I'm a brand and social impact strategist and researcher - equal parts curious, a lover of wicked problems and probably asking a question you didn't expect.
I move fluidly between strategy, insights, design thinking and research.
Ideas don’t come from one place. Wonderstruck by the complexity of systems, I never stop pulling at threads, finding meaning at the edges of disciplines. It’s messier there, but the problems are way more interesting and finding the solutions to wicked problems more exhilarating.
The White Queen in Through the Looking Glass believed six impossible things before breakfast. Like her, that imagination and curiosity isn't just how I think — it's how I work. I build team cultures where curiosity is a practice and conventions exist to be challenged. And I decode and center both human behavior and culture to turn complex challenges into bold strategies that shift narratives and drive change.
Oh, and I bring a lot of laughter and joy (see evidence in my photo above). This work is hard. It should also be joyful.
The impossible? Just hasn't been solved yet.
I’m an advocate for inclusion in insights and within the profession.
Elevating the stories of Black market researchers celebrates their oft overlooked contributions and increases the visibility of career opportunities among younger generations from historically excluded populations. Inclusive research, equitable data and strategic practices and a lack of team diversity continue to not be standard practices despite evidence that diversity leads to stronger work.
And I love teaching and speaking.
Gerald Zaltman, Founding Partner at Olson Zaltman & Author
Challenging our thinking requires being open to understanding it, a willingness to question it, and the capacity to change it. All three challenges are propelled by curiosity. And curiosity requires audacity.
Work History (Select)
Senior Director of Research Strategy at Insights Association
Independent Brand Strategist & Qualitative Researcher
Senior Director of Research Strategy at RALLY
Volunteer Brand Strategist at Taproot Foundation
Insights Director at MediaCom
Associate Director, Planning & Research at Partnership for a Drug-Free America
Marketing Research & Planning Manager at UNICEF USA
Account Executive & Planner at SpikeDDB
Assistant Account Executive at FCB
Experience in brief
Core Skills: Strategy
Brand & Creative Strategy
Design Thinking
Narrative Change
Social Impact Strategy
Workshop Facilitation
Core Skills: Insights & Research
Consumer Insights
Concept & Message Testing
Data Equity and Inclusivity
Mixed Methods
Multicultural Research
Qualitative Research
Janet Mock, Writer & Director
I believe that telling our stories, first to ourselves and then to one another and the world, is a revolutionary act. It is an act that can be met with hostility, exclusion, and violence. It can also lead to love, understanding, transcendence, and community.
Speaking
Quantifying Good: The Data Quality Benchmarking Project | IIEX North American Conference | 2025
Best Practices in Asking Sexual Orientation & Gender Identity Questions in Research | Insights Association North Atlantic Chapter DEI Matters podcast | 2025 | Audio
Asking About Sexual Orientation & Gender Identity Inclusively | QRCA Annual Conference | 2024
Panel: Are you asking the right demographic questions in your surveys? | Voxpopme Reel Talk: The Customer Insights Show podcast | 2021 | Video
Panel: Designing Research for DEI: Practical Questions and Applications | Insights Now webinar | 2021 | Video
Panel: Community Circle: Diversity and Inclusion - On the Road to Best Practices | ESOMAR | 2020
Panel: Community Circle: Innovation in Online Research - Americas Edition | ESOMAR | 2020 | Video
Panel: Your Online Focus Group Questions Answered | FocusVision Ask the Experts webinar | 2020 | Video
Thinking Outside the Slide: Packaging Insights for Max Impact | QRCA Worldwide Qualitative Research Conference | 2016
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Our Insights | ESOMAR Global Qualitative Conference | 2015
Writing
Participant Bill of Rights: A Blueprint for Research Participants and the Insights & Analytics Industry | Insights Association | 2024 | Report
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Our Insights: Confronting Unexpected Insights in Mixed Method Digital Qualitative | ESOMAR Global Qualitative Conference | 2015 | Paper