From Hopsital Halls to Valencia Cafés: A Journey of Growth, Courage, and Coffee

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Hi, I'm Cassandra Merry, and my story begins in hospital waiting rooms when I was just a teenager.

My father battled pancreatic cancer, and our family spent countless hours together - my mother, sister, and I alongside him - meeting with specialists, researching clinical trials, and navigating a healthcare system that felt both incredibly complex and deeply human. While we ultimately lost that battle, those formative experiences ignited something in me: a passion to be one of the helpers I saw making such a profound difference in people's lives during their most challenging moments.

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That passion led me to dedicate 15+ years to healthcare data analytics, where I worked alongside CEOs, CFOs, physicians, and clinic managers at institutions like University of Washington Medical Center, Northwest Hospital, and Seattle Children's Hospital. I became the person who could translate complex data into actionable insights, who could bridge the gap between executive strategy and frontline reality, and who could find the human story hidden in every spreadsheet.

 

The Work That Shaped Me

My healthcare analytics career wasn't just about numbers - it was about real impact. I led initiatives that:

• Reduced critical lab turnaround times from 3 weeks to 3 days for cancer patients who couldn't afford to wait

• Saved organizations nearly $1 million annually through strategic workforce optimization

• Implemented analytics systems across 400+ clinics, increasing manager engagement from 5% to 85%

• Created the VIP (Variance Improvement Plan) Process that bridged knowledge gaps between executives and operational leaders, earning me a UW Medicine CARES Award nomination

For five years, I was an active guest lecturer for the University of Washington's Master of Health Informatics program, teaching the next generation of healthcare analysts that data should always serve people, never the other way around.

But here's what I learned during those years that changed everything: the best insights come from embracing complexity, not avoiding it.

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The Valencia Decision: Choosing a Different Style of Life

In Fall 2024, my husband, daughter, and I made a decision that many thought was bold: we left Seattle and moved to Valencia, Spain, where I started Relational Analytics.

This wasn't just about changing careers - it was about choosing a completely different style of life for our family.

We wanted to live somewhere that relationships matter more than transactions, where people take time for coffee and conversation, where the pace allows for both productivity and presence. Valencia represents everything we believe in: a place where "good enough" isn't settling - it's recognizing that sustainable success comes from balance, not burnout.

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Moving here with my family meant I could finally build a business that reflects our values: prioritizing meaningful connections, embracing the beautiful complexity of life and work, and creating space for growth rather than demanding impossible perfection.

Starting Relational Analytics in Valencia isn't just about where I work - it's about how I work, and how I want to support other entrepreneurs who are building businesses that honor both their professional ambitions and their personal values.

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Why I Do This Work Now

Every entrepreneur I work with reminds me of my younger self in those hospital waiting rooms - passionate, determined, but sometimes overwhelmed by systems that feel too complex or rigid to navigate effectively.

You're building something meaningful, and you deserve systems that support your vision rather than constraining it. You deserve to make decisions with both data and intuition. You deserve to grow and iterate and sometimes make glorious mistakes that lead to breakthrough moments.

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My role isn't to impose perfect systems on your imperfect world. It's to understand how you naturally work, what challenges are genuinely holding you back, and where streamlined processes will give you more space to focus on what you do best.

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The Coffee Connection

You'll notice that coffee runs through everything I do - from my "Let's Have Coffee" tagline to working from Valencia's incredible café culture. This isn't just aesthetic; it's philosophical.

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Coffee conversations are where the real work happens. They're where we admit what's not working, where we dream about what's possible, and where we figure out the practical steps to bridge that gap. They're messy, human, and relationship-centered.

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That's exactly how I approach business systems.

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What Drives Me Every Day

I wake up excited to work with entrepreneurs who are:

• Building businesses that matter to them personally

• Ready to embrace growth even when it's imperfect

• Willing to invest in systems that actually work for their unique style

• Committed to their craft but drowning in administrative chaos

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I believe deeply that when we support individual entrepreneurs in creating sustainable, joyful businesses, we're contributing to a larger movement of people choosing passion over convention, relationships over transactions, and meaningful work over just making money.

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The Beautiful Complexity of It All

Here's what I've learned after years of data analysis and business consulting: the best solutions rarely come from textbook approaches. They come from deeply understanding the unique person behind the business, respecting their existing strengths, and building systems that feel like natural extensions of who they already are.

This is why I don't offer one-size-fits-all packages. This is why our work starts with coffee (virtual or real). This is why I'm selective about who I work with - because the best partnerships happen when there's genuine mutual investment in success.

Ready to explore what's possible when your systems finally work for you instead of against you?

Let's have that coffee conversation. I'll bring the curiosity and expertise; you bring the passion and the willingness to try something new.

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Currently working from cafés across Valencia, Spain - but available for virtual coffee chats with passionate entrepreneurs worldwide.