Deep Thoughts With Michelle Handy

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In this episode, we explore how behavioral science, empathy, and relationship-centered leadership come together to shape modern insights work — with Rachel Ousley, behavioral scientist and B2B Marketing Research Lead at Canva.

Rachel has worked with brands including Google, Chanel, Vans, and Adidas, and her path from communication strategy to behavioral science has given her a rare blend of academic rigor and practical storytelling skill.

We talk about how relationships can be a superpower for researchers, how to bridge the gap between stakeholders and data, and why empathy and authenticity are key to lasting influence. Rachel also shares how behavioral science can decode human experience — from understanding aging and identity to designing better conversations between brands and consumers.

In This Episode, You’ll Learn →

• How Rachel’s path from PR and brand strategy to behavioral science shaped her research style
• Why empathy and relationships are the foundation of effective insights work
• Practical ways to build trust with stakeholders (and prevent “order-taker” research)
• How behavioral science and cultural intelligence reveal what women really think about aging
• How to prioritize and scale research when timelines and budgets are tight
• The underrated power of virtual qualitative research and neuroscience-based methods
• How AI is changing stakeholder communication — and how researchers can use it as a creative partner
• The future of insights leadership: simplifying without oversimplifying

Featured Guest: Rachel Ousley
Rachel Ousley is a behavioral scientist and consumer insights leader who blends psychology, research design, and brand storytelling. She earned her MSc in Social Cognition from University College London, where she studied empathy toward refugees, and has since led research for global brands at Canvas 8, Google, and Canva. Her mission: to decode the “human in the data.”

Resources & Mentions

• Women Engaged in Behavior (WEB) Network
• Follow Rachel on LinkedIn

Get in Touch

Have thoughts about this episode? Connect with Dr. Michelle Handy on LinkedIn and follow Deep Thoughts for more insights at the intersection of behavioral science, tech, and design.

Deep Thoughts with Michelle Handy explores the intersections of behavioral science, tech, and design through engaging conversations with thought leaders. Whether you're building products, leading teams, or navigating your own career journey, each episode delivers practical insights to inspire personal growth and drive innovation.

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In this episode, we explore career transitions, building something from scratch, and embracing ambiguity with Dr. Christine May — founder of Evolve Consulting and former Head of Behavioral Science at Noom. Christine’s story is a blueprint for moving beyond traditional paths — from a nearly tenured academic career to leading behavioral science in tech, and now to running her own consulting business. We unpack how she’s built teams and companies without a roadmap, what she’s learned about navigating uncertainty, and why strong opinions (loosely held) are essential for entrepreneurs and scientists alike.

In This Episode, You’ll Learn

• Why Christine left a near-tenure academic career in 2020 to pursue the unknown
• How she built Noom’s behavioral science division from the ground up
• Why “ambiguity tolerance” might be the strongest predictor of entrepreneurial success
• Practical advice for academics transitioning into industry
• How to network authentically — and why warm introductions matter more than résumés
• What it really means to run your own consulting business (hint: accounting, sales, and all)

Featured Guest: Dr. Christine May

Christine May, PhD, is a behavioral scientist, entrepreneur, and founder of Evolve Consulting, where she partners with digital health companies and academic teams to bring evidence-based behavioral interventions to life. Before launching her own business, she spent several years at Noom, where she built and led their behavioral science division. Christine now co-leads the IGNITE Bootcamp alongside Val Silfee, helping academics and clinicians navigate industry transitions. She’s passionate about women’s health, evidence-based design, and empowering scientists to step into leadership.

Highlights & Takeaways

• Know when “stability” becomes risky: When the rinse-and-repeat cycle outweighs growth, it’s time to move.
• Plan loosely, act decisively: Have a plan — but hold it lightly. The ability to pivot fast is your edge.
• Ask, don’t dictate: Great leaders and scientists gather data through questions, not assumptions.
• Ambiguity is the job: Whether in startups or entrepreneurship, there’s no roadmap — you’re building it as you go.
• Reverse vs. irreversible decisions: Christine’s framework for deciding when to analyze deeply vs. act fast.
• Build your network like a scientist: Collect data, connect authentically, and offer value first.
• Entrepreneurship ≠ freedom only: It’s accounting, operations, and constant context-switching — but also creative autonomy and deep fulfillment.

