Hi! I'm Lydia

I'm a Climate Data Analyst from northern Virginia with 2+ years of experience in civil engineering consulting, economic development, and data analysis. I'm passionate about sustainability, climate justice, and advancing climate action initiatives through data-driven solutions.

Lydia Kidwell's headshot

About Me

Volunteering at Feline Foundation of Greater Washington, there's a grey and white cat going to town on a fluffy orange fox toy while I sit next to him petting him.

I’m a data-driven problem-solver with a strong commitment to sustainability and climate justice. With a background in civil engineering consulting and economic development, and a passion for sustainability and data analysis, I’m on a mission to use data to drive climate action, conservation, and equitable solutions.

After nearly two years in civil engineering consulting, a PCS move across Virginia gave me the chance to refocus and realign my career with my passions and values. I dove into online courses and professional development communities to get a jump on my professional transition. I'm currently working through Google’s Data Analytics Career Certificate program and Esri's Make an Impact with Modern Geo Apps MOOC, and have completed Esri's GIS for Climate Action MOOC, a Python bootcamp, and several LinkedIn Learning sustainability lessons over the past six months. I’ve also tapped into military spouse resources like Hiring Our Heroes and American Corporate Partners for mentorship, networking, and support during the transition. It’s been a time of growth, upskilling, and connecting with my community.

My commitment to community also shows up in my volunteer work — advocating for climate legislation with the Virginia League of Conservation Voters, helping lost pets reunite with their families through Pet FBI, and socializing rescue cats with the Feline Foundation of Greater Washington. These experiences have deepened my belief in community-driven solutions and fueled my motivation to support environmental progress through data and storytelling.

When I’m not analyzing data or advocating for climate policy, you’ll find me cooking new recipes with a Stephen King audiobook playing in the background or marathoning classic horror movies with my husband and our cat.

Let’s connect—especially if you believe in the power of data to build a better, greener future.

P.S. This is my cat, Steve French, he's the best. He likes to help out when I'm working.

Fluffy orange cat, Steve French, sitting in on my desk.

Resume

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Projects

Portfolio Website:

Building a Portfolio Website in Python

This website runs on green hosting - verified by thegreenwebfoundation.org

The goal of this project was to both practice my newly learned Python and MySQL skills and to develop a way to showcase my... Read More

Web Accessibility:

Data Processing and Exploration

Pie chart describing average error type percentage per webpage. Structure errors make up 16.6%, Aria errors make up 51.5%, Feature errors make up 13.7%, Alert errors make up 8.64%, Contrast errors make up 5.88%, and general errors make up 3.7%

The purpose of this project was to analyze the web accessibility errors present on the most commonly visited websites and to learn more about... Read More

Trump's Campaign Funding:

Search Through Trump Contributors

Tableau dashboard describing contributors to Donald Trump's campaign from 11/15/22 to 11/05/24 and options to sort by state and top contributor rank.

The Mission of the FEC is, "to protect the integrity of the federal campaign finance process by providing transparency and fairly enforcing and administering... Read More

Trump Campaign Financing Cont.:

Top Contributors Deep Dive

Cat announcing that this project is in progress

The primary objective of this project is to better understand the top contributors to Trump's 2024 presidential campaign, how they are contributing to and... Read More

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