The Knowledge Academy

As the only Black woman for probably 𝘩𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘥𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘬𝘪𝘭𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴, I should have known there was no hiding. In the police chief's office, with his deputy, and a jean jacket-wearing man who set off EVERY alarm in me — clearly the real power. The secret police kind. It was pre-war Kosovo. Surveillance state. Power keg. I was a human rights monitor ... the only person on the ground sending verified reports to Amnesty Intl and Human Rights Watch. Setting up an office Head down Focused on the work ... though my visa said I was a tourist quietly enjoying the sanctions and shortages. When I was called in for an "informational conversation" with the Serbian police, they took my notebook. Every contact. Every local human rights group. Every person who had trusted me with their story was now compromised. Later I was told - interrogations, house arrests, torture... But as I sat there pretending not to understand Serbian, they debated sending me downstairs. I knew what happened downstairs. What saved me wasn't a protocol. My org didn't give me one. Security wasn't a "thing" then. The sanctions meant phone lines were down. I couldn't even reach the American embassy. I was alone. So I read the room. Convinced them I understood the errors of my ways. Oh yes sir, I would tell my organization we needed proper working papers … especially since I was leaving in two days. Oh no sir, I didn't want to marry your son. Five hours. Then a couple of police escorted me to my apt. Every corner searched. Turned over. Add Albanian landlord's family to the list of compromised. Trying to do good turned out so bad. But I got to leave … with a warning never to come back. I went to Germany as planned, for a training on nonviolence in conflict zones. It was entirely theoretical. I was irritated enough to say so ... and bold enough to propose I run a 12-hour immersive roleplay instead. Checkpoints. Arrests. Interrogations. Same building, no equipment, no budget. Just atmosphere and conviction. Years later, people told me it was one of the most powerful trainings they'd experienced. My hot tears turned into my passion. A week later, the org offered me a job. As a trainer. Build security workshops for Peace Brigades Intl. Then the German government. Later the UN. Corporations too. While never abandoning local peace groups in need. That's how my career in global travel security began. Active listening. De-escalating accusations. Reading people. Situational awareness. Some call these "soft skills." But there's nothing soft nor easy about talking your way out of a police station. Last week I was on the podcast 𝘊𝘭𝘰𝘸𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘈𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘈𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯 and the host Em asked me: "𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘥𝘪𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘦𝘤𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘺?" I'm curious >> 𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗱𝗶𝗱 𝗬𝗢𝗨 𝗴𝗲𝘁 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗼 𝘀𝗲𝗰𝘂𝗿𝗶𝘁𝘆? Drop it in the comments or DM me. You Empower You.

Inspired by Zsolt Szabó KPI design, I explored how the same metric could evolve from simple spend tracking into a more decision-oriented KPI for analyst-heavy dashboards. A KPI should do more than track spending. It should help people make decisions. The original design focuses mainly on budget consumption: % used amount spent amount remaining Useful information, but from an analyst or decision-maker perspective, it still leaves an important question unanswered: “Is this spend actually performing well?” That’s why I redesigned the KPI around outcomes instead of only spend tracking. The updated version keeps the essential budget information: % of budget used total budget But adds: Achieved ROI target threshold visualization conditional performance feedback (green above target, red below target) This changes the KPI from: descriptive reporting to: decision-support reporting A few UX decisions behind the redesign: • ROI is more actionable than raw spend • The 4.0x marker creates an immediate benchmark • Colour becomes semantic, not decorative • The progress bar now communicates performance vs target • Less explanatory text reduces cognitive load • Analysts can scan performance instantly without mental calculations The goal was not to make the card “prettier”. The goal was to make it: faster to interpret, more outcome-focused, and more useful for operational decisions. #PowerBI #DataAnalytics #BusinessIntelligence #DashboardDesign #DataVisualization #UXDesign #Analytics #DataStorytelling #KPIDesign #UIDesign #DashboardUI #Reporting #DecisionMaking #DataDriven #BI #PowerBIDesign #AnalyticsEngineering #UX #ProductDesign #InformationDesign

Construction at Jacob and Co Residences is progressing exceptionally well with the number of staff on site doubling in the past week. For information on our release of the exclusive Epic Collection, send me a message.

I wasn’t late to AI. Just… not the first one to jump on it either. For a while it felt like noise. Everyone talking about it. Few actually using it properly. Then I started using it in my day-to-day. Mostly ChatGPT at first. Then tried Gemini, played around with Claude, even checked out DeepSeek and Perplexity AI. And honestly… that’s when it clicked. Same tools. Very different outputs. Some people are actually getting sharper with it. Some are just doing the same things… faster. That difference is starting to show. I wasn’t early. But I’m glad I didn’t wait too long either. Has it actually improved your work, or just made things quicker? #AI #ArtificialIntelligence #FutureOfWork