Resources & Mentions

• Evolve Consulting with Val Silfee
• Workshops for Academics 

Get in Touch

Have thoughts about this episode? Connect with Dr. Michelle Handy on LinkedIn and follow Deep Thoughts for more insights at the intersection of behavioral science, tech, and design.

Deep Thoughts with Michelle Handy explores the intersections of behavioral science, tech, and design through engaging conversations with thought leaders. Whether you're building products, leading teams, or navigating your own career journey, each episode delivers practical insights to inspire personal growth and drive innovation.

Send a text

In this episode, we explore career pivots, real-world behavior change, and navigating life’s curveballs with Val Silfee: exercise physiologist, behavioral scientist, and principal consultant helping digital health teams build interventions that actually work. Val shares how a single keynote at SBM cracked open her sense of what was possible beyond academia, the culture shock of moving to industry,  and the six-month ramp it took to feel fluent. We also go deep on resilience: buying a house, getting laid off days later, a toddler ER visit, and a year-long mystery illness, plus how therapy, medication, and mantras helped her rebuild. Finally, we talk about Evolve Consulting, co-leading the IGNITE Bootcamp with Dr. Christine May, and why behavior change happens outside the app.

In This Episode, You’ll Learn

• The “lightbulb” moment that sparked Val’s academia→industry jump
• Why six months of imposter feelings is normal (and what speeds up the ramp)
• How to survive (and grow from) layoffs, health uncertainty, and caregiving overload
• Practical scripts for asking “basic” questions in corporate settings
• Why behavior change doesn’t live in your product—and how to design for real life
• A simple mantra for decision-making under uncertainty
• Consulting mindsets: scoping to constraints, selling value, staying flexible
• What academics consistently undervalue (and how to translate it for industry)

Featured Guest: Valerie Silfee

Val is a behavioral scientist and exercise physiologist with experience across health systems (UPMC), consumer weight management (WW), and digital therapeutics. Today she consults with digital health orgs on evidence-based interventions and co-leads IGNITE Bootcamp to help academics/clinicians navigate industry transitions. 

Highlights & Takeaways

• Normalize the ramp: Expect ~6 months to feel fluent in a new org’s language and priorities—ask “What does that acronym mean?” early and often.
• Design beyond the app: The decisive moments (what to eat, when to move, how to cope) happen in kitchens, commutes, and grocery aisles—build supports that meet people there.
• Translate your edge: Your superpower is synthesizing complex evidence into clear, actionable narratives for design, product, and leadership. Own it.
• Work the uncertainty: “I can only work with the information I have today.” Pair therapy/skills practice with tools (meds, movement, meditation) to lower cognitive noise.
• Consulting muscle: Start with constraints (time/budget), propose right-sized options, and stay flexible as priorities shift.

Resources & Mentions

• Evolve Consulting with Christine May
• Workshops for Academics 

Connect with Val on LinkedIn

Get in Touch

Have thoughts about this episode? Connect with Dr. Michelle Handy on LinkedIn and follow Deep Thoughts for more insights at the intersection of behavioral science, tech, and design.

Deep Thoughts with Michelle Handy explores the intersections of behavioral science, tech, and design through engaging conversations with thought leaders. Whether you're building products, leading teams, or navigating your own career journey, each episode delivers practical insights to inspire personal growth and drive innovation.

Send a text

In this episode, we dig into the gap between intentions and impact in workplace well-being with Jasper Buys, organizational psychologist, workplace well-being leader, and former director at Alberta Innovates. Jasper challenges the quick-fix playbook and makes the case for designing work itself (not just perks) if we want healthier people and more innovative companies.

