Total Credits: 1.5
A panel of expert moderators will explore what it means to be uncomfortable in today’s culturally, socially and politically charged climate. Have you faced ‘uncomfortable situations’ that you’d like to hear how others would handle? Panelists will share their own lived experiences and solutions for issues both real and hypothetical that come up in the workplace and beyond.
Questions? Contact Roben Allong at robena@lightbeamnyc.com
Layla Shea is founder and Chief Insights Officer at Upwords. Layla founded Upwords in 2008 after a successful career as a packaged good marketer and insights consultant. She is global award winning research consultant and a pioneer in using technology with purpose in qualitative research, helping brands make human connections. Layla loves making the complex simple.
Cynthia D. Harris, MBA is the founder and ceo of 8:28 Consulting, LLC., a qualitative research and marketing strategy agency. After nearly 15 years in corporate marketing research and marketing roles, Cynthia was inspired to synthesize her professional experiences to solely focus on advocating for the Consumers’ voice at tables where brand decisions are made. She has extensive experience in the qualitative research space as a moderator, experiential research designer and facilitator to many Fortune 100 brands. While her practice is wide-ranging, her specializations include multicultural research, advertising and communication optimization and ethnographic approaches. Cynthia is also actively involved in QRCA and currently serving as the 2022 QRCA Annual Conference Speaker Co-Chair. https://www.linkedin.com/in/cdharris/
Kai Fuentes is the President and Founder of Ebony Marketing Systems, Inc. EMS is a multicultural market research firm. As a minority female business owner, Ms. Fuentes saw a need and an opportunity to develop a niche within the marketing research arena in multicultural research. Ms. Fuentes has extensive experience in qualitative and quantitative research studies giving projects a broad perspective on multicultural consumer issues. In 2016, the NYNJ Purchasing Council gave her an award for top business leaders in New York City; she was also included in Madame Noire for best business entrepreneur under 40.
Rob Volpe is an astute observer of life and a master storyteller who brings empathy and compassion to the human experience. As CEO of Ignite 360, he leads a team of insights, strategy, and creative professionals helping the world’s leading brands across a range of industries apply human understanding to release untapped potential.
He is the author of Tell Me More About That: Solving the Empathy Crisis One Conversation at a Time. As a thought leader in the role of empathy in marketing and the workplace, he is a contributor to Entrepreneur’s Leadership Network and he frequently speaks on the topic at conferences, corporations, podcasts and college classes and has been quoted in Advertising Week, Mashable, Huffington Post, TheStreet.com, Gourmet Retailer and the Chicago Tribune, among others.
Rob has been co-chair of QRCAs Sponsorship Committee since 2019 and is a member of the Inclusive Culture Committee.
When he's not speaking at industry conferences, listening to consumers share their stories around the world, or adding to his two million-plus miles flown, Rob can be found at home in San Francisco with his partner, Charles, and their three cats, reveling in the rare luxury of standing still. Rob is a graduate of Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications.
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