An Unexpected Path: From Singing Competitions to a Career in Data and Analytics

Not all career paths start with a meticulous plan, but a fortunate moment of pure chance. Listen in as we speak with Linglin Zhang about her remarkable journey to becoming a Data Scientist and an innovator in the Rotational Development Program.

She shares how a connection at a singing competition led to an internship, co-funding for her PhD dissertation, and a full-time role at Equifax. Discover how working in an AI ethics lab helped Linglin develop innovative solutions for our customers. She also discusses the profound influence of proactive mentorship and why adopting a broad perspective is key to long-term career growth.

Describe your journey at Equifax.

My journey to Equifax began while I was in my master's program studying bioinformatics. I met an Equifax employee at a singing competition who was incredibly helpful in discussing internship opportunities. Following up on that conversation, I applied and secured a data scientist summer internship.

That summer led to an incredible series of opportunities. My manager encouraged me to extend the internship part-time, and shortly after, I began my PhD program in Data Science and Analytics at Kennesaw State University. In my third year, I was selected to collaborate at the KSU AI Ethics Lab, run in partnership with Equifax. Equifax also co-funded my dissertation, which focused on fair and ethical machine learning in breast cancer and postpartum hemorrhage prediction.

Based on these positive experiences, I applied for and accepted a Rotational Development role during the final semester of my PhD. My team’s support helped fuel my final sprint towards defending my dissertation.

Throughout my journey, I’ve helped develop solutions for our customers. In fact, I just filed for my first patent for an AI optimization pipeline that I developed which increased our execution efficiency by nine times while also improving accuracy in detecting phone device stacking fraud. This technology is easily adaptable to other risk modeling projects and can help telecommunication companies to avoid losses resulting from fraudulent activities, which can eventually help offer better products for consumers.

After I graduate from the rotational program, I'll be joining a permanent team. I'm incredibly excited to continue my journey at Equifax.

How have your mentors influenced your career journey?

I’ve been extremely fortunate to have brilliant mentors at every step of the journey, from my internship to leaders in the Lab and across my RDP rotations. Data and Analytics leaders like Joseph White, Matt Turner and Kelly Cheng have provided me with crucial guidance in my career growth.

Before I began working with these mentors, I thought you only went to mentors when you had questions. What I learned from them is that good mentors anticipate your needs. I’m really lucky to have had their guidance. They share their experiences generously, and have the ability to put themselves in my shoes, to foresee problems and constantly help me learn and grow. 

That’s also something I aspire to do, to be able to build my experience and eventually share my knowledge and experience with the next generation.

How has your broad experience supported you in your career?

I’m always seeking to learn new things and to understand other perspectives, which is why my broad experience in the Rotational Development Program has been so foundational. It allowed me to learn from and gain inspiration from colleagues across various departments.

My desire to learn from other people’s perspectives comes from one of the Zen Buddhist mindsets that I try to live by. Zen Buddhism teaches the importance of broadening your experience through the stages from initial confusion to deep insight—a concept I visualize like seeing a mountain. At first, you just see a mountain. Then, the details emerge—the rocks, the stream—and it feels complex. You start to ask questions such as, “What’s the connection to everything?” But with experience, you ultimately return to seeing the mountain, but with a profound, unified understanding of how all those complex elements connect to form the whole picture. This is how I leverage my broad experience: by seeing how all the people, teams, and departments are connected and form the complete view of the enterprise.

Learn more about available opportunities at Equifax.