On October 28, INMA and Google News Initiative (GNI) awarded their Elevate Scholarship to 50 news media professionals around the world. This series features these impressive media professionals who are shaping our industry.

As a member of the customer intelligence team at Dow Jones, Liqi Chen looks at data and statistics to analyse and predict customer behaviour. But it’s her master’s degree in psychology that lets her understand the emotion behind the data.

“Liqi has brough important new perspective to the team, based not only on her different background to the rest of the team, but also due to her exceptional ability to empathise with media consumers from all backgrounds,” said Rupert Thurlow, Dow Jones’ customer intelligence associate director.

Marrying her natural curiosity with her analytical mind and empathetic nature, she has formulated research plans, performed industry research, and presented her findings to C-suite stakeholders. One of her greatest accomplishments so far was using statistics and the science of decision-making to create a model that relies on demographics and other market sizing data to predict propensity to subscribe.

“This project has helped navigate the conversation with the marketing team and translated to a successful content marketing strategy that resulted in a cumulative 90 million reach to new prospect audiences,” she said.

Chen’s research takes on a very human approach when she looks at topics such as how the lack of diversity within the newsroom affects the range and quality of editorial content produced. For both personal and professional reasons, and she has a strong desire to drive lasting change in this area.

“Who’s in the newsroom matters,” Chen said. “Diverse journalists with decision-making power, or their boss’ confidence, can make a big difference in news coverage. I want to do my part to build and promote inclusiveness in the news media industry.”

That’s evidenced by some of the volunteer work she has done, such as working with a leadership programme for students of colour to help them better understand the dynamics of the newsroom and prepare them to become confident leaders in the news media industry. She has also helped create networking opportunities, designed diversity in the workplace conversations, and works with the Impact Fund, which funds student-led projects that have a positive effect on New York City’s underserved communities. All these things, she said, are important for creating a balanced newsroom of the future.

“A diverse workplace is an important asset since it acknowledges the individual strengths of each employee and the potential they bring. When there are diverse thoughts and perspectives in the newsroom, it shows up in the news coverage, and thus it starts to show up in the community,” she said.

“Everyone has a role to play in bringing inclusion to the workplace and news media industry.”

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