We unpack the Oxford research showing little measurable effect from many corporate well-being programs, why leaders still reach for awareness campaigns and richer benefits, and how to build the “missing middle”: day-to-day practices around workload, autonomy, and connection. Jasper also shares his Wellness Wednesdays blueprint from EY, and how to talk ROI in a way boards actually hear.

We close with a frank look at return-to-office: what’s really driving mandates, why hybrid is a design problem (not a debate), and practical steps to make flexibility and connection coexist.

In This Episode, You’ll Learn:

• Why many well-being programs don’t move the needle—and what the Oxford findings really mean
• The “missing middle” of workplace well-being: redesigning how work happens
• Self-Determination Theory in practice: competence, autonomy, and relatedness as everyday design inputs
• Measurement that matters: beyond attendance to manager behaviors and outcome signals
• Making the ROI case: linking human sustainability to long-term profitability (and board priorities)
• Policy & incentives: how insurers rewarded adoption of psychological safety standards
• RTO without the mud-fight: designing hybrid for targeted connection and real flexibility

Featured Guest: Jasper Buys

Jasper is an organizational psychologist and workplace well-being leader focused on sustainable, science-backed change. His background spans director of the Impact Action Lab at Alberta Innovates, manager in People Advisory Services at EY, and 10+ years of board leadership in the social-impact sector. He’s a certified health coach and has coached senior leaders on life-work integration and mindfulness. 

Resources & Mentions

• Prior listening, we reference my episode with Dr. Mandy Varley "Why Work Feels Broken—And How to Fix It: Dr. Mandy Varley on Leadership, Well-Being, and Purpose"
• University of Oxford Wellbeing Research (on limited impact of many programs)
• EY “Wellness Wednesdays” (peer-supported awareness + shared language + leader participation)
• Concepts referenced: Flow (Csikszentmihalyi), Self-Determination Theory (competence, autonomy, relatedness)
• Human Sustainability & board-level reporting as long-term value levers

Connect

• Connect with Jasper on LinkedIn

Get in Touch

Have thoughts about this episode? Connect with Dr. Michelle Handy on LinkedIn and follow Deep Thoughts for more insights at the intersection of behavioral science, tech, and design.

Deep Thoughts with Michelle Handy explores the intersections of behavioral science, tech, and design through engaging conversations with thought leaders. Whether you're building products, leading teams, or navigating your own career journey, each episode delivers practical insights to inspire personal growth and drive innovation.

Send a text

In this episode of Deep Thoughts with Michelle Handy, we sit down with Dr. Allison Grupski, a clinical health psychologist and former VP of Behavioral Science at WeightWatchers, to explore what it really takes to support healthy behavior change at scale.

Allison shares her journey from providing direct care to over 3,000 clients to leading digital and coach-led interventions that have impacted millions. With deep empathy and scientific precision, she unpacks the messy realities of eating behaviors, weight stigma, and the myth of motivation—and explains why some of the most powerful behavior change tools are surprisingly human.

We also dive into how behavioral scientists can stay relevant in an AI-driven world, and how Allison’s clinical lens helped ground product decisions in real-life complexity, not just data.

In This Episode, You’ll Learn:

• How clinical insights translate to scalable digital interventions
• What product teams often get wrong about motivation
• Why weight stigma still shows up in digital health—and how to avoid it
• The power of modeling nonjudgmental language in product copy and coaching
• What happens when behavioral scientists are not in the room
• Why planning is powerful—but not a cure-all
• How to cultivate empathy for users and cross-functional teammates

Featured Guest: Dr. Allison Grupski

Allison is a clinical psychologist and behavioral science leader with expertise in eating behavior, exercise, and mental health. She’s a fierce advocate for reducing weight stigma and helping people build healthier relationships with food, movement, and themselves. She's also a certified group fitness instructor and avid baseball fan—having visited nearly every major league stadium!

Connect with Allison
Instagram: @allison_g_phd

Get in Touch

Have thoughts about this episode? Connect with Dr. Michelle Handy on LinkedIn and follow Deep Thoughts for more insights at the intersection of behavioral science, tech, and design.

