Aleksandra (Ola) Waltos

Growing up in Poland, I tried to focus on a lot of different paths in high school. I was interested in sciences, writing, literature, and arts, but not to the point where I wanted to dive deep into just one field. I was looking for something that would combine all of these interests. When I was searching for programs to study abroad, I found a Masters in consumer research. I didn't really know what it was at first, but when I started digging into it, I realized it was a combination of statistics, learning about human behavior, and it also had this component of storytelling and design and how you present the insights. That's what really captured my interest, and I felt like I finally found something that was encompassing everything I wanted to do. I studied in Munich for a couple years, then moved to the US. My first job was at Interpret, where it was market research in gaming and entertainment, and I've been there for about 11 years now. Throughout my career there, I wore multiple hats, finding places where we didn't have a process built in or we didn't have a department built in and helping bring those to life, especially around design. This was something I'd been doing on the side for multiple years, starting a design team, integrating that into the company, and then finally fully focusing on the design function within market research. Today, I manage a design team and work as a senior lead on big strategic projects which require more advanced visualizations and data presentations. I also work with our company's marketing to drive different initiatives around promoting the business.