your life and business?
I make my own luck. No one or nothing has made it easy for me. Maybe I’m lucky to have been given a good brain and high IQ, but that is about it.
If I have had luck, it is from the family, friends, and associates who are my support. I am very, very lucky to have great people in my life cheering me on.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.OmegaStatistics.com
- Phone: 951-461-7226
- Email: [email protected]
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