Deep Thoughts with Michelle Handy explores the intersections of behavioral science, tech, and design through engaging conversations with thought leaders. Whether you're building products, leading teams, or navigating your own career journey, each episode delivers practical insights to inspire personal growth and drive innovation.

Send a text

In this episode, we dive into the intersection of behavioral science, business transformation, and AI adoption with Sharon McCarthy—Wharton MBA, award-winning marketing executive, and behavioral science practitioner trained by Dr. Robert Cialdini.

Sharon brings decades of experience leading major brand turnarounds and integrating behavioral design into technology strategy. From reviving a mall-based photo studio chain acquired by Hallmark to designing an Edison Award–winning app, Sharon has made a career out of running toward the problems most businesses avoid.

We explore how behavioral science principles can accelerate AI adoption, why most digital initiatives fail due to human—not technical—barriers, and what the future of work looks like when empathy, storytelling, and fun are strategic advantages.

In This Episode, You’ll Learn:

• Why Sharon sees turnaround challenges as the “best board games” for lifelong learners
• How modeling fun sparked rapid culture change in a declining retail brand
• What most companies get wrong about AI deployment vs. true adoption
• The “Both Ends to the Middle” strategy for overcoming middle management resistance
• How diffusion of innovations theory explains successful tech rollout
• The hidden costs of shadow AI and how to bring it into the open
• Why human qualities like humor, empathy, and storytelling will matter more in the age of AI
• What leaders can do today to build trust, upskill teams, and retain talent amid uncertainty

Featured Guest: Sharon McCarthy
Sharon is a marketing transformation expert and behavioral science consultant helping organizations align human behavior with strategic tech initiatives. She’s worked with brands like Discovery Channel, Taco Bell, and Kraft, and now helps leaders bridge the behavioral gap in AI adoption.

Resources & Mentions:

• Diffusion of Innovations by Everett Rogers
• Crossing the Chasm by Geoffrey Moore
• Influence by Robert Cialdini
• Connect with Sharon: LinkedIn | https://www.sharonmccarthy.com/

Get in Touch

Have thoughts about this episode? Connect with Dr. Michelle Handy on LinkedIn and follow Deep Thoughts for more insights at the intersection of behavioral science, tech, and design.

Deep Thoughts with Michelle Handy explores the intersections of behavioral science, tech, and design through engaging conversations with thought leaders. Whether you're building products, leading teams, or navigating your own career journey, each episode delivers practical insights to inspire personal growth and drive innovation.

Send a text

In this episode, I sit down with my lifelong best friend Julia Fisher to explore behavioral science and startup investing. Julia transitioned from Senior Investment Analyst at Village Capital to pursuing her MBA at INSEAD. We discuss founder psychology, gender bias in VC funding (connecting to regulatory focus theory), and practical fundraising advice based on her experience with hundreds of early-stage startups.

Guest Bio

Julia Fisher is an INSEAD MBA with over 7 years of experience in impact investing. As a Senior Investment Analyst at Village Capital, she led six direct investments and supported over 300 impact-driven startups in raising pre-Series A capital. Julia has worked across sustainable finance, fintech ecosystem development, and microfinance initiatives in multiple countries, giving her a unique perspective on startup evaluation and investor psychology. Her work has particularly focused on addressing funding gaps for underrepresented founders, using data-driven approaches to reduce bias in investment decisions. 

