Peeling back the layers of new data, to expose underreported origins of racial and socioeconomic disparities. Learn how to tell the story behind the statistics for more complete and culturally unbiased insights.
Discussion Topics
● A Tale of Two Countries – Communities of color still recovering from the disproportionate impact of the Covid-19 pandemic are now simultaneously reeling from grief and anger in the wake of George Floyd’s murder. Learn what a new eye-opening study tells us about the emotional, physical, and financial disparities between different racial groups in the US. We’ll hear from the research team behind this pivotal study on how various segments of the population are processing the surge of national focus on police brutality and systemic racism; their varying degrees of trust in American institutions; and what can be done to address public health inequity before Wave 2 of the pandemic hits.
● Institutional Bias in Coronavirus Research – The crucial piece of analysis that’s missing from most Covid-19 studies’ reporting, and why the ‘pre-existing conditions’ rationale is a cop-out. What are corporations’ responsibility/call-action?
● Redlining by Any Other Name – How current events could affect 2020 Census
Curiosity may have killed the cat, but in Ms. Rodney’s case, it gave birth to a ZEBRA. Considered the research whisperer, Denene is the founder of the full service multi-disciplinary qualitative & quantitative research firm, ZEBRA STRATEGIES, which specializes in research design, focus group moderating, and recruiting. She created Zebra Strategies because she wanted to provide a conduit through which multimillion-dollar corporations, agencies, and organizations could understand the importance of nuance in culture, ethnicity, and socioeconomic experiences. Denene has always lived by the motto, “Be curious but not judgmental” and an indispensable element of Denene’s research approach is the welcoming space she creates; fostering a safe environment for participants to share deeply personal and often painful life experiences, even in a group setting. She utilizes empathic listening to affirm the experiences of those facing even the most challenging experiences, including: Sexual Health, HIV status and other disease states, racial discrimination, and gun violence, giving overlooked voices the much-needed opportunity to express their needs, their desires, their experiences, and tell their stories. Denene knows that when we try to group people together and affirm that they must be the same because they all check a box, “we lose the opportunity to learn.” We have seen the market implications when large corporations fail to take into account the nuance of one’s individuality – when they “overlook the unique stripes” of each person, and Denene prides herself on the fact that it’s her job to not only acknowledge those differences, but to use that knowledge to develop more inclusive, impactful, and strategic marketing plans for her clients. Ms. Rodney holds a B.S. from Syracuse University’s Newhouse School of Communications and an M.S. from New York University’s School of Continuing Education.
With close to twenty years of experience in marketing and social research and advanced degrees in Applied Social Research and Survey Methodology, Jessica Broome is a seasoned and dynamic researcher with diverse experience in both quantitative and qualitative methodologies (including in-person and online methods).
Jessica began her career in the non-profit sector, interviewing inmates in both state prisons and city jails across New York. She then worked for several years in the research and insights departments of major public relations agencies, including Ogilvy and Edelman, where she managed the much-publicized Edelman Trust Barometer. Since launching Southpaw Insights (formerly Jessica Broome Research) in 2008, Jessica has conducted results-oriented research for both agencies and end clients across a broad swath of sectors, including financial services, healthcare, education, retail and food.
Jessica holds a PhD in Survey Methodology from the University of Michigan, where she returns every summer to teach Questionnaire Design. She has an M.S. degree in Applied Social Research from Hunter College and graduated cum laude from Connecticut College, where she earned a B.A. degree in sociology and minored in German and Hispanic Studies.
Anne, an entrepreneur and founding partner in Gazelle Global Research Services LLC, a Market Research global sample and operations company. Her extensive international data collection, data processing and management experience brings a high level of practical knowledge to both clients and staff. Her lengthy livelihood in custom research has enabled her to build a set of comprehensive skills she utilizes to help guide projects in a wide range of industries.
Anne was also a founding partner in G3 Translate where she was responsible for financial and tax matters, allocation of capital along with her partners until G3 was sold in 2019.
Prior to taking an ownership stake at Gazelle in 1993, Ms. Brown was a Vice President of Operations at CRC Information Systems (1984-1994) where she managed both the phone room and the data processing staff. She was a Director of Data Processing at Yankelovich, Skelly and White (1977-1984) as well as the Director of Data Processing at The Simmons Market Research Bureau (1973-1977).
She is a PRC certified member of the Insights Association and a longtime member of ESOMAR. Other professional affiliations include: WIRe, WBENC and WBE.
In addition to her role as marketing consultant and qualitative researcher of choice to a number of Fortune 500 companies, Ola is a recognized thought leader on the evolving cultural landscape in the U.S. and global markets. She co-authored the ground-breaking book, Marketing to the New Majority: Strategies for a Diverse World, for which she has been featured on NPR, and in a number of business/trade publications including Forbes, The Economist and Advertising Age.
Beyond her broad expertise leveraging consumer insights to drive brand growth for leading companies, Ola has extensive experience across all age and lifestyle segments of African-American, Hispanic, Asian, LGBTQ and Millennial audiences. She has been a featured speaker on effective diversity marketing at conferences sponsored by the World Federation of Advertisers, American Association of Advertising Agencies, Advertising Research Foundation, Association of National Advertisers, Advertising Week, Brandweek, World Research Group, and is regularly invited to present and lead executive workshops on evolving organizations to “New Majority” readiness.
In her 20 year career, Ola has spearheaded hundreds of consumer insight and strategy initiatives spanning a wide range of consumer segments and categories, including multinational, U.S. Total Market, and multicultural studies for McDonald’s, The Coca-Cola Companies, Procter & Gamble, Unilever, Colgate, Google, Facebook, Snapchat, MTV Networks, Diageo, and many others.
In addition to her work in the for-profit and public sectors, she has partnered with several institutions to illuminate opportunities for improved relations with underserved and ethnic communities including studies for M&T Bank, Loretto Hospital and University of Chicago Medical Center under an initiative led by former First Lady Michelle Obama, in her previous role as VP of Community and External Affairs at UCMC.
Ola is passionate about culture in its various manifestations, and holds dual degrees from Harvard University in Psychology and Afro-American Studies. She is a winner of the prestigious Atticus Award for Original Published Thinking in Communications Services, and a longtime resident of Brooklyn, New York City.
