Shannon Foxx Day: Leading with Maps and Meaning

When Shannon Foxx Day explains her career in GIS—geographic information systems—she’s used to a certain look. “People say, ‘You make maps? Like Google?’” she laughs. “And then the conversation takes a turn.” But for Shannon, that “turn” is where the story really begins.

Shannon’s journey started on the streets of a Colorado municipality, where her job was to help analyze and map the city’s most dangerous intersections. She’d study traffic crashes, car counts, and then work with engineers to fix what was broken. The next year, those intersections would often vanish from the danger list.

“That was something we could do,” she says. “Helping people make better decisions has always been my goal. That’s my jam.”

Her passion for practical impact pulled her deeper into public service. Whether it was helping residents verify an address, understand zoning laws, or navigate city systems, Shannon saw GIS as a tool to connect people to their communities—and to each other.

But her biggest pivot came when she moved from analyst to manager. It wasn’t an obvious step. “A friend told me, ‘I don’t want to be a manager—everyone hates managers,’”

Shannon recalls. “And I said, okay—but what if you could be the manager you wish you’d had?” That mindset—of using leadership to advocate for and uplift others—became her guiding principle. “I had to learn how to argue for raises, define growth metrics, make sure my team was supported,” she says.

“It’s a totally different skill set from being technical.” Her team now spans developers, analysts, and surveyors across the country, and Shannon treats them like family. “They’re all my little eggs,” she smiles. “My job is to help them grow.”

Still, the path hasn’t always been smooth. She’s navigated job losses, tough transitions, and moments of self-doubt. “The middle is always the hardest,” Shannon says. “But patience, that’s where tenacity lives. Sometimes, you have to sit tight and keep going.”

She’s also seen how women in GIS face unique challenges—especially staying in the field long-term. That’s why she volunteers with Women in GIS and mentors young professionals through multiple networks, including her alma mater. Her podcast, Geographers Without Borders, lifts up voices from across the industry—especially women forging their own paths.

“People are doing amazing things in this space, but they don’t always think they have a story worth telling,” she says. “I’m here to prove they do.”

Her humility is hard-earned. “Someone once told me, ‘You’re not special,’” she says with a chuckle. “It sounds brutal, but it’s freeing. We’re all human. We all mess up. But everything is fixable. That’s what I tell my team: break it—we’ll fix it. It’s okay.”

In a world increasingly driven by technology, Shannon never loses sight of what matters most.

“Remember the people behind the tech,” she says. “We’re all just doing the best we can.”