TRIP | The Research Inclusion Project

Morgan Gordon isn’t a researcher by title, but she works like one. As VP of Brand Development & Sales at American International Industries (AII), she looks for opportunities in the industry where customers are not being represented, then designs for them. Her inputs include social listening, customer feedback, and trend forecasting.With over 16 years and more than 8 brands, Morgan has made inclusion part of how she does business, not an afterthought. In the episode, we highlight two key brand stories:Hollywood Fashion Secrets. How a best-selling product that came in just one shade and one size led to asking a simple question: Who is this missing?Sliick. How Morgan took one of beauty’s most intimidating, expensive services and built a brand that opened it up to far more people at an accessible price point.Morgan champions inclusion in her work by challenging the status quo and always backing up her why. The current normal doesn’t have to be the future normal, especially when your customer keeps evolving.Here are just a few of the top takeaways:Let the customer write the brief. Social content, reviews, and creative product hacks show you who’s being served and who isn’t.Accessibility is inclusion. Professional quality at a value price opens a category to people it never reached.Bring receipts. Proposals, data, and case studies turn an inclusive idea into a business case.Change is the constant. When your customer evolves daily, “the way we’ve always done it” is the riskiest move.The TRIP team agrees that Morgan is a true beauty inclusionary.---------------------------------------------------Morgan Gordon is VP of Brand Development & Marketing at American International Industries (AII), where she has spent more than 14 years building beauty brands. A licensed cosmetologist in New Jersey and California, she studied in FIDM’s beauty program before joining AII as a marketing assistant and working her way up across more than 8 brands.Morgan created Sliick from the ground up to make professional-quality hair removal approachable and accessible. Since its 2022 Walmart launch, Sliick has expanded to Walmart Canada, Sally Beauty, and 46+ countries, earning Marie Claire and Shop TODAY awards. She also grew Salon Perfect from a $16M business to a projected $70M brand and Walmart’s #2 press-on nail brand. At Hollywood Fashion Secrets, she led the brand’s inclusive expansion into new shades, sizes, and skin-friendly innovations.---------------------------------------------------Support TRIP: https://buymeacoffee.com/trippodcastTRIP is a self-funded podcast exploring representation and inclusion in the insights industry, hosted by Kristin Spraggins and Katrina Noelle, and produced in partnership with Greg Hasty and Vic BillonesIf you’ve found value in our conversations, please consider supporting the show and dropping us a line at [email protected]. We'd love to hear from you!

"A lot of insights you get out of research goes back to how you're intentionally designing the research."Jennifer Dennie-Lu returns to TRIP to walk us through a major body of trust research that reshaped REI's brand positioning and how plain, human language builds more trust than academic or politically charged terms. Jennifer also talks about the "Day 5" concept from ethnographic research agency Further & Further, the growing role of human cues like open body language in making people feel safe, and her hope for a future where customers help design research instruments rather than just answer them.Further & Further Jennifer's first appearance on TRIP, Season 5—————————Jennifer Dennie-Lu is a Customer Research Lead on the enterprise customer research team at REI, where she leads foundational research on trust, brand positioning, and inclusive outdoor experiences.  —————————Support TRIP: https://buymeacoffee.com/trippodcastTRIP is a self-funded podcast exploring representation and inclusion in the insights industry, hosted by Kristin Spraggins and Katrina Noelle, and produced in partnership with Greg Hasty and Vic BillonesIf you’ve found value in our conversations, please consider supporting the show and dropping us a line at [email protected]. We'd love to hear from you!

"I am a diehard for a qualitative focus group. They're always the most impactful."Alison Porter joins TRIP from Nestlé's coffee and beverage front-end innovation team, following earlier roles at Nissan and Bath & Body Works. She traces her inclusion mindset back to reading Invisible Women and dives into why traditional qualitative focus groups still capture something AI and synthetic respondents cannot: the real emotion and tone behind a consumer's words. We discuss:Lessons from Alison's time in the automotive industry, including the outsized role kids play in family car-purchase decisions and why researchers often overlook themWhy she pairs new AI-assisted tools with traditional methods, and what teams lose when they skip straight to synthetic data: genuine sound bites, emotion, and toneHow outdated assumptions about life stages (marriage age, when people have kids, generational milestones) can quietly skew research if teams do not keep the data currentHer hope for the future of research: keeping real, in-person, authentic conversations at the center, even as digital and AI tools speed everything upInvisible Women by Caroline Criado Perez https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/41104077-invisible-women ————————————Alison Porter is a Senior Innovation Insights Specialist at Nestlé, on the front-end innovation team for the coffee and beverage division. She previously worked in consumer insights at Nissan and Bath & Body Works, bringing over 10 years of experience across the automotive and CPG industries.————————————Support TRIP: https://buymeacoffee.com/trippodcastTRIP is a self-funded podcast exploring representation and inclusion in the insights industry, hosted by Kristin Spraggins and Katrina Noelle, and produced in partnership with Greg Hasty and Vic Billones.If you’ve found value in our conversations, please consider supporting the show and dropping us a line at [email protected]. We'd love to hear from you!

