Cecilia Deschenes | Lead Data Scientist

 Cecilia Deschenes was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and immigrated to the United States with her family before her first birthday. As the eldest of four children in a multicultural household, she grew up fluent in Spanish and comfortable navigating diverse perspectives. Today she and her husband, Jim, make their home in Essex, Connecticut.

From childhood, Cecilia sensed a call to serve God cross-culturally. Yet the Lord’s leading took an unexpected turn when He opened doors for her to study mathematics, culminating in a PhD in applied mathematics. For a season she stepped away from her faith, pouring her energy into raising her children and building a successful analytics career with several respected secular organizations. But God never stopped pursuing her, and about a decade ago His “prodigal daughter” came joyfully home.  (Full testimony here)

Most recently, as an assistant professor of business analytics at the University of Rhode Island, Cecilia attended the SoulFest Christian music festival in New Hampshire, where she first encountered the work of Love Justice International (LJI). The stories she heard ignited a deep passion to combat human trafficking. With Jim’s wholehearted encouragement, she joined LJI as a data analyst—and soon discovered, in Mark Twain’s words, the second best day of her life: the day she learned why she was born.

Now serving full-time as LJI’s Lead Data Scientist, Cecilia blends industry-leading analytics expertise with a missionary heart. Her mission is to leverage “kingdom-class” data science so that Love Justice can maximize its impact against the world’s greatest injustices, especially human trafficking, while sharing the transforming love of Jesus Christ.