This post is part of a weekly series in which we get to know Sifties.
Natalie Hudson is a Talent Development Partner who has been with Sift Science for nine months. If she could time travel she would go to Paris during the 1920s, when Ernest Hemingway, Gertrude Stein, Cole Porter, and Josephine Baker were there.
Where is your favorite place to be?
In the mountains, surrounded by trees – with no cell reception. It’s hard for me to name my favorite mountain experience, because every hike that I’ve done has stood out for its own reason, but trips to Rocky Mountain National Park and Mount Rainier were both very memorable.
What are 5 things that make you happy?
- Being with the ones I love
- Great conversation
- Music
- Adventure
- A delicious meal
What was your first job?
I worked at the dance studio where I took classes. I cleaned the studio, worked the front desk, and was the assistant teacher and substitute for some classes.
What’s the best vacation you ever had?
When I traveled South America for two weeks. Spending a week on a boat in the Amazon was the greatest thing I’ve ever experienced, and a huge dream come true. As a kid, I was obsessed with the Amazon – I wrote haiku poems about it and even made a board game complete with toothpick trees.
Do you have a secret talent?
I have an incredible poker face. I played in a tournament for the first time and came in fourth out of forty people, which attests to not only my natural poker skills but also my poker face.
You’re in grad school for learning and organizational change. What’s the most surprising thing you’ve learned?
The program has taught me a ton about myself and changed the way I think. I went into it thinking I knew who I was, what I wanted, and that this education was going to get me from point A to point B. It has been so much more than that. It’s been an eye-opening journey and given me a deeper understanding of people that I can apply in an organizational context. It’s been a long road, but completely worth it.