“Always looking for solutions is what I like most.”
Amy Alig’s back story is surprisingly similar to the thousands of Cincinnatians who moved to the Queen City from somewhere else…and never left.
Even though her family roots trace to rural Springfield, Ohio, Amy made her way to Cincinnati and eventually bought what she thought would be her “five-year house” when she moved to Pleasant Ridge.
That was 25 years ago…and she’s just now considering putting it on the market for her retirement home.
“Once you’re a Cincinnati transplant, you’re always a transplant,” the 53-year-old database architect acknowledges. “But this is my home now, this is where I’m from. I’m like a Cincinnati convert — this will always feel like home.”
Professionally, Amy worked the first six years of her career as a laboratory technician and analyst for environmental companies, including the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, specializing in water testing and water quality.
Environmental science to data management
In the late 1990s, she switched to business information systems and data management, earning an Associate of Applied Business in Computer Programming in 2001, and an Associate of Applied Science and Database Management Systems in 2004 from Cincinnati State Technical and Community College, then an Integrative Studies bachelor’s degree in 2022 in Business Information Systems and Organizational Leadership from Northern Kentucky University.
She worked in a series of information, business intelligence and database jobs at Chiquita, Market Managed, Inc., S&S Healthcare Strategies, General Cable and Great American Financial Resources from 1998-2021. Since June, 2021, she has been a Data Architect for Cincinnati-based MassMutual Ascend, a company specializing in annuities for retail, broker-dealer, financial and investment advisor markets. Her specialty is designing databases and data strategy.
“Most people glaze over when I start talking about it about what I do,” she acknowledges. “But I don’t analyze the data. I’m the mechanics and structure behind the scenes. I love the logic of it. It’s like solving puzzles, and always looking for solutions is what I like most. I get the data in shape so that data analysts and scientists can access it, use it, and work their magic on it. I’m really good at making things work, not making them look pretty. That’s for other specialists to
do.”
“I heard it on the radio”
And how did she discover Impact 100?
“I might be one of the only women who joined from hearing about Impact 100 from an ad on WXVU,” says Amy. “It was about three years ago, and I remember saying to myself, ‘What’s that? It sounds really interesting.’ The word ‘impact’ says it all…it was an idea that sounded like something where I could make a tangible impact.”
Amy’s now a member of a grant review team, a task and opportunity she finds enlightening, daunting and satisfying.
Applicant: “The vast majority are so deserving”
“I had zero idea that there were so many organizations in the Tristate, and I’ve been blown away by the possibilities,” she says. “When we’re reviewing the grant applications there always a couple of agencies where we say to ourselves, ‘you’re not ready yet,’ but the vast majority are mature enough and so deserving. They do great work, and even if many of them don’t receive a grant, I love the exposure these organizations get by coming through the process.”
She has a particular fondness for arts and service-related organizations, especially those whose goals and output support other non-profits/agencies or fulfill other community needs.
Outside of her Impact 100 responsibilities, Amy is avid about Cincinnati nature, arts and local dance, music and theater opportunities, including Cincinnati’s Fringe Festival and its numerous festivals and traditions. She also loves to travel — but not in the summer, for fear of missing one of those iconic festivals or Cincinnati-only events.
Amy’s also a strong supporter of efforts enhance women’s rights.
“That always helps me decide when reviewing grant requests, especially when we address what’s helping women. The needs for women – whether single women, mothers, employment, family support, social services – are so great.
“I’m really interested in philanthropy and helping. I tell everybody about all the wonderful opportunities here. Cincinnati has become my city.”
