Diamond (Williams) Nwankwo was born and raised in St. Louis, MO. Growing up she often aspired to become a comedian, due to her gift to make people laugh, or follow the path of her parents by working in the medical field, or cosmetology.

The desire swiftly changed when she got her first job at the St. Louis Science Center’s Youth Exploring Science (Y.E.S) program, at the age of 14. The Y.E.S program was a 4-year program that took place during the summer and Saturdays during the school year. Through the Y.E.S program, she was introduced to engineering. As a Y.E.S Teen, she was able to teach elementary students science-based topics and explore hands-on engineering projects. It was through the Y.E.S. program Diamond found her passion and purpose to become an engineer.

During Diamond’s junior year of high school, she was accepted into Missouri University of Science and Technology, formerly known as the University of Missouri - Rolla, on an academic scholarship, where she graduated with her B.S. in Industrial Engineering. During her undergraduate career, she was able to intern for five Fortune 500 companies, including a year-long co-op.

Upon graduating, she began to work in Aerospace Manufacturing within the Quality and Process Improvement field. After working two years and honing in on her career, Diamond decided to go back to school; where she received her M.S. in Quality Management from Eastern Michigan University. While in her M.S. program, she published an article titled Data Quality Management in Industry 4.0: A Study through American Society of Quality Software Professionals Journal

Currently, Diamond is 1 of the 6 Americans selected as an Emerging Technology Fellow. This is two-year fellowship with xD/US Census where she will be focused on Enterprise-wide Database Modernization, AI Governance, operationalizing NIST’s AI Risk Management Framework, and Project Health & Risk Management Portfolio. Additionally, she is an Adjunct Instructor for Maryville University’s Data Analytics Graduate Program.

Diamond holds the following certifications; 3x Azure Certified, SAFe Scrum Master, Scrum Product Owner, ISO 8000 Master Data Quality Manager, IAQG-sanctioned Aerospace Auditor Transition Training, Quality Management Systems Auditor, AS 9100/ ISO 9001 Lead Auditor, Data Analytics, and Lean Six Sigma.

Outside of work Diamond spends her time with her husband and daughter