ABOUT ME

Yes, my full name is Victoria. But please, call me Tori.

Professionally:

I have worked at the intersection of technology, data and government for more than 8 years in roles spanning civil society, private sector and public administration.

Broadly, my interests are: the digital transformation of government and how we can guide it to be more citizen-focused; the ways data – especially open data – can be used to both improve government efficiency and make cities a better place to live; and how civil society can help support governments in their digitalization efforts and reduce reliance on questionable private sector solutions.

Interested in knowing more? See here for my brief CV. Or, send me an e-mail (you’ll find my address via the icons above) – I’m always happy to chat about my work, auf Deutsch or in English.

Personally:

I’ve been living in Berlin since 2014, Germany since 2013. I originally came over as an English teaching assistant as part of the Fulbright Program; I spent a year living in Fulda working at a Realschule there before moving to Berlin. If you start getting deeper into my old blog posts, you’ll see a lot of posts from this time talking about my experience applying for and receiving a Fulbright, as well as what it was like working at a German high school.

A lot has happened since then – a master’s degree, a husband and a child, and even German citizenship – so that I no longer see myself as any sort of expat. An immigrant, yes – but one who is very settled and happy with her new life. In the past, I used this blog to share musings on German culture and how it differs from the American culture I grew up in. I don’t write posts like those anymore since the differences aren’t as striking to me after so much time living here (and the act of writing about them doesn’t feel as novel as it once did). Still, they remain up for posterity’s sake, although if you read them, I hope you’ll remember that that is a version of me that is in some cases more than 10 years removed from the present day.

In the last few years I have blogged very infrequently, but I still appreciate having this website for when inspiration does strike.