About Me
A student of life, endlessly curious, building both with code and with words.
Hello! I’m Maral. Before I am a data scientist, I am a curious wanderer and a lifelong learner. Life fascinates me — every day brings questions worth asking, patterns worth noticing, and lessons worth returning to. One question I hold close is “what is life?”. I don’t believe it should ever be answered with a full stop; it’s a meditation, a way of calibrating how to live.
In 2017, a Vipassana retreat reshaped how I see myself and the world. I had been meditating for years, but the intensity of that practice gave me a new lens: one of mindfulness, humility, and daily reflection. Eastern philosophy — especially Taoism and the Tao Te Ching, which I first discovered as a teenager — continues to ground me with its simple yet transformative wisdom.
Passions & Inner World
Meditation and reading have been companions since my earliest years. I’ve always been drawn to practices that slow me down, from silently observing an object until its meaning dissolves, to walking in nature and watching birds with my husband. These moments remind me of the miraculous absurdity of existence — that consciousness itself is both familiar and unfathomable.
Themes like consciousness and creativity return often in my reflections and my writing. To me, creativity is proof that we can bring something new into the world, even from the unknown. Writing — whether on my Medium, early blog, or Substack newsletter — is my way of thinking out loud. It’s where I explore deep questions, and I hope readers feel both resonance and difference: that my perspective is one among many, and that life can be understood in countless, equally beautiful ways.
Philosophy
I believe life itself is meaningless — and that is its gift. Meaning isn’t given; we create it, and we can change it as we grow. This is not self-deception, but an embrace of life’s customizable nature.
I balance my analytical and reflective sides like commuting between two cities: sometimes immersed in spiritual practice, other times deeply focused on solving technical problems. What connects them is mindfulness — a practice that opens a window of opportunity, a chance to self-correct and reorient. If there’s one thing I’d want you to take from my philosophy, it’s not an answer, but a question to keep asking: “What is life? What is existence? Why am I here?”
Professional Journey
My academic and professional path has been diverse, but always guided by curiosity. Urban Planning was never my true calling, but it led me toward Linguistics — a field I love for how it reveals the architecture of thought. From there, Cognitive Science opened my mind to neuroscience, AI, and machine learning, and I found coding addictive: a way to solve problems with precision and creativity.
Today, as a Data Scientist, I design and deploy pipelines, build models, and explore the possibilities of large language models. What excites me most is building: creating a tool, an app, or even a piece of writing that solves a problem or sparks an insight. For me, building with code and building with words are two sides of the same passion.
Looking Ahead
I’m excited to keep connecting my personal interests in mindfulness and my professional skills in coding and data science — building solutions that help people live more intentionally. More than anything, I hope this page helps me connect with like-minded thinkers, or even better, people who think differently. If you’ve made it this far, let’s exchange ideas and learn from each other.