The Curious Middle

#168 How Kristen Berman is Helping Companies Understand the Psychology of Consumer Behavior

Kristen Berman, Co-Founder of Irrational Labs, fell in love with behavioral economics instantly. While Kristen was a Product Manager at Intuit, she met behavioral economist Dan Ariely and knew she was meant for this type of work. Kristen emailed Dan to offer help on projects. Dan agreed and they worked on several projects together including building Google’s behavioral economics team. Today, they are partners in Irrational Labs taking on a variety of projects that help companies design strategies and tactics that encourage consumers to change their behavior and improve habits. A recent project involved helping Tik Tok design nudges that decreased the sharing of misinformation by about 24%.

In our conversation we discuss the type of work Kristen does, the field of behavioral economics and how Kristen is living her own behavioral change experiment by sharing a home with a group of friends in a community living arrangement.  If you are curious about human behavior and behavioral change, you will love this conversation.

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After going through breast cancer at 42, Dara Kurtz gained the courage and insight to completely change her life and career. Dara started the Crazy Perfect Life blog and self published her first book, Crush Cancer. Today, Dara continues to blog to her 195k followers on Facebook, write and take on a growing number of speaking engagements. Dara's second book, I am My Mother's Daughter, is a love letter to her mother who she lost to cancer too early, when Dara was only 28.

In our conversation, Dara shares her story and the milestones along her path to creating a job and lifestyle that feels like a 'joyful playground'. It was not an easy path. Losing her mother shattered Dara's world, and then getting diagnosed with breast cancer while her two daughters were still young was Dara's greatest nightmare. Dara bravely made it through to the other side, and along the way, she learned how gratitude and mindset can change everything. If you need inspiration to overcome a challenge, or get the courage to start on working on a career switch, this conversation is for you.

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Aundrea Cline-Thomas was meant to tell stories. An award winning journalist, Aundrea’s dedication, integrity, humility and work ethic has already paid off. Aundrea received the 2017 Philadelphia Association of Black Journalists Broadcast Journalist of the Year Award and has won two regional Emmy awards for her reporting. We think Aundrea is just getting started. 

In our conversation, we discuss how Aundrea landed her first job, advice for people interested in jobs within broadcast journalism and the major career decisions that led to Aundrea's current role as a reporter for CBS NY. We also discuss how Aundrea’s cultural background as the daughter of African immigrants, has influenced everything about the way she lives her life.

Eve Rodsky's goal is to change how families think about the distribution of household and care work. In other words, Eve's work revolves around reversing thousands of years of cultural norms that expect women to manage almost all the childcare and housework. It started one day when Eve was crazy busy juggling a new born, a toddler, an exhausting to-do list, and a demanding job. On that fateful day, Eve's husband sent a text message, "I'm suprised you didn't get blueberries." The blueberry request is this moment, now frozen in time, that eventually led to what Eve did next. Eve decided to start the "Sh*t I Do" spreadsheet to understand the scope of work that most women manage; which includes an enormous amount of "cognitive labor". As a Harvard Law School graduate and organizational consultant, Eve addressed this household problem with the same intensity, and using the same set of skills she used in her day job as a mediator. Eve started to ask around and collected thousands of tasks and responsibilities women manage in their homes.

Eve's research eventually led to "Fair Play", a book devoted to helping partners divide the 100 most common household and caretaking responsibilities. Today, Eve is leading a movement devoted to advocating for policy and cultural changes related to who owns the cognitive labor for the housework and childcare responsibilities in a family.

In our conversation, Eve shares her story and what she has learned during the last 9 years while researching the gender division of labor. We have a lively discussion on why it is so important to shift cultural expectations for care and housework. We also learn about Eve's early influences and why men, women and society devalue women's time.

Learn more about Eve

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If you enjoy this episode, download our conversation with Caitlyn Collins on Making Motherhood Work.

Today I Noticed is a creative mindfulness practice started by Willow Older and Deborah Huber. On their Instagram feed you'll find their often whimsical, sometimes touching observations—which combine words and sketches—that capture the ordinary, yet magical, moments of daily life. In our conversation, Willow and Deborah share how Today I Noticed started unexpectedly during a day trip to San Francisco. They talk about how their lives have changed—for the better!— since they started noticing and recording what's happening around them and within them. Turns out the prompt, "Today I noticed" is a simple yet powerful reminder to slow down and appreciate the sweet, silly, everyday moments we all experience but rarely notice. Willow and Deborah have discovered that doing so helps us feel happier, nourished, and grateful. Today, nearly three years into their noticing adventure, the "partners in creative crime" are leading corporate workshops, building a global online community, and pursuing a variety of publishing projects to inspire others to dial-up their joy by strengthening their own noticing muscles.

