From Public Health to UX: Cara Person Shares Her Journey and Advice for Aspiring Black Researchers

With a background in public health, Cara Person brought her extensive research background to the world of UX Research. Through relentless outreach, reading, and relationship building, she quickly picked up the necessary skills to thrive in this industry. She’s learned many lessons from transitioning into the field, and she is willing to share those with our readers. Now, Cara stresses flexibility and cross-functional bonds for young Black professionals looking to enter UX. By reframing credentials, highlighting transferable skills, and supporting each other, she hopes more Black voices will be represented in the field. UX conversations require a diversity of perspectives, and Cara encourages persistence in breaking down barriers.

Brandon:  So can you tell me a bit about your background? How did you first get into UX research?

Cara: My background is in public health. I started out as an Epidemiologist, I obtained my MPH in Epidemiology, and then I moved into working a lot in the infectious disease space - outbreak investigations, things like that. Then I moved, years later, I got my PhD in Health Behavior, still in public health, and I wanted to marry those worlds of being able to analyze data, research health issues, and present the numbers, but I wasn't able to say why there were certain disparities or why we were seeing numbers fluctuating. So I became more of a mixed methods researcher. I later felt that UX was a space where I could have more immediate impact versus the traditional research route. 

Brandon: I also come from a background of policy research, and I understand the frustration with realizing that work that you've done might take a few years to have impact, if at all. So when you started your journey into UX research, how did you break in?

Cara: Well, a lot of my research was more traditional academic work, but also I tried to have a lot of experiences in more community focused areas. I did some research in Zambia and women's health issues. So, there was more immediacy to it – funding came through, leading to tangible policy changes and other developments. So that was more immediate and still in the health space. But to get into UX, I number one, I also got into consulting. So just being able to kind of work in different spaces that were less traditional. I also did a lot of reading and I built up my library of resources. I had a lot of informational interviews with people who were already working in this space, like literally random outreach on LinkedIn, as well as trying to leverage different networks of people that I knew just from the world of research who may be able to connect me with someone else. I started having conversations with companies that were in that space a while.  It really just was a lot of time trying to build up my knowledge, my book knowledge, as well as just being able to do research in different arenas or areas and then really getting serious about seeking out a position. But to be honest, the opportunities did also come to me, more than me seeking them out.

Brandon: You said you built up your library. Were there any books, articles, authors, or other resources  that you found particularly helpful?

Cara: Yes! I think people should have some basic places to start. Of course, we all come from different research backgrounds, but people who are doing more basic usability testing, there's Usability Testing Essentials. User Research: A Practical Guide by Stephanie Marsh, Think like a User Researcher by David Travis and Philip Hodgson. Those were literally books that I read before my first UX interviews. Even though I had many years of experience in research, it was like learning a different language. I felt like just having the basics of the language of UX versus just research in general was helpful. There was also Understanding Your Users by Catherine Courage, Kathy Baxter, and Kelly Caine. Interviewing Users by Steve Portigal was also great. I think there’s just a lot of great books. Right now, people are being asked to be mixed methods so you have to be able to work in both worlds. Maybe someone who is more qualitatively inclined would be helpful to have Quantifying the User Experience. Someone who's more quantitatively inclined would use a qualitative research book. So I just think those are some books that I recommend to folks and no matter if you've been doing research for many years, or it just helps build up your language around UX, they’ll help you build a toolkit of methodologies to use.

Brandon: I want to go back a bit and ask about when you broke into UXR. When you reached out to people, I know you said you reached out randomly, but you're a researcher, so I don't believe it. I'm sure you had a method for reaching out.

Cara: Exactly! I said random, but I do appreciate LinkedIn, for letting me reach out to people who went to the same school or something. So that was helpful, Also, and I didn’t find out about this until later, but there’s the ADPList. There, other people can be mentors, and offered to provide their insights from their experience. I would always ask, is there anyone else that you think would be great for me to connect with based on whatever we've discussed or what I'm looking for, and so that would lead to additional connections. That's been really fruitful for me to kind of get over that initial cold outreach. But, having some type of connection through someone else or previous work or just something on their profile that I could connect with was still helpful.

Brandon: So I'd love to hear about your first job project, what have you in UX, because you've talked to people now, you've read what you need to read, but when you're in there, what was it like?

