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Our senior-level team of boots-on-the-ground investigators deliver valuable insights to our client partners.

Katrina Noelle

Katrina has worked tirelessly in her years of research to build a female-focused, full-service qualitative consultancy that specializes in creating client customized design by combining methodologies from traditional in-person research with digital approaches. Gaining an overall picture of a consumers’ world is a key factor in Katrina’s and her company’s success. Over the years, she has developed an impressive range of verticals and focused KNow’s studies on how products, services, and industries interact with participants’ lives.

Katrina is also Co-Host of The Research Inclusion Project podcast (T.R.I.P.) and Co-Founder of Scoot Insights and is an active member of Women’s Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC), Women in Research, the Qualitative Research Consultant Association (QRCA), ESOMAR, and the Insights Association where she serves as a Laureate, West Coast Chapter Board Member and Data Integrity Initiative Council Member.

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Tara Thompson
Operations Director

Tara Thompson

As the Operations Director of KNow Research, Tara helps our team run efficiently so we can meet our clients’ needs. Tara hails from Glendale, California, and holds a B.A. in Humanities from California State University, Northridge. In her extensive experience in entertainment/media qualitative market research, Tara has scheduled and recruited participants, streamlined information databases and data collection, and met target quotas. She has also produced numerous large-scale weddings and events with her company, Event Science Weddings, and has experience in creating marketing campaigns for small businesses, including social media influencing and curation.

In her free time, she loves traveling with her husband, and playing with her three kids at home in Austin, Texas.

Molly Stafford-Mastey
Strategy Director

Molly Stafford-Mastey

Molly leads KNow’s strategist and logistics teams, ensuring every project delivers high-quality outcomes and exceptional client service. Molly has successfully led projects across industries including financial services, consumer goods, and retail, among others. Her work often tackles key business challenges like exploring customer needs and motivators, identifying barriers and triggers, and uncovering insights to support journey mapping and jobs to be done, branding and communications, and innovation strategy.

Molly holds a BBA from the University of Michigan Ross School of Business and a graduate certificate in Design Thinking from Stanford University.

As a volunteer Money Mentor with Prepare+Prosper, Molly is passionate about making financial wellness more accessible to everyone.

Julia Isaacs
Strategist

Julia Isaacs

A graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Julia holds bachelor’s degrees in both Anthropology and Marketing. She uses these two academic disciplines to explore how human culture and behavior affect economic decision-making. An experienced golf caddie, Julia also works with the Western Golf Association and is a proud recipient of the life-changing Chick Evans Scholarship.

In her free time, Julia can be found planning her next travel adventure or enjoying a good book. She loves to explore her current home of Madison, frequenting new restaurants and music venues.

Sadie Mills
Associate Strategist

Sadie Mills

Sadie is an Associate Strategist at KNow, with a diverse skill set rooted in her background in Marketing, Entrepreneurship, and Innovation from the University of San Francisco. With a passion for blending strategic thinking and creativity, she is committed to understanding consumers to drive action and meaningful change.

In her role, Sadie leverages her skills in insights, strategy, and storytelling to help brands connect with consumers through empathy and collaboration. She conducts qualitative research and data analysis to uncover actionable insights that inform and support strategic initiatives, ensuring that project outcomes align with client goals.

Before transitioning to her current role, Sadie contributed to KNow’s growth and innovation in various areas as an Assistant, including marketing, operations, and research support. Beyond her role at KNow, she is also passionate about community organizing to uplift marginalized communities.

Shawn Keys
Facility Coordinator

Shawn Keys

Shawn is a Bay Area native with a background in hospitality and operations coordination. She holds a BA in Political Science from UC Santa Cruz, where she developed a keen interest in analyzing human behavior through the lens of social systems and gained practical experience through community-based political research.

Her study abroad experience and bilingual capabilities bring a multicultural perspective to her work. She is passionate about educational reform, mental health advocacy, and community development. Outside the office, Shawn enjoys traveling, spending time with her dogs, and practicing yoga.

Lisa Steadman
Expert Partner

Lisa Steadman

Lisa’s passion is understanding people through asking the right questions, listening carefully, and building a rapport that allows for greater understanding and empathy. Her expert facilitation, energy, collaborative working style, and flexibility ensure the strategic insight is delivered and is taken on board across the business. Her down-to-earth style, willingness to listen, and determination to deliver the best possible research, whilst having some fun along the way, make her a great addition to the KNow team.

