Moe Esmaeili
Data analyst, writer, and reluctant skeptic
I'm Moe — a data analyst and writer interested in the gap between what the numbers say and what people do with them.
I spend my time thinking about how organizations make decisions with data, why those decisions go wrong, and what it takes to be the person in the room who tells the truth about the numbers.
The Translator
Why Data Literacy Matters More in the Age of Generative AI
The Translator is the book I wished existed when I started working in data — and the book that became necessary as AI began producing analytical work that looks identical to the real thing.
AI can now generate any narrative from any dataset in seconds. Optimistic, pessimistic, flattering, damning — five different stories from the same numbers, each polished and professional, each capable of being defended on its own terms. The well-formatted report is no longer evidence of careful work, because well-formatted reports can be produced for any conclusion in seconds.
This book is an argument for what stays valuable when the tools take over: the integrity of the person making sense of it all. It's for analysts, managers, and anyone whose job involves making decisions with data — a case for what the role of "the analyst" actually becomes in a world where AI can produce any answer you want.
About
I've spent my career arguing for the same thing in three countries: that data should be used to make real decisions, not to decorate ones that have already been made. I started in Iran, spent years in Dubai, and now lead a data team in Canada — working across retail, commodity trading, finance, and insurance, mostly helping people figure out what their numbers were actually telling them and what they were only pretending to.
Data work isn't a craft I'm looking to leave behind. It's the thing I genuinely love, and no matter what else I do — writing, speaking, the occasional bout of consulting — I'll always want my hands deep in data somewhere. When they're not, you can always find me at the local off-leash area playing with my dog.
The book came out of a slow frustration: interviewing young analysts who could build a chart in minutes but couldn't tell me what question it answered, and watching an industry of course-sellers promise people six-figure "AI analyst" jobs while quietly hollowing out a craft I've cared about for a long time. I wanted to say what I actually thought, while it still mattered.
Contact
Whatever's on your mind, I want to hear it. Maybe you're wrestling with a data problem, thinking about writing something yourself, or just want to say hello. Maybe something in the book landed, or didn't — I want to hear that too. I read every message. Replies sometimes take a while — there's usually a data team and a project car competing for my attention — but they come.
Thank you
Thanks for taking the time to write.
Got it — your message is sitting in my inbox now.
I read everything that comes through here personally, so this didn't go into a void. It might be a little while before you hear back, but a real reply from a real person is coming.