About me
I’m a strategist and qualitative researcher in Brooklyn, New York. My company is called The Difference Engine. You can find out more about that here.
I’m known for telling my clients the truth about their audience and about how well their brand and business serves that audience. My job is done when brands and businesses have renewed and recommitted to their respect for the people they serve, and have a plan in place to effectively connect with them.
My specialties include:
Having awkward conversations - talking to your customers about things that are scary, sad, embarrassing, isolating, or hard.
Exploring fandoms - getting to know the people who keep the culture around your brand alive and evolving.
Advocating for diverse women - identifying opportunities for meaningful connection with professional women of all ages and backgrounds through your product, services, content or communications.
How I work
My approach is immersive, but flexible. Depending on your scope, timing, and objectives, I can scale my approach up or down. But no matter the precise method, I always do these things:
I talk to your team to get to know your organization’s business needs and culture.
I investigate your competitive and cultural landscape.
I spend time with your audience to understand them better.
I share their stories with you through rich presentations containing imagery and narrative audio (or video).
I use what I learn to develop a strategy*.
I help you internalize and evangelize what we learn through collaborative workshops, team coaching or ongoing consulting, depending on what your needs are.
What we make together, and how we work together depends on your constraints, but the objective is always the same:
Ensure the insight we develop becomes part of your culture.
* Strategy, n. A plan of actions designed for a desired outcome within a set of constraints, usually money or time.
What else?
I’m the co-host and co-producer of In the Demo, a podcast about stories that get told about groups, how those stories get made, what those stories get wrong, and why it matters. For the foreseeable future, we’re focusing on what we’re calling the Millennial Myth.
You can find it on any of your favorite podcast apps, or watch it on YouTube (video versions of the episodes go up about a week after podcasts drop).
💜 Apple: https://buff.ly/3WIRgyu
💚 Spotify: https://buff.ly/3Hw5bTl
❤️ iHeart: https://buff.ly/403HaLz
💙 Google: https://buff.ly/3WG3at8
I am an advisor to Two5Six, a group of strategists and content producers directly engaging with the world of play and interactivity.
I have been a member of Digital Advisory Boards for American Express and New York Public Radio. I have served for two years on the Ad Council’s Campaign Review Committee. I am a member of ESOMAR, EPIC, and the Design Research Society.
I was a part-time faculty member at the Parsons School for Design at The New School in New York, where I taught an integrative studio course and design research in the Strategic Design Management masters program.
I give talks about how to better understand the people behind your data, how to form meaningful connections with your audience, how to design better audience research, and why customer experience is the CEO’s job, among other things. You can find some of those talks through the links below:
Where to find me
I’m around - you can find me on the internet.
If you’d like to talk to me about collaborating or consulting, or would like to invite me to speak at your event, you can contact me at farrah@thedifferenceengine.co
Oh, like the crown I’m wearing up there?
It’s made of paper and inspired by Frida Kahlo, and was made especially for me by macandchonies.
The picture was taken at the Coney Island Mermaid Parade in 2018 in a moment where I was just soaking up the sun, and the glitter.
