I was joined by:
Romani Patel
Director of Data Science,
Microsoft
Jennifer Adams
Head of Insights Communities Excellence,
C Space
Brigette Small
Global Events Manager,
Greenbook
Nikki Lavoie
Founder of House of Zebra,
Former CEO of MindSpark
The idea was simple. Bring together a group of women with different paths, different roles and different perspectives to talk about what it actually takes to build a career in insights. We had a candid, honest conversation about how each of us found our way into the industry, what we’ve navigated along the way and how we’re thinking about what comes next.
How did you get into the industry?
There is no single path into insights. If anything, the opposite is true.
Across the panel, everyone had a different story. Some came from research-adjacent spaces. Some came from completely different disciplines. Some knew they were drawn to understanding people before they ever knew there was an entire industry built around it.
Romani came into the industry with no formal market research background, but a cross-country move and a contract role she found on Craigslist landed her an opportunity at Microsoft. Eight years later she is Director of Data Science at Microsoft and helped build a multimillion-dollar in-house research platform. As she put it, “people think conventional backgrounds can lead to conventional thinking. In my case, because I had an unconventional path, I was able to challenge the status quo.”
Jennifer started as an English major who thought she might become a teacher. Her career moved through educational software, online learning and eventually a master’s program in educational technology. A conversation with a classmate introduced her to the world of online research communities and that was the beginning of what has now become more than two decades focused on insight communities. For her, the hook was simple: getting to talk to people, understand what they like and dislike and figure out what motivates them. That sense of curiosity has carried through her career ever since.
Brigette built her career in events. Her path into insights came through Greenbook, where she now creates the spaces for the industry to connect, share and learn. What kept her in the insights space was the sense of community and the role she gets to play in helping these conversations happen. She may not be a researcher herself but her work helps elevate the voices, ideas and expertise that shape the industry.
And Nikki, while one of the few who formally studied research, still found her career shaped by timing, instinct and a little chutzpah. She walked out of an interview at a tiny consulting agency in Portsmouth, New Hampshire after telling them she had another offer she would take if they did not move quickly. They called her with a job offer before she made it to her car. Since then, she has started multiple companies and held positions that have helped move the industry forward.
That same diversity showed up in the audience — people coming from anthropology, political science, theater, psychology, graphic design and more. Sequoyah Glenn captured it perfectly in the chat: “Relentless curiosity” is what ties us all together. Different paths, same underlying trait. The people who end up here tend to be the ones who ask a lot of questions and want to understand everything around them.
What challenges have you faced?
Building off of the last discussion, Romani talked openly about what it felt like coming into the industry without a traditional market research background. Early in her Microsoft career, there were moments where she felt like everyone else was speaking a language she was still learning. She wondered if people could tell she was figuring things out as she went along.
What I appreciated most was that she did not frame imposter syndrome as something that simply disappears. Instead, she talked about learning how to own it. Her nontraditional background became a reason to ask questions other people might not ask. It became a force to learn, push and think differently. And that is such an important reminder, especially for anyone early in their career. Asking questions can feel vulnerable, but it is how you learn, grow and make a true impact.
She also passed along advice from one of her own mentors that has stayed with me. There is no such thing as the right time, the right place or the right moment. Movies make it look like there is. The actual advice is keep moving. Stop waiting for the perfect plan or the perfect opportunity because they do not exist.
Jennifer spoke to a different kind of challenge — learning how to slow down and bring others along. She described herself as someone who likes to move fast, throw ideas at the wall and see what sticks. Not everyone processes or moves at the same pace and strong ideas only go so far if other people are not part of the journey. Listening is not just something we do with participants. It is something we have to practice with our teams, clients and colleagues too.
For Nikki, the challenge was more personal. At one point, she stepped back and questioned the impact of the work itself. She was helping sell more shoes, more drinks and more subscribers and at some point that started to feel out of step with her values. So she reframed it. When she ran her own company, she saw the role of research as advocacy. Yes, the work still had business goals. But the responsibility was also to represent people accurately, make sure participants felt respected and bring their voices into rooms where decisions were being made.