Key Topics Covered

Successful Founder Traits:

• Coachability: ability to take advice and act quickly
• Resilience: managing entrepreneurship's emotional ups and downs
• Risk tolerance: embracing failure as learning
• Network building: start investor relationships 1+ years before fundraising

Gender Bias in VC:

• Connection to regulatory focus theory research
• Women's cautious language (prevention focus) vs. startup risk-taking environment (promotion focus)
• Solutions: structured due diligence to avoid biased questioning

Practical Founder Advice:

• "More dangerous to wait too long than start earlier"
• VC is overhyped - consider bootstrapping, grants, other capital sources
• Investment is "art not science" - heavily relationship-based
• 80-85% of VC goes to NYC/Boston/SF, creating opportunities elsewhere

Impact Metrics:

• Climate: CO2 emissions, biodiversity improvement
• Social: people reached, demographic breakdowns
• Early-stage: reach metrics often more feasible than outcome data

Bootstrapping vs. VC:

• Bootstrapping: keep equity, maintain control, flexibility
• VC: scale faster, access networks
• Trade-off: 2 years bootstrapped vs. 4-6 months with investment

Key Insights

• Average founder age is 40s, not 20s
• Entrepreneurship is inherently social - build ecosystems
• Early-stage focus: prove you can make money vs. perfect product
• Current market (2025): funds deploying slower than 2020-2021

Connect with Julia

• LinkedIn: Julia Fisher

Get in Touch

Have thoughts about this episode? Connect with Dr. Michelle Handy on LinkedIn and follow Deep Thoughts for more insights at the intersection of behavioral science, tech, and design.

Deep Thoughts with Michelle Handy explores the intersections of behavioral science, tech, and design through engaging conversations with thought leaders. Whether you're building products, leading teams, or navigating your own career journey, each episode delivers practical insights to inspire personal growth and drive innovation.

Send a text

In this episode of Deep Thoughts with Michelle Handy, we dive into the messy, fascinating world of human behavior in product design with behavioral product manager Yael Mark. From military intelligence to tech consulting, Yael brings a rare lens to how we build digital experiences that truly work for real people.

Yael shares how her time building internal platforms in the Israeli military shaped her understanding of friction, user resistance, and behavior change—even in highly controlled environments. Now, she applies behavioral science to help product teams design user journeys that feel intuitive, motivating, and deeply human.

We explore her approach to mapping messy decision flows, why context matters more than motivation, and the behavioral design tweak that drove a 1,400% increase in user engagement.

In This Episode, You’ll Learn:

• Why user resistance exists even when you “control” the environment
• How Yael approaches product flows with behavior in mind (and without analysis paralysis)
• Why it’s not enough to reduce friction—you need to understand why it exists
• The small UX copy tweak that drove dramatic engagement in a cybersecurity platform
• How behavioral science complements qualitative user research (and why interviews aren’t enough)
• How to use behavioral insights to focus your testing and prioritize product changes
• Why framing matters more than friction—and how to use both to drive outcomes

Featured Guest: Yael Mark

Yael is a behavioral product manager and consultant with a background in military intelligence and behavioral science. She previously led product at Cyberbit, where she drove 14x engagement through behavioral interventions. Today, she helps health tech and mental health companies build more effective, human-centered digital experiences. She’s also a contributing writer at The Decision Lab and a bold, beloved voice on LinkedIn, known for breaking down behavioral science with humor, honesty, and heart.

Connect with Yael

• LinkedIn – Yael Mark
• Yael’s Newsletter

Get in Touch

Have thoughts about this episode? Connect with Dr. Michelle Handy on LinkedIn and follow Deep Thoughts for more insights at the intersection of behavioral science, tech, and design.

Deep Thoughts with Michelle Handy explores the intersections of behavioral science, tech, and design through engaging conversations with thought leaders. Whether you're building products, leading teams, or navigating your own career journey, each episode delivers practical insights to inspire personal growth and drive innovation.

Send a text

In this episode of Deep Thoughts with Michelle Handy, we explore the future of branding, identity, and influence with Kai D. Wright—brand strategist, Columbia lecturer, and author of Follow the Feeling.

Kai shares insights from his research into 1,500 fast-growing brands and introduces the LAVEC framework (Lexicon, Audio, Visuals, Experience, Culture)—a systems-thinking approach to building emotionally resonant brands that thrive in noisy, complex markets. We also explore the ACE method (Activate, Condition, Execute), his new personal strategy for navigating change, building resilience, and owning your voice in an AI-driven, creator-powered world.

