After a decade of living apart together, Anthropologizing and my dot com are moving in! To subscribe, head on over to the new place and enter your email. I will keep writing about much of the same stuff, with less emphasis on anthropology specifically. Anthropologizing and its roughly 150 posts will remain online as an archive until I die or when some flavor of armageddon happens (preferably zombie apocalypse), whichever comes first ..read more

There are many effective methods for getting your first UX role. I wrote about them here. It’s also important to be aware of what does not work if you want to get your foot in the door of this highly competitive field. Here are 15 methods that do not work, which are not based on my personal experiences or anything I have ever heard of people actually doing, but that are probably not worth trying. If you give any of them a shot and they work, I would be interested in hearing your story. The 15 methods Body swaps Deep fakes Cryogenic freezing Psychics, tarot, crystals Magnets, essential oils ..read more

In my coaching practice, I occasionally work with clients who are autistic. Before I had the need to truly understand what autism is and what it means for people in the workplace, I was only familiar with it as a form of neurodiversity with implications for how people interact with and see the world. I had met autistic people before, and have autistic friends, but I didn’t have a deep understanding of it and how it impacts (and marginalizes) people in the workplace. It’s important to me to work effectively with all of my clients, so I did some research on the topic to be equipped with techniqu ..read more

What have you been up to today? Did anything make you smile today? What are you looking forward to this weekend? It became very clear in 2020 that asking people “how are you?” is an ineffective way to start a conversation. Why? It’s vague. It’s not specific enough and doesn’t provide any particular frame of reference to reflect on. It doesn’t acknowledge the complexity of existence. It can be especially triggering these days. It doesn’t build rapport. And it doesn’t matter how cheery or genuine our tone is when the words come out of our mouths so automatically. How do we answer such a questi ..read more

April 1st, 2021 was the one year anniversary of my decision to pivot from design research consulting to career coaching. I slowly phased out my remaining projects to dedicate my business completely to my new practice, and I loooove it! Why did I make the switch? Well, I was getting bored with research altogether, which I had been doing for 10 years. I also really despised certain research activities, like writing reports (this always has been my least favorite part). And all of the logistical and documentation overhead… no thanks! One great thing about being self-employed is that I have the c ..read more

The Department of Anthropology at University of Memphis (my alma mater) is offering a one-year graduate student fellowship with Terminix. This is an exciting opportunity to gain hands-on experience conducting customer experience research in a business setting, while completing the master’s program in one of the highest quality applied anthropology departments in the United States. The fellowship will be offered to Applications are due April 30th, 2021. Please see the flyer below or visit this link for more information. Please let me know if you are interested in applying and I would be happy t ..read more

As part of the 2020-2021 Brandeis University Seminar Series “New Trajectories for the PhD”, I teamed up with Adam Gamwell, PhD to chat about transitioning with a social science or humanities MA or PhD into the world of user experience, design and business. Here’s a link to the video recording ..read more

Join us this Thursday February 18th, 2021 for a World Anthropology Day panel discussion on Increasing the Visibility of Anthropology. This even will feature five practicing anthropologists who use public platforms like blogging, public speaking, entrepreneurship, podcasting and social media, to indoctrinate people with share the awesomeness of applied anthropology with the world. Participants include Gabby Campbell (That Anthro Podcast), Phil Surles (Human Science), Adam Gamwell (This Anthro Life), Amy Santee (Anthropologizing), and Matt Artz (Anthro to UX). The event will be stream ..read more

This week I spent time with UX’er extraordinaire Debbie Levitt to answer live audience questions about UX research and careers. The recording is also available on the DeltaCX podcast. We talked about educational paths, portfolios, salary negotiation, collaborating with teams, being strategic in our work, and all kinds of other stuff. Enjoy ..read more

One of my life missions is, until my dying breath, to chip away at the capitalist system as much as I can within my capacity as a single human being. One of the targets of my chisel is Big Tech, a major perpetrator of inequity, injustice, violence, and the destruction of democracy across the globe. I’ve worked in tech for 10 years and counting, and the greed and fuckery of tech companies and billionaires disgusts me to no end. It’s only recently that I have found an avenue to go beyond my own voice and immediate professional network, and get involved in actual organized efforts. Several months ..read more