Ambivalence and Ambition: Navigating Career Landscapes and Possibilities
An EPIC2024 Salon hosted by Alexandra Mack, Robin Beers, Melissa Cefkin, and Samantha Gottlieb
Sunday, August 18, 3:30–4:30pm Pacific Time (in person in Los Angeles)
Overview
What is the nature of “ethnographic praxis” in today’s social and business climates? How central is the role of research itself in driving that praxis? This year’s theme of foundations, displacement, and generation invites reflection on what it means to be an ethnographic practitioner in industry and the nature of “ethnographic praxis.”
Even as we contribute to broader business priorities, ethnographic practitioners also offer insights and understanding of the organizations in which we are situated. This duality is often implicit but can be an under-utilized asset in our organizational identities. Many of us have opted to stay rooted in the practice of research, going deeper into our craft, and maintaining a connection to our academic training and deep expertise. Yet others have followed career trajectories that have taken us away from “doing research” or even managing other researchers, finding ourselves immersed in traditional business functions and/or organizational leadership roles. Despite these varied scenarios, the core of our work is still infused with perspectives based in understanding people and creating value by informing strategic decisions.
Our frame of reference brings something unique and necessary to the organizations in which we work and is itself a form of ethnographic praxis. Join us in this salon for a group discussion around the different paths practitioners have followed, how social data and theory-informed perspectives shape work in roles beyond research, and the creative strategies people have implemented to integrate social perspectives and understanding beyond the delivery of research results and implications.
Hosts
Alexandra Mack
Director of Research | AdHoc, LLC
Alexandra Mack (she/her) leads innovative problem solving and strategy development based on a deep understanding of the surrounding culture and activities. She has brought this combination of customer-centered design, innovation, market research, opportunity identification, business planning, and cultural change to projects across verticals, including health care, retail, software, and financial services. She is currently Director of Research at Ad Hoc, LLC, where she is responsible for defining approaches and articulating a forward-thinking vision for user research and related design and experience work with government clients. She is also an Entrepreneur in Residence with Yale Ventures, where she has mentored student venture teams and advised faculty innovators looking to translate technologies into businesses.
Robin Beers
Founder | Ubuntu Culture Company
Robin Beers (she/her) is the founder of Ubuntu Culture Company, a human-centered consultancy. Robin partners with companies to bring culture into alignment with customer needs and identify strategies for uncertain times. Leveraging 25+ years of corporate experience and her expertise in Organizational Psychology, User-centered Design, and Diversity Equity, she creates value through approaching organizations as connected systems, deeply understanding human behavior, and diagnosing where organizations need to learn, align, and change in order to unleash innovative potential.
Melissa Cefkin
Consultant & Educator
Melissa Cefkin (she/her) is a consultant, researcher and educator who applies human-centered expertise to technology and organizational design. She has held positions at Waymo, Nissan-Renault, IBM, Sapient, the Institute for Research on Learning and several institutions of higher education. She helped establish and lead EPIC in its first decade of existence, and has served on task forces and committees for the National Science Foundation and the National Academies of Science. A Fulbright grantee, she is a frequent presenter at conferences internationally, and is the editor of Ethnography and the Corporate Encounter (Berghahn Books 2009) and numerous other publications. Both her B.A. (UC Santa Cruz) and Ph.D. (Rice University) are in Anthropology. Her birth sign and several planets are in Capricorn.
Sam Gottlieb
EPIC Board Treasurer
Sam Gottlieb (she/her) is EPIC’s Board Treasurer. Although her career has had many non-linear trajectories, her work has focused on the incommensurability of institutional and individual actors, technological genealogies, and a relentless preservation of her 2-year-old self who wants to know why. With training in Anthropology, Public Health, and Philosophy, Sam has worked in non-profit, public health, and corporate settings. Most recently, she led a team of international researchers at Fitbit, focused on health equity as a foundational frame for building better consumer products. As an NSF-funded independent scholar, she conducted a multi-year project on communities living with type 1 diabetes who hack their medical devices. Her publications include Not Quite a Cancer Vaccine (2018), following the initial approval, marketing, and public debates about the first human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine. She loves bicycles and dogs.
How to Register
Register for salons when you complete your in-person registration for EPIC2024. Salons are free but capacity is limited to 30 people. For detailed information and to register click the button below.
Salon size: Maximum 30 participants
Date: Sunday, August 18, 3:30–4:30pm Pacific Time
Location: In-person in Los Angeles
Questions? Contact registration@epicpeople.org