Whether you’re a strategist, behavioral scientist, UX researcher, or creative entrepreneur, this episode is packed with frameworks, real-world stories, and practical strategies to help you elevate both your career and your personal brand.

In This Episode, You’ll Learn:

• Why today’s most successful brands feel more like rituals than campaigns
• How to apply the LAVEC framework to both brands and personal presence
• What Peloton, Duolingo, and Liquid Death can teach us about emotional connection
• Why communities—not companies—are now the center of brand power
• How to “ACE” your next move and future-proof your career
• The most common mistake smart people make when building a personal brand
• How to turn failure into feedback and momentum in the creator economy

Featured Guest: Kai D. Wright

Kai is a global brand strategist, educator at Columbia Business School, and author of Follow the Feeling: Brand Building in a Noisy World. He was named to the Thinkers50 list of top global business thinkers and has helped shape the growth of brands like American Express, Merck, Ford, and IBM. His upcoming book Hotshot: How to ACE Change helps professionals navigate change with clarity and creativity.

Resources & Mentions

• Follow the Feeling on Amazon (also available on Audible, Spotify, and Apple Books)
• How to Hack Brand Building in a Noisy World (for methods behind the LAVEC framework)
• Ipsos Study: The Power of You
• SXSW Talk: Brand Building in the Age of AI (start around minute 33)
• Brand Builder Lab – Kai’s LinkedIn newsletter for creative strategy and inspiration

Get in Touch

Have thoughts about this episode? Connect with Dr. Michelle Handy on LinkedIn and follow Deep Thoughts for more insights at the intersection of behavioral science, tech, and design.

Deep Thoughts with Michelle Handy explores the intersections of behavioral science, tech, and design through engaging conversations with thought leaders. Whether you're building products, leading teams, or navigating your own career journey, each episode delivers practical insights to inspire personal growth and drive innovation.

Send a text

In this episode, we explore the intersection of behavioral science, habit formation, and AI with Samuel Salzer—behavioral strategist, founder of Habit Weekly, and co-host of The Behavioral Design Podcast.

Sam shares how he went from studying finance in Australia to becoming a leader in digital behavior change, impacting over 350 million users worldwide. We talk about the science behind habit formation, the story behind Habit Weekly, and practical ways behavioral scientists and researchers can work smarter with AI—without losing their unique perspective.

We also dive into Sam’s recent benchmarking study of 20+ AI tools for literature reviews and explore what behavioral scientists can bring to the evolving AI landscape.

In This Episode, You’ll Learn:

• How Sam helped his mom build a 100-day meditation habit (that stuck for 15+ years)
• Why behavior change starts with stable context, not motivation
• The origin of Habit Weekly and how it grew from a LinkedIn post
• How to use AI as a brainstorming partner and productivity tool
• What to look for (and avoid) in AI-powered research tools
• The "Human-AI Sandwich" method to keep your work grounded
• Four ways behavioral scientists can add value in an AI-driven world

Featured Guest: Samuel Salzer

Sam is a behavioral strategist and one of the leading voices in applied behavioral science. He founded Habit Weekly, the world’s largest behavioral design newsletter, and co-founded Nuance Behavior, a collective helping teams apply behavioral science at scale. His work spans digital health, sustainability, finance, and AI.

Resources & Mentions

• Habit Weekly Newsletter
• Nuance Behavior
• The Behavioral Design Podcast – Season 3 is all about AI
• Nuance Behavior's AI tools benchmarking report 

Get in Touch

Have thoughts about this episode? Connect with Dr. Michelle Handy on LinkedIn and follow Deep Thoughts for more insights at the intersection of behavioral science, tech, and design.

Deep Thoughts with Michelle Handy explores the intersections of behavioral science, tech, and design through engaging conversations with thought leaders. Whether you're building products, leading teams, or navigating your own career journey, each episode delivers practical insights to inspire personal growth and drive innovation.