When not expertly moderating, Lisa is Chair of Local Families with Bleeding Disorders, organizing informal social events and webinars that bring families from across London and the South of England together in an informal way, to connect and support one another.

Catherine “Mickey” Hill
Expert Partner

Mickey is an expert moderator and market research strategist with 25+ years of experience guiding some of the world’s most notable brands with an extensive background in beauty, automotive, and premium lifestyle categories.

Widely recognized for her strategic vision and empathetic moderating style, Mickey excels at connecting with discerning consumers to uncover deep, customer-driven insights, especially among African American and Multicultural audiences.

When not facilitating research, as a former competitive swimmer Mickey is now an avid surfer, scuba-er and SUP-er

Brittney Zuzindlak
Expert Partner

Brittney Zuzindlak

Brittney’s experience includes over 16 years leading international and domestic projects across various industries ranging from fitness trackers to personal care products to media and devices. She has experience working across a wide array of consumer segments and specializes in Millennials and Gen Z.

Her area of expertise is in designing and running digital qualitative studies to uncover consumer lifestyles, behaviors, and motivations. When she’s not expertly leading digital qualitative immersion projects, she can be found cultivating tomatoes in her garden at home and discovering new travel destinations around the world.

Katrina Noelle

Insights Industry Thought Leader, Expert Facilitator & Keynote Speaker

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Insight, delivered.

“I must be in the right business because I’ve always felt that people are fascinating. And know that they want to be seen and heard and appreciated for who they are. I feel lucky every day to be able to help companies learn more about the audiences they serve through our team’s work at KNow Research and Scoot Insights.

We partner with organizations who also find people fascinating, and who value collaboration in the pursuit of getting to know them and helping their voices be heard by the brands that impact their lives.

But it’s not only about letting the voice of the customer be heard. Ever since I opened the doors of KNow Research in 2003, my focus has been on the goal of consistently delivering quality insights. Over the years, that goal has driven the expansion of KNow, with a continued focus on methodological innovation along the way.

Now that I realized I’m a market research ‘lifer,’ with advice to give and motivation to share, I have turned my attention to thought leadership and speaking opportunities that allow me to provide inspiring thought-starters for insights professionals and as a way to endorse, support, and mentor women in the research industry, and beyond.

I enjoy speaking with audiences of all sizes who are interested in innovating processes and techniques to give them a framework for collaborative, iterative innovation.”

– Katrina Noelle

Partners

KNow collaborates with trusted partners to design and execute research to validate and confirm insights, unlock information about target audiences, and inform brand strategies, product design, and overall business strategy.

Sparks Research provides data comprehension with above-and-beyond insights using the most flexible methods and high-touch customer service. KNow partners with Sparks on mixed methodology and hybrid research studies, especially those requiring Sparks’ high quality learning outcomes; their deliverables adhere to their principles of business intelligence: descriptive, predictive, and prescriptive.

Logica Research excels in creating customized marketing research solutions for complex business questions. Logica provides financial services companies, fintech companies, and growing organizations the insights they need for product development, service enhancements, and communications that will improve people’s financial lives, deepen brand engagement, and drive business growth. KNow partners with Logica on financial services projects and the Future of Money study; understanding Americans’ mindset around money.

Broad Projects Solutions is our go to source for expert project management and recruiting. We love their focus on sinking their teeth into the big stuff – the more complex the better – with accurate, efficient, no nonsense project management. KNow partners with BPS on projects that include international/multi-market fieldwork, mixed methodologies and custom/database recruiting.

Lexicon & Line helps mission-driven organizations solve problems and achieve success by providing them with passionate data collection. Lexicon & Line focuses on people-based research and evaluation, offering analysis, recommendations, and training on how to use data and what to do with it.

Mahogany Insights is a market research firm dedicated to representing Black and African-American voices and helping companies create more inclusive brands. Dawn and her team won one of KNow Research’s 20th Anniversary Female Founder Awards in 2023. Once the two companies met, they found immediate synergies in the way they work on projects and with brand teams. KNow appreciates Mahogany’s relentless pursuit of the cultural truths and Black human insights that help companies achieve more inclusive strategies and better business results.