Four rooms, one question: what's actually happening here?

Improving the Partner Experience Across 500 IDEMIA Locations

Sole researcher: discovery, survey design, fielding, analysis, and recommendations.

Context

IDEMIA manufactures the fingerprinting technology used at partner retail locations, places like Staples and Office Depot, to conduct background-check screenings. I was tasked with understanding and improving the experience of the roughly 500 partner locations whose staff administer these services on IDEMIA's behalf.

Process

Discovery. Before writing a single question, I shadowed employees and gathered input from 8 internal departments on what they wanted to learn from partners.

Survey design. I iterated across roughly a dozen drafts, then built and fielded the "Partner Best Practices" survey in Alchemer, covering the fingerprinting devices, the enrollment process, and the partner relationship. Sample questions ranged from multiple choice ("What department would you like to leave comments for?") to open-ended ("Is there anything we can do to improve our communication and responsiveness to you?").

Timeline

Findings

Analyzed 350+ responses (a ~70% response rate), identifying 30+ discrete opportunities for improvement, spanning communication, training, and device support.

Outcome

Presented the Enhancement Recommendation Proposal to about 15 Partner Acquisition managers and assistants. The internship ended shortly after, so I can't confirm what was ultimately implemented, but the recommendations were well received in the room.

Reflection

Gathering input from internal departments before drafting a single question taught me that good survey design starts with stakeholder alignment, not with writing questions. If I did it again, I'd build in a lighter-touch way to track whether recommendations were adopted after the internship ended. That's the one piece I never got to see through.

Designing GrowthGauge: A Social-Emotional Growth Framework for Extreme Kids & Crew

Led the research and design of the framework, in collaboration with fellow consultants.

Context

Extreme Kids & Crew needed a better way to assess, report, and communicate the social-emotional growth benefits of their programs to funders and potential community partners. I was asked to design an evaluation framework they could use to collect and codify that growth.

Process

Benchmarking. Compared 5 peer organizations serving neurodivergent youth (GRASP, Kamp for Kids, Wellspring Learning Centers, DSAMT, and the Color of Autism Foundation) across how they measured and communicated program impact.

Trends identified. Three practices came up consistently: using quantitative data to measure impact, gathering testimonials, and being transparent about impact with stakeholders. These three directly shaped the design of GrowthGauge.

Framework design. Built GrowthGauge around three Likert-scale questionnaires (one each for students, staff, and parents) measuring core social-emotional skills before and after program participation, so growth could be quantified and shown to donors.

Limitations I flagged

• Survey question bias
• Limited depth from closed-ended formats
• Cultural and linguistic barriers among respondents

Outcome

Presented GrowthGauge as a recommended framework, with next steps for administering the questionnaires, analyzing results, and using the findings to publicize impact. Received a certificate of completion and a performance evaluation from the externship.

Reflection

Benchmarking peer organizations before designing anything meant GrowthGauge was grounded in what was already working elsewhere, rather than built from scratch. Naming the method's own limitations alongside the recommendation is a habit I've carried forward since. Good research includes being honest about where it falls short.

Examining Historical Narratives and Their Modern Implications in the Dominican Republic

Independently designed, conducted, and synthesized the fieldwork.

Context

Every Vanderbilt student completes an independent capstone project before graduating. Inspired by a course on borders, citizenship, and migration, I designed my own project to study how colonial-era narratives continue to shape national identity and perceptions of race in the Dominican Republic, traveling to Santiago and Santo Domingo to research it firsthand.

Method

Field observation. Participated in guided museum and historical tours across both cities, observing what was emphasized, what was glossed over, and how guides framed difficult history, including a tour of the Museo de las Casas Reales and a walking mural tour in Santiago.

Interview. Conducted a recorded, consented interview with Juan, a local guide, asking about identity, generational change, and how Dominican-Haitian history is or isn't taught.

Analysis. Transcribed the interview myself and synthesized it alongside field notes, photo and audio documentation, and secondary research.

Constraint. Limited Spanish proficiency meant I could only conduct the interview in English, which narrowed who I could speak with.

A mural in Santiago. Our guide explained its significance to Dominican independence.

Scenes from Santo Domingo and Santiago.

Findings

Observed a consistent pattern across both cities: African heritage was acknowledged but given markedly less attention than European colonial history in museum framing. The interview surfaced generational differences in attitudes toward race and identity, alongside a visible but gradual shift toward embracing natural hair texture among younger Dominicans. I also connected patterns of gentrification in Santiago to the same dynamics of displacement and erasure present in the colonial history I was studying.

Reflection

Going in with prior knowledge of Haitian-Dominican history shaped what I noticed, and I stayed conscious of that throughout, since qualitative research always carries the researcher's own lens. Doing just one interview, given the language barrier, was the project's clearest limitation. If I did this again, I'd prioritize building Spanish proficiency beforehand specifically to widen who I could meaningfully interview.

User Research for a Pre-Launch EdTech App

Independently plan and run research; synthesize and present findings directly to the founder.

Context

A pre-launch startup is building a vocabulary-building mobile app and desktop extension designed to help international students who use English as an additional language grow their vocabulary through their everyday workflow, rather than through separate study sessions. I conduct ongoing user research ahead of launch to inform product and landing page decisions.

Method

Interviews. Started broad, surfacing pain points across the app experience, then narrowed to reactions to the landing page specifically.

Synthesis. Presented findings directly to the founder, who incorporated them into a revised landing page draft.

Competitive research. Built a swipe file of 50+ landing page examples from other products to inform the next round of iteration.

Forward planning. Proposed a feature-performance tracking framework for use once the product reaches beta.

Findings

Internal jargon doesn't translate to first-time users. Early on, the team referred to features by internal names that required memorization. Interviews made clear that new users needed plain, 2–3 word descriptions of what a feature actually does, not a name to learn.

Text density overwhelms, especially for this audience. Landing page interviewees consistently said long blocks of text felt overwhelming, and responded better to short phrases paired with visuals. White space wasn't empty space to them; it made the page easier to digest.

Belonging matters as much as vocabulary. Several interviewees suggested the product go beyond academic vocabulary to help them navigate social fluency: understanding pop culture or sports references, so they could participate in everyday conversation with peers, not just classroom English.

Outcome

The product hasn't launched yet, so this work is ongoing. My findings directly shaped the founder's first landing page revision, and the three themes above are now informing both the next landing page draft and early product thinking.

Reflection

Starting with broad, open-ended interviews before narrowing to a specific decision let me surface problems the founder hadn't thought to ask about. The jargon finding also taught me something about my own blind spots: once you're inside a product, insider language starts to feel normal, and it takes deliberate outside-in listening to catch where that's working against the user.