April Wilson - Wonder Woman

The Silly Series is an exploration into the not-entirely-normal lives and loves of people in the web analytics industry.  When the revolution comes, they will be last against the wall!

Today, we’re talking to straight-talkin’ nasal trumpeter, April Wilson.
Note:  I was originally going to call this profile “April Wilson – Lurking Woman”, following a couple of references to said activity by the woman herself, but after this response, I happily updated her to “Wonder Woman”:

Can I be “Wonder Woman” instead of “Lurking Woman?” That makes me sound less nefarious AND it makes it seem like I’d look good in tights and a swimsuit. I don’t really; but come on, one sister to another here. Help a girl out.

Who is April Wilson?

April Wilson uses analytics, process improvement and innovative disruption to meet the challenges faced by her clients.  Wilson’s job at Targetbase combines the experience and expertise she has gained from a diverse professional background. Wilson graduated with a master’s degree in sociology while running her business, OutSpoken Productions. Her company trained professional student educators whose focus was on touring colleges, universities, military institutions, and correctional facilities around the United States.  Wilson built her second career from her love of quantitative analysis. She retained her focus on serving the greater good, which took her to companies like People’s Bank, The Royal Bank of Scotland, TIAA-CREF and The Dallas Morning News. She is also an active community volunteer.

Tell us lots of interesting things about April Wilson.

I still reserve the right to come off as the most boring person in the world of web analytics. I’m a minivan mom of three, who works full-time in a high-powered job advising Fortune 500 companies on what to measure online and why.  (Actually, the minivan was totaled, and I drive a PT Cruiser.)  I eat entirely too much take-out and fast food, despite the fact that I love to cook and even have a nice herb garden in the back yard. I volunteer at my church and teach the folks there that are out of work and between careers how to do web, email, and social measurement and then try to help them find work.

I have a huge Wonder Woman complex and want to save the world. I’m just not sure from what. At the moment, it’s the dual proliferation of Justin Bieber fans and ice storms. I know there’s a correlation between the two, I just haven’t figured it out yet.

You strike me as quite a forthright person.  Has your straight-talkin’ ever gotten you into serious trouble?

Only when I was a teenager straight-talkin’ right back to my parents.  Oh, wait. There was that one time in college when I was pulled over for speeding and I said to the cop, “Oh please! Don’t you have anything better to do? Like you know, solving crimes??”  Yeah, that didn’t go well.  But in the professional world, I don’t think it has.

Before I went all “corporate” and stuff, I worked in sex ed.  Wait, that didn’t come out right. What I want to convey is that I had my own company of student educators and we would tour around the country talking to folks in colleges, high schools, prisons, and the military about various sexual health topics like wearing a condom and not raping other people.  It was called OutSpoken Productions, amusingly enough.   As a result, it’s really hard to feel any fear in a professional setting anymore.

I also think it’s my job to just tell the truth as I see it, especially when it comes to anything involving my fiduciary responsibilities.  Or my role as a leader.  I’m fiercer than a Mama Bear when someone disrespects my team or my organizations.

You are a woman of many talents.  Boring.  What are you really, really awful at?

I’m awful at doing nothing and being patient. It’s quite a pain in the ass to go on vacation with me, or so I’m told.

I’m also not so good at the mingling and socializing. I get bored with small talk right away. I either want to have a conversation of substance or not have a conversation at all.

Blowing my nose quietly. I’m a loud nose-blower. My co-workers frequently compare me to the alpha elephant trumpeting her location to the rest of the herd.

Who is your superhero-sans-cape in the web analytics community and why?

This is probably going to come as a surprise to many folks, but it’s Daniel Waisberg. I can remember when he, me, and Dani G were trying to keep one of the WAA committees afloat. We were on a conference call to talk about something or the other. Dani G couldn’t make it and I was waiting for Daniel. He was a little late in joining, but when he did – he apologized very calmly and said there was shelling nearby and he couldn’t get to a landline. I can’t imagine going to work in a city where there is constant civil unrest – and managing to do all the things that he continues to do all day long, for the web analytics community in that part of the world. I just can’t. And for that, he’s my hero sans cape.

On your blog, I really enjoyed the story of your son arbitrarily naming someone Jake (reminds me of something).  Do you think you look like an April?

I reckon I do. I used to get told (in the 1.0 days before you could just Google me and find my photo) that people thought I’d be blonde. I don’t know what that means.

I DID once get mistaken for Lisa Loeb at a bar in Kentucky in the 90’s. I went with it, and signed a few drunken autographs.

If you had an intern to follow you around for one day like a puppy, what advice would you give him on getting started in the web analytics industry?

Most of the rest of us are just making it up as we go, too. We work in an industry where data types, sources, and meanings change on-the-fly, without warning. Our greatest tool is our logic and our most powerful weapon is empathy. When all else fails, close your eyes, take a deep breath, and when you open your eyes, pretend you’re the consumer. Can you find what you wanted, and did the experience bring you joy (or at least, a minimum of pain)? It honestly is Just. That. Simple.

If you were afflicted with an unusually specific form of amnesia and had to leave the industry, what career path would you pursue?

On bad days here at work, sometimes I loudly threaten to give it all up and become a backup dancer for Britney Spears.

I have always dreamed of being a writer. It probably wouldn’t be anything prolific, though. More like something with vampires and mages and a dragon thrown in for good measure.

If I multiply 5 by 10 to the power of a banana, how many bales of hay would it take to stop a wolf blowing your house down?

Chicken. Obviously.

What is your wish for the remainder of 2011?

I’d like to fall in love again with web analytics. I’d like to see something that is so extraordinary, that it changes me. Do you remember when you first had the passion – when seeing the patterns in the data fundamentally changed the way you saw your company or your website or your product? When you wouldn’t shut up about how great it was to anyone that would listen? I do. And I miss it.

At some point for me, it became less of a love affair and more of a never-ending series of trying to pull out the virtual hangnails that came with every single stupid aspect of data collection and aggregation. Don’t get me wrong; I will likely be committed to championing this web analytics cause for the rest of my life. I believe in us fiercely. I just want another watershed moment – for us, as an industry; and for me, personally.

A duck once flew into your husband’s head.  If you could find that duck and fire it at someone else, whose head would it hit?

Oh, man. Like the answer to THAT isn’t totally obvious. I’m mentally firing that duck right now.

Check out the full list of interviews in the Silly Series here!