That moment hit a chord in the chat. Karen Lynch jumped in: “For me it was Pop-Tarts. I realized I did not care if Kellogg’s sold another box of Pop-Tarts ever again.” Shaili Bhatt added, “I got into this whole business in advertising because I wanted everyone to have a voice.”
That shift from “selling more” to “advocating better” changes how you see the work.
Brigette connected her challenges to the work she is proudest of. Greenbook is a small team working with a large and growing network of speakers, sponsors and industry voices. As the number of events grows, so does the need to be thoughtful and intentional about relationships. She also talked about the importance of helping new speakers feel ready to take the stage, especially people who have valuable perspectives but may not feel confident putting themselves forward.
Across all of these stories, the challenges were not just about career obstacles. They were about identity, confidence, values, pace and learning how to keep showing up in the work in a way that feels true to who you are.
What are you most proud of?
What stood out here was what was not said. No one pointed to a title or a specific project — what the panelists were most proud of all tied back to the impact that they have been able to make.
Romani is most proud of “staying” even when staying was hard — continuing to show up and push through moments where it would have been easier to walk away. Alongside that, she mentioned the relationships she was able to form along the way: the mentors and peers who challenged her, taught her and believed in her when she doubted herself.
Brigette highlighted the work she is doing at Greenbook alongside Karen Lynch to create more space for new voices on stage — helping people step into speaking roles, often for the first time and feel confident sharing their perspectives.
Nikki reflected on building a business and realizing that the impact went far beyond the client work. She helped people buy homes, get married, move countries and reach personal milestones. Many of her closest relationships today came from the work she did and the people she worked alongside.
That is not always how we measure success in business, but maybe we should more often.
Jennifer pointed to storytelling. Through her career, she has learned how to tell stories in a way that opens people up and helps them share their own. She talked about sharing personal experiences publicly and hearing from people who felt seen. That is part of the power of this work too — helping people feel less alone in something they may not have been ready to say out loud themselves.
Pride showed up less in outcomes and more in impact. Relationships. Growth. And creating opportunities for others. The heart of the industry is really helping people be heard.
What advice would you give to women just getting started?
I closed the panel by asking each panelist to share one piece of advice for women just starting out in the industry.
Jennifer: Be curious and do not stay silent. Having a point of view matters. As she put it, no client has ever reacted negatively to her having an opinion — only to her being silent.
Romani: Stop waiting to feel ready. Readiness is a myth. Be honest about what you do not know. In an era where AI lets everyone perform with confidence, your authenticity will build more trust than any polished answer ever will.
Brigette: Put yourself out there. Say yes to opportunities. Let your voice be heard. Everyone deserves a place in this space.
Nikki: The thing you are afraid of doing because you think you’re going to do a bad job… someone else is already doing it at that level and succeeding. “So go smash it and it’ll be fine!”
And it’s funny because it is true. Women often wait until they feel fully ready or fully qualified, or we doubt ourselves when we would all benefit from just jumping into the situation. We are more ready than we think we are.
So say yes. Ask the question. Share the opinion. Take the stage. Do the thing.
Final thoughts
We work in an industry that is changing quickly. New tools, new methods, new expectations and a constant reshuffling of what the role of a researcher looks like.
But the core of what makes this work meaningful has not changed.
Curiosity. Listening. Asking better questions. Advocating for the people behind the data. Creating space for new voices. Showing up for each other.
This conversation reminded me that the women shaping this industry are doing it with intelligence, creativity and a lot of heart. I am lucky to call them peers and even luckier to keep learning from them.
Happy International Women’s Day, a little late, from all of us at Recollective.
Thank you to Romani, Jennifer, Brigette and Nikki for sharing your stories so openly, and to everyone who joined us in the chat to add to the conversation. I’m looking forward to the next one.
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