Laura is a passionate researcher driven by an innate desire to understand how people think and behave. She is energized by the discovery of insights and creatively bringing them to life. Not surprisingly, her work with Smarty Pants’ top entertainment, CPG and retail clients is rich in consumer inspiration and business impact.
Laura joined Smarty Pants as an Insights Brainiac in the fall of 2022. She came to the role with a robust quantitative background and deep experience working across an array of industries – including CPG, food and beverage, alcohol, tech and hospitality. Within four months she was promoted to a manager level Insights Know-It-All.
Laura’s journey to Smarty Pants was untraditional. After graduating from the University of Cincinnati with a degree in Chemistry, she began working as a R&D Lab Tech at Kao Brands, where she developed and reformulated John Frieda hair care products. She also assisted the market research team as they conducted qualitative interviews, video diaries and secondary research on haircare trends. The experience ignited her love for studying consumer behavior.
Eager for a career change, Laura returned to the University of Cincinnati to earn her Master of Science in Marketing and a graduate certificate in Market Research. During her graduate school studies, she held an internship as a Retail Brand Strategist at Interbrand – one of the world’s leading brand consultancies.
In what might be the most fun title ever, Laura then took a position as a Pet Detective for the Blue Buffalo Company. She was responsible for listening to the stories of pet parents as she identified opportunities to grow the Blue brand and its practices.
Laura expanded her market research skills in the Analyst Development Program at Ipsos. She learned the ins and outs of study design, project management and research operations. She excelled as a Research Analyst and was quickly promoted to Research Manager. A year later, she was upped again to Senior Research Manager responsible for all stages of research – including design, implementation, insights mining, report writing and presentation.
At Ipsos, Laura came to specialize in communications testing and brand health tracking. Her proudest moments were when she provided companies with insights on improving ad performance and then saw the final, optimized commercials on television.
Laura grew up in Columbus, Ohio, but moved to Cincinnati in 2012. Still a Cincinnatian a decade later, Laura is living her best, Skyline Chili-filled life. When she isn’t crunching numbers, she enjoys snuggling with her two pups, watching Bravo, volunteering at a local animal rescue, and taking in the local craft brewery scene.
