Terishia is a commercially minded data and analytics leader leveraging a foundation in actuarial science and extensive experience across banking, retail, and e-commerce, leading cross-functional teams and data-driven initiatives that have directly supported business growth, customer engagement, and digital transformation, consistently turning insights into measurable impact.
She is passionate about harnessing the power of data and AI to drive meaningful business outcomes. She believes that true success lies in empowering people—unlocking individual strengths and leveraging diverse skills to deliver impactful, data-driven transformation.
The only thing she is equally passionate about, is improving on her FIFA skills, and having passionate debates with her twin sister about their beloved Manchester United.
Session Overview
Stop Chasing Unicorns: Building High-Impact BI & AI Teams Through Skill Diversity
In the race to build cutting-edge BI and AI capabilities, many companies make a critical hiring mistake — they chase the elusive “unicorn” candidate. This mythical individual is expected to possess deep technical expertise in machine learning and data engineering and a sharp commercial instinct with deep domain knowledge. In reality, such individuals are exceedingly rare, and building a hiring strategy around them leads to long, bloated interview processes and missed opportunities.
My session challenges the myth of the data unicorn and presents a more effective alternative: building unicorn teams. By assembling people with complementary skill sets — technical experts, commercially-savvy analysts, and industry insiders — organisations can unlock far greater value than by pinning their hopes on a single all-rounder.
I will share real-world insights from the BI and AI field to show how skill diversity, not individual perfection, drives success. We’ll explore how the most effective teams are those that combine pragmatic delivery with a strong understanding of business value. Some projects require a machine learning engineer; others may only need an Excel-savvy analyst who understands margin drivers. Forcing every hire to be both technical and business-savvy is not only unrealistic — it’s counterproductive.
Attendees will walk away with a new perspective on how to structure their BI/AI hiring strategy, how to assess real value from candidates, and how to create environments where team-based intelligence thrives over individual brilliance. It’s time to stop hunting unicorns — and start building them.
Three Tangible Learnings
Unicorns Are Built, Not Hired: Attendees will understand why expecting a single individual to excel in both deep technical skills and strong business acumen is unrealistic, and why building cross-functional teams with complementary skills is a more sustainable and effective approach.
Match Skills to the Problem, Not the Myth: They’ll learn how to assess the actual needs of a project and assign the right blend of talent accordingly — whether that’s a highly technical machine learning engineer or a commercially-minded analyst with Excel and storytelling skills.
Speed and Value Trump Perfection: Attendees will gain insight into why delivering fast, business-relevant outcomes often matters more than building technically perfect solutions — and how teams that understand this principle are better positioned to drive real impact with BI and AI initiatives.
Alternatively, please email sales@eventfulpeople.com for quote, invoice or any queries and we’ll be glad to assist.
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Planner’s School
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Terishia is a commercially minded data and analytics leader leveraging a foundation in actuarial science and extensive experience across banking, retail, and e-commerce, leading cross-functional teams and data-driven initiatives that have directly supported business growth, customer engagement, and digital transformation, consistently turning insights into measurable impact.
She is passionate about harnessing the power of data and AI to drive meaningful business outcomes. She believes that true success lies in empowering people—unlocking individual strengths and leveraging diverse skills to deliver impactful, data-driven transformation.
The only thing she is equally passionate about, is improving on her FIFA skills, and having passionate debates with her twin sister about their beloved Manchester United.
