Amber Le

To start off, could I ask a little bit about your background info? So maybe your name, pronouns, major, and hometown?

I'm Amber, I’m a freshman, and I'm from the Bay Area. I’m from San Ramon, California, and I’m intended data science and cognitive science. This is my second semester in SAAS.

Awesome. And you say you're intended in data science and cognitive science?

Growing up, I was always more on the more creative side. I was always interested in psychology, biology, and sort of science-y related things like that. But coming to Berkeley and seeing how many opportunities there are in tech, and how diverse the field is, I wanted to find the intersection between that creative side of mind and the more technical side. So that's why I want to double major in cogsci and data science. Cog sci is something that I'm more familiar with, but then data science is something that can be applicable to so many fields. I think it's a really good way to challenge myself. I think that data science, and just tech in general, has so many opportunities that can be applied to things that I'm already interested in.

Awesome. Yeah, I definitely agree–it's amazing to be able to find a balance between what you care about and what's out there. I was also wondering if you could give me a fun fact about yourself.

Hmm, a fun fact is that I have seven piercings on my ears.

Do you have any hobbies or interests, like books, tv shows, movies, or music that you're into?

So like I mentioned earlier, I like all sorts of creative things. Growing up, I did art all my life. So traditional art, and then alongside that I got into graphic design in high school. I also like playing instruments, so I played piano, violin, and guitar in high school. I also like to dance in my free time. I'm on a dance team at Berkeley. In terms of music, I wouldn't say I have a favorite song, but I really like slow-sounding songs like kr&b. And r&b in general.

Okay, so you mentioned that you're interested in pursuing the intersection between Cogsci and data science. Do you see yourself pursuing any particular profession within the field, or just still exploring?

As of now, I'm not 100% set on just one career field, since there's just so many things to do in tech. But, I'm pretty interested in UI/UX and that sort of intersection between creativity, art design, and then more technical points such as seeing how you can work with technology to make it more user-friendly. That's something I've been interested in, anything that applies to those two interests of technical and creative. I think another aspect I'm interested in, which is sort of related to that, is human-computer interactions. Just seeing how we can use technology to improve the experience for people. But I'm still exploring as of now. I think I definitely have time to look at new fields.

Shifting gears a little bit to questions about SAAS. How did you find out about SAAS? What made you decide to join SAAS?

It's kind of a funny story actually. So back when everyone was tabling, there were a bunch of flyers going around, and I actually found a stray flyer on the floor of the elevator in my dorm. But it looked really interesting, so I picked it up. So after I got that flyer, I decided to go to one of the infosessions, and I saw how the leadership interacted with members, and really made an effort to make people feel comfortable. Like before they even started the presentation, leadership and execs were going around and introducing themselves to new members. And that was just a small part of SAAS that stood out to me. SAAS aligns with my professional goals of tech and data science and things like that, but also this community is what really attracted me to SAAS. There are so many data science clubs on campus that it's kind of hard to pinpoint which one you want to join. But just going to the infosessions really made me want to join the community and find people that had similar interests to me, not only professionally, but also in terms of hobbies and just hanging out with people.

Yeah, definitely agree that the execs and the leadership team are superb, among all the clubs in Berkeley, even. So I know you've only been SAAS for two semesters, but if you could share, what are some of your favorite memories from SAAS? In general, socially, maybe committee-related, just memories that happened in SAAS.

I was in CX last semester. And I think for me, a lot of my experiences in SAAS really helped shape my Berkeley experience as a whole because it was my first semester on campus. Being part of SAAS, and CX especially, which has such a big emphasis on integrating yourself into social culture, really helped me make friends and have that sense of community within my first month, which I really appreciated. And there's one event in particular: during Halloween we had a big-little pumpkin carving competition. It was not even data science related, but yeah, it was really fun to just hang out with other SAAS members at a casual setting to do something as random as carving pumpkins together.

What would you say is your proudest accomplishment in SAAS, thus far?

As mentioned earlier I was in CX, and that was sort of like the introductory, getting to know the more advanced type of data science. And coming into Berkeley, I didn't really have a strong technical background. I didn't have coding experience. But seeing how much I learned over the past semester, over the span of only a couple months, I was able to really learn a lot. I knew I was always interested in data science, but being in CX solidified that this is something that I really like doing. And honestly, I guess it kind of sounds cheesy, but just seeing my growth as a student was something that was really cool. Seeing myself getting comfortable with people and being able to make friends despite being at a new school — I think that's a big accomplishment of mine. It definitely is really cool to see the growth from the beginning of the semester towards the end.

Shifting a little bit to the social scene of SAAS. How do you think you made friends with people in SAAS? Or, how did you meet them?

Oh, that’s a hard one. Okay, I know it's a chain, but I like Sharetea a lot. They have a lot of good stuff.

They also give discounts too, on group parties, which is awesome. Yeah, awesome. Thank you so much. I think this is all the other interview questions we have. Thank you so much for the member profile.