Ashlee Edwards returns to TRIP for the first time since Season 3, now serving as Director of Consumer Product Research and UX Operations at Reddit. She shares how her perspective on trust, transparency, and inclusion has evolved at platform scale, and how research, not assumptions, is shaping decisions around safety and AI.In this episode, Ashlee discusses:How Vernā Myers' distinction between diversity ("being invited to the party") and inclusion ("being asked to dance") informs Reddit's approach to onboarding and user safety.The difference between helping users feel welcomed versus helping them feel safe on a platform.Practical lessons for using AI in research, including:Her vision for greater collaboration across the industry through shared inclusion research, helping companies build more inclusive products while maintaining their competitive advantage.Relevant Links:Thoughtful AI implementation for UXR leaders Vernā Myer's PresentationDiversity is Being Invited to The Party: Inclusion is Being Asked To Dance Ashlee's first appearance on TRIP ⁠--------------Ashlee Edwards is the Director of Consumer Product Research and UX Operations at Reddit. She currently lead teams of researchers focused on growing community, belonging, and maintaining human authenticity on the internet, and an ops team that scale the impact of UX, create efficient processes, and connect the dots within and outside of our team. Prior to Reddit, she worked as a was a mixed-methods researcher and leader at Instagram, Netflix, and Snapchat, informing product strategy by combining behavioral metrics and quantitative and qualitative data to create a complete picture of user behavior.--------------Support TRIP: https://buymeacoffee.com/trippodcastTRIP is a self-funded podcast exploring representation and inclusion in the insights industry, hosted by Kristin Spraggins and Katrina Noelle, and produced in partnership with Hasty Storytelling (Greg Hasty and Vic Billones)If you’ve found value in our conversations, please consider supporting the show and dropping us a line at [email protected]. We'd love to hear from you!

We're back!!----------------------------------------------------------------------"Accessibility gets baked in from the start, not as an afterthought. It's just part of the thought process in designing good research."Steve Levine and Kari Bassett-Levine, co-leads of the Accessible Insights Consortium, join TRIP to discuss the evolution of inclusive research and why accessibility isn't a nice-to-have, it's fundamental to better research. Together they lead a volunteer-driven initiative that's transforming how the industry thinks about including people with disabilities in research. The Accessible Insights Consortium's updated toolkit is now the field's go-to resource and has been expanded in the past year with checklists to help researchers along the way. Their ongoing "Research on Research" initiative is gathering direct input from people with disabilities on how to phrase demographic questions, sequence them appropriately, and use language that feels authentic results coming soon!Learn more about their work:Accessible Insights Consortium webpage: https://www.insightsassociation.org/accessibility-insights-consortium (toolkit download, meeting info, resources)Insights Association events: https://www.insightsassociation.org (watch for CRC in fall and spring announcements)Upcoming AIC meeting: July 8th featuring Meryl Evans on "Designing Research and Marketing That Works for More People Without Creating More Work"------------------------------------Support TRIP: https://buymeacoffee.com/trippodcastTRIP is a self-funded podcast exploring representation and inclusion in the insights industry, hosted by Kristin Spraggins and Katrina Noelle, and produced in partnership with ⁠Hasty Storytelling (Greg Hasty and Vic Billones)If you’ve found value in our conversations, please consider supporting the show by buying us a coffee!

