Shafat: Risk Data Wrangler

Department: Risk

Title: Risk Analytics Associate

What is your job?
Working on the Portfolio Risk & Valuation team, my job is to use the New York Fed's data and develop analytical techniques to help it better manage its financial risks. I also keep in close touch with what's going on in financial markets and policymakers' concerns to better assess their impact on the New York Fed's balance sheet.

What have you found most surprising about working at the New York Fed?
Its diversity—not just cultural diversity, but also diversity of experience and personality. Even having worked with some of my colleagues for a few years, I'm still finding out about fascinating pieces of their lives, like their ballroom dancing hobby or the time they worked as a video producer. On my team, each of us comes from a vastly different background, so that when we tackle a problem, our perspectives complement each other, and we arrive at better outcomes.

How would you describe your colleagues at the New York Fed?
The best way to describe the people here is "cerebral". They love solving problems and diving head-on into the most challenging puzzles. It's not uncommon for two of my colleagues to be loudly bouncing around ideas, when our neighbors can't help themselves but chime in with ideas of their own. Before you know it, there's a group of us in a conference room filling up the whiteboard with ideas.

How have you advanced your career at the New York Fed?
The New York Fed is a place where your managers appreciate an outside perspective and innovative techniques for solving problems. At the end of the day, my colleagues are always eager to help me consider factors I missed and improve on my method. In short, I've advanced my career by being innovative, sometimes making mistakes, and actively soliciting improvements.

What do you enjoy doing outside of work?
Eating. The best part about living in New York City is that you can go on a culinary journey around the world just by taking the subway a couple stops. If I'm not at the Fed, there's a good chance my friends and I are at our favorite hot pot spot in Flushing or injera spot in Harlem.

Favorite hobby or interest?
I'm a huge fan of live music. My friends and I usually end up going to at least four or five shows a month. Another great part about New York City is that it's home to a ton of talented artists, so there's ample opportunity to catch a show whenever you're in the mood.

Favorite food?
Dumplings, especially soup dumplings. There's a spot in Chinatown where we end up almost every week.

Favorite vacation spot?
The Jersey Shore. Growing up in New Jersey, I'd end up down the shore almost every weekend in the summer, either with my family or at a friend's shore house. It's a tradition that my friends and I still keep up with.

MEET RASHID

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