Meet Jessica Broome | Founder and Head Southpaw, Southpaw Insights

We had the good fortune of connecting with Jessica Broome and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Jessica, have there been any changes in how you think about work-life balance?
For me, work/life integration is the goal, rather than trying to maintain that precarious balance. I used to think of “balance” as spending the same amount of waking hours working as I did not working, with a very clear divide between “work time” and “free time.” I’m a lot happier when I stop aiming for that perfect balance and accept that the lines are going to be blurry sometimes, but as long as I have time and energy to do everything, the integration is working.

I might work 12 or 14 hours one day if we are doing consumer fieldwork or on a deadline for a client, but then have a much lighter day later in the week. I try to really go “off the grid” for a few days once or twice a year (no slack! no email!)– and those are usually the times when I get my biggest, most exciting ideas.

I encourage my team to pay attention to their internal rhythms and energy levels; if you tend to be really focused in the morning but fade after lunch, why not go take a walk in the afternoon and come back feeling refreshed and energized to finish the day? Integrating my work life and my non-work life makes me enjoy both a lot more, without the stress of striving for a perfect balance.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
Southpaw Insights helps clients understand what people think, feel, and do. I’ve always been curious (some might call me nosy…) about other people, and I love that this turned out to be my career superpower! Being able to ask people questions and then use that information to help companies and organizations make smart, well-informed decisions is so exiting for me.

At Southpaw, our expertise is in research, not in any particular vertical or category. We work with clients across all sectors: food, financial, tech, education, retail, you name it. I might be writing a survey about toothpaste one day and doing focus groups about workplace culture the next. It is never boring, and I love getting to dip in and out of different businesses. We’re also able to integrate learnings from a wide range of research projects, so our clients get the benefit of us having a holistic understanding of people not just as consumers but as parents and workers and everything else!

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
I love to walk and NYC is never boring! I would take my visitor on a stroll through Brooklyn and show off all the places I’ve lived and worked: from the residential drug treatment center in DUMBO where I started my career as an evaluation interviewer, to the Ft. Greene brownstone where I lived in a tiny studio apartment, to the current Southpaw Insights HQ in downtown Brooklyn.

We’d stop at some prime people-watching spots: Fort Greene park, the Brooklyn Promenade, and the corner outside my local bodega.

No visit would be complete without some books, so we’d either go to the main branch of the Brooklyn Public Library or my favorite bookstore, Greenlight, and lose a few hours browsing.

I wouldn’t want my guest to be hungry; we would have to eat burritos from B’klyn Burro, pizza from Not Ray’s, and cookies from The Good Batch.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
My whole family, but especially my grandmother on my mom’s side. She moved across the country with two kids and an eighth-grade education, and bought a house on her own at a time when only men could get mortgages.

Any time I feel like I’m struggling, I remember how hard my grandma worked and how much she sacrificed, and I hear her voice in my head telling me to “buck up!”

Website: www.southpawinsights.com

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessica-broome-8a83b04/

Twitter: @JBroomeResearch

Image Credits
Kari Otero