“Inclusivity isn’t charity—it’s intelligence"For our season 6 finale, TRIP passes over the mic to returning guest Nikki Yeboah, Assistant Professor at the University of Washington. She’s joined by her colleague, Dr. Jasmine Mahmoud, Assistant Professor of Theatre history and Performance Studies at the University of Washington, whose work explores the intersection of theater, culture, and social justice.Together, Nikki and Jasmine unpack performance ethnography—a research approach that merges observation with embodied experience—and how it can deepen inclusivity in both academia and applied research.This episode examines positionality, the ethics of “who we are” in relation to our subjects, and how performance itself can enrich the context of research.Tune in to hear actionable insights for conducting more inclusive, embodied, and ethical research, including:How embodiment reveals what words can’t—using performance to uncover deeper human truths.Why inclusive research requires examining the structures and histories that keep some voices out of the conversation.How positionality check exercises and embodied empathy (like “walking in your interviewee’s shoes”) foster more meaningful connections.What researchers can learn from artists about process, iteration, and the physical presence we bring into the interview space.—————Dr. Jasmine Mahmoud is the Donald E. Petersen Endowed and Assistant Professor of Theatre History and Performance Studies at the University of Washington, with affiliations in Art History and Comparative History of Ideas. An arts journalist and scholar, she writes about minoritized artists often excluded from official archives, with over 50 publications in venues such as Modern Drama, TDR, ArtForum, and Hyperallergic.Her research and teaching explore contemporary performance and art through the lenses of race, feminist and queer of color critique, and public policy. She leads UW’s Minoritarian Performance Research Cluster and received the university’s 2025 Distinguished Teaching Award.Her upcoming book, Avant-Garde Geographies, examines how experimental art practices intersect with race and urban transformation in U.S. cities. A committed arts advocate, she founded the Seattle Arts Voter Guide and serves as a Washington State Arts Commissioner. In 2024, she received the Mellon Emerging Faculty Leaders Award.—————TRIP is a self-funded podcast exploring representation and inclusion in the insights industry, hosted by Kristin Spraggins and Katrina Noelle, and produced in partnership with ⁠Hasty Storytelling⁠.If you’ve found value in our conversations, please consider supporting the show by “buying us a coffee”! ☕️ Your donation helps fund production and for the price of a cup of coffee, you can: 🔊 Get a shoutout for you and your business 🎙️Share your inclusive insight story to be featured on a future episode💬  Just use the “Say something nice” section when you donate to leave your message or story—or email us a voice recording to share your voice directly! We’d love to share your voice on the show! Contact us at [email protected]

"Everyone's got some level of effort to be inclusive, to have accessibility built in."Shamsu Bhaidani, Founder at Bello has a history of working side-by-side with the market research industry. His latest venture, Bello (https://letsbello.com) offers simplified solutions for qualitative research. Shamsu and his team started with the goal to make sure they could include everyone in research. They started from a product/feature view, making sure that all of their tech is as accessible and easy to use as possible, and supports people with different abilities, connection speeds and tech savviness. The conversation is a great reminder to not assume tech proficiency - on the part of participants and researchers! Always be sure to check and double check that everyone can access everything they need to make the project successful and be "shepherds of the research". Thanks to Shamsu for talking to TRIP from an inclusive research platform perspective!

"Inclusivity in learning is not just about differences, but preferences."--------------------------------In this episode, Michele Ronsen explores how inclusion and representation in research can be deepened by recognizing diverse learning styles, addressing invisible challenges, and bringing cultural expertise into projects. She shares her personal journey that led her to broaden accessibility in her teaching and research practice. Michele highlights practical strategies such as offering multi-format learning materials, creating activity-based engagement, and involving local experts in cross-cultural studies. Together, we look ahead to the future of research education, advocating for critical thinking skills and research literacy.Links:Ask Like A Pro UXR workshopsThe Expert Series (spotlight workshops)Fuel Your Curiosity newsletterUX Lexicon blog

Check the assumptions you have about target audiences - especially with Black consumers. Don't assume the data you have is enough, look into the nuances to guide your business decisions. Dawn's team at Mahogany Minds helps brand teams not only ask questions, but to learn more but know the optimal questions to ask to get beyond initial perceptions. On this episode Dawn talks about brands that have successfully - and sometimes less successfully! - connect with Black consumers. Everyone's living a different experience and it's important to make Black customers feel seen. That indicates a long term commitment by the brand and helps create an authentic relationship with the brand. --------------------------------------------------Connect with Dawn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dawnvcarr/Join Mahogany www.mahogany-minds.com Work with Mahogany: www.mahoganyinsights.com 

"When we improve products for accessibility we improve the experience for everyone." Annabel Weiner, UX Manager, Accessibility at Ally inspires organisations to proactively ensure people with disabilities are included in usability work across the board, especially shifting it to the earlier side of research efforts. Including these voices early – especially in the prototyping and discovery stages – saves a lot of time in the development and testing phases later on. Annabel also sympathizes with those struggling for those getting funding and suggests talking about how including those with accessibility really does improve market share and WOM recommendations. Her challenge for TRIP listeners? Try to build accessibility into one of your routine research practices. And know it's OK to make mistakes and modifications! Just get comfortable asking about making modifications to ensure they can participate in the research. Check out Annabel's recommended resources: https://inclusivedesign24.org/2025/ and https://www.deque.com/axe-con/