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Growing up in Catalonia, Spain with parents who exposed Anna Schlegel to engineering and art infused Anna with an adventurous spirit and a strong work ethic. Anna’s graduate studies in languages led her to a translation job in Silicon Valley where Anna started her own translation company in San Francisco when she saw a gap in the market. Eventually, Anna’s translation skills led to a job in localization for Cisco. After several jobs in high tech, Anna landed at NetApp.

At NetApp, Anna’s skills blossomed and she was  offered more responsibilities and promotions due to her growing abilities and commitment to constant learning. As you will hear in our conversation, Anna is a true believer and practitioner of immersing and training herself in new fields such as management, technology and innovation.  Based on Anna's performance and growing responsibilities, her mindset and career strategy is working. Anna's job success led to her current role as VP of Global Portfolio to Market where Anna is managing four different teams. In our conversation, we discuss Anna’s career path and how her international perspective and early influences shaped her work ethic. We also discuss Anna's drive to learn, how Anna is contributing through volunteer work and how to put yourself in a place where the  opportunities find you.

Learn more about Anna here

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If you enjoyed this episode, please  subscribe and share it with a friend. On your iPhone select episode, click “details,” click on the 3 dots to the right of play, and text or email it to a friend.

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Shelley Zalis is the definition of a trailblazer. As the founder of OTX, a pioneer in the online market research space, and a founder of The Female Quotient, Shelley has consistently led with innovation and courage. In our conversation, Shelley walks us through her career milestones and the "heartbeat moments" that guided the most important decisions in her career.

While most people conform to the status quo or find ways to work around traditional norms, Shelley's character and life experiences blended in ways that gave her the courage and wisdom to follow her instincts, question the norms and eventually successfully strike out on her own. Shelley shares the story of her first jobs in the market research space, her biggest milestones and we talk about the two mentors who were the biggest influences in Shelley's career.

Shelley tells us the story of how a visit to the CES Conference with a group of friends gave her the idea that evolved into Shelley's current role as founder of The Female Quotient. There are people in this world who are forces of energy that inspire you to act boldly and follow your heart. Shelley is one of those people.

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If you want to hear more conversations about ways to improve our workplaces download these episodes:

Making Motherhood work with Caitlyn Collins

Brigid Schulte, Writer, Director Better Life Lab

You can reach us at contact@meantforit.com

For guest ideas: [email protected]

If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and share it with a friend. On your iPhone select episode, click "details," click on the 3 dots to the right of play, and text or email it to a friend.

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Solving the problem of food waste and creating new products based on upcycled food was the type of project Caroline Cotto was meant to work on. As someone who has intentionally sought out challenging experiences since high school, Caroline is determined to live on the side of impact and adventure. Today, Caroline is the COO of Renewal Mill, a next generation ingredients company that's reducing food waste by upcycling the byproducts of food manufacturing into high quality ingredients and products. In our conversation, Caroline shares how her career decisions, family influences, traveling and love of food led her to Renewal Mill.

• Renewal Mill
• Whole Foods names upcycled foods and Renewal Mills' upcycled flours a Top 10 Food Trend for 2021
• Named World Changing Idea by Fast Company
• Featured on PBS Newshour

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Podcast co-hosts Polina and Amber

Annette Ross was meant for love. After overcoming a tragic accident during the birth of her second child that left Anette unable to walk, Annette went on to create a beautiful life with five daughters and the love of her life. In our conversation, we discuss how Annette adjusted to life and how her love for her family has always carried her forward.

Annette shares advice on navigating through life in a way that keeps joy and gratitude at the forefront, while also being open to opportunities and accepting challenges.

You can learn more about Annette by reading her memoir, Where Fairytales Go or by watching the HBO documentary, Any One of Us.

We were honored to host Annette and inspired by her beauty and strength.

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Dr. Vijayeta Sinh, a Clinical Psychologist and founder of TherapyCouchNYC, shares how her background and love for psychology led her to pursue a doctorate and career focused on helping people live their best lives. Vijayeta is motivated by using her training to help her clients understand how their patterns may be holding them back and limiting the quallity yof their relationships. Listen in to hear Vijayeta’s perspective on the ways therapy can enhance our lives.

Dr. Vijayeta Sinh has 15 years of experience, a Ph.D. from Columbia University and is a Supervising Psychologist at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Hospital, and Teachers College at Columbia University. Born and raised in India, she is fluent in Hindi and has a deep understanding of the ways cultural and social issues relate to work, career, marriage, and parenthood.

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