Cara: It was an exercise in learning how to work through the process. I worked on creating the study, discussing it with stakeholders, the designers, the other researchers, and doing some literature review on what had been done before. I learned about the product and got to the point of creating a research plan, identifying the type of users that I wanted to engage in the study, and then needing to sunset the project because there was a change in team structure or focus. So I like to just point that out because things will not always be perfect. You can do all of the preparation, you can bring all the stakeholders to the table, you can just do everything you need to do. But because you're working perhaps in an environment where business needs change and team structure changes, you  may need to pivot. That's actually a big part of being a UX researcher. Whether you're even doing more strategic work or more work that's a little bit more tactical like usability studies or something. So that was actually my first experience, where I did all the prep and then it didn't quite work out. But that did help me for the next project in being able to maybe look forward a little bit more, and as I started becoming in more of a position where I was helping to lead team discussions and road mapping, I could look out in advance and know where we were supposed to be going. From there, I knew which projects we needed to prioritize. I think that first project that didn't quite go all the way through just really taught me about just making sure that continued conversations are happening, continued communications with the team. That's the difference with more academic research or more traditional research. Often, we have a research team, but you go all the way through your study from creation to data collection to analyses to and then once you get to dissemination, that's when you unveil your peer reviewed paper and your nice polished presentation. But in UX, it's bringing people along. They're able to look at your research plan as you're still creating it and giving their input and things like that. That was very different for me and a little challenging, but that was part of the process that I learned in those first few studies.

Brandon: It was the same for me getting used to a new system and having someone be able to look at every aspect of your research. It was also the first time I had people have input on my research who were not researchers themselves.

Cara: Yes! It's like, okay, but I'm not done yet and I'm still perfecting. It’s also an adjustment just knowing you don't have a five year grant or one year funding. Time is of the essence and you’re always moving quickly, so perfection is not the goal. It's obtaining the information you need out of the study and being able to present it back to others in a way that you've analyzed and summarized and digested it. So that the people who need that information can then act on it.

Brandon: So with that, with your first experience and being in that new mode and new environment, how did you make the adjustment? And did you enjoy the change of pace?

Cara: I did have challenges with time and wanting everything to be perfect, and I have to do everything on my own as well at first. So I spent a lot of extra time, and many more hours than expected on things. Then, I started reaching out again to other people and asked them how they were doing all of this. At the same time, I realized that perhaps they were disseminating some of the duties, which I didn't realize. So it's okay with something not being perfect before putting it in front of other people. Also being okay with your final product, being an executive summary or top line report that wasn’t a 60 slide, polished presentation because people want the information faster.  At first I was challenged with time because I just held on to how I had always done things when I had more time. As I realized that okay in this space, instead of cutting corners, it is about doing things in a different way. It's deciding, okay, the final product needs to be different than perhaps I originally imagined, and that actually saves time in doing that. 

Brandon:  Well, I want to back up a bit and talk about just your career as a whole. So how has your identity as a Black researcher affected your career path and experiences?

Cara: I think as a Black researcher, it's been interesting to just be in different spaces. Often, I have been the only one in different areas that I've worked. The only Black researcher, the only person with a PhD at times. I think this is something that in professional spaces Black people often are, and I don't want to say we’re burdened with, but, we always have that notion of you have to work extra hard or to be considered. You feel you have to represent others who are not in the room, so you want to do your best, which is not to say that everyone doesn't want to do their best, but when you're one of one, that's the example that people see.

So I think that might lead to more perfectionism behind the scenes and spending a lot of time trying to perfect things. And that can be challenging over time, spending all that extra time, right? And so that's something that I continue to work on. Sometimes things have to be just enough or 80%. A professor told me some time ago in my doctoral program that sometimes that is good enough. 

Brandon: Absolutely. That's very true and very good for your mental health because you can't take on the reputation of everybody. That's just a recipe for burnout. So have you ever felt that your perspectives were undervalued or have you believed that you may have faced additional external barriers compared to non-Black colleagues?

Cara: I actually think sometimes, even outside of just being a Black person or Black researcher, I think in different spaces that research is valued differently. That's the first thing that we're dealing with in more academic spaces or places like, I've worked at CDC, you know, which is the ultimate public health agency. Research is the leading force there. In a business or more corporate space where perhaps other roles such as engineering are seen as leading, even though they're taking the insights and information from research, it's still seen as kind of a supporting role or helping role versus kind of a hand-in-hand partnership. Then as a Black researcher, that probably just adds to it. You know, I think it's been wonderful to work with people from all around the world and have those different experiences. But, people do bring in their backgrounds and biases and just how they move in the workspace. I can't think of any particular instance where I pinpoint, where someone did something like overtalk me or quickly move past my research or input or something. But who knows if that is the researcher space, the young women's space, the Black women's space, right? So all of those ways you show up at work affect how people perceive you. I just say you just have to continue to be consistent and authentic. That’s all you can do.

Brandon: On top of consistency, support also matters. So I'm curious, in your view, where does the UX research field do well in supporting Black researchers and where does it fall short?

Cara: I think avenues like this where you're bringing people together where you're bringing voices together can help, especially in hopes of even future connections. I think to see that in 2023 a space like this was missing is kind of not great on our part. But I will say, just to talk about going back to the point of me reaching out to people, there's been a plethora of young Black women who have reached out to me on LinkedIn this year or in the past couple years who are coming [into UX], and some of them are in public health. Some of them may just have known me from my previous university or public health world and some don't know me at all. And just taking the time to share my experience, whatever resources I have, and talking with them has been my way of supporting others or trying to improve that lack. And so I think if people continue to be open to that, I think it's helpful. I know we have spaces like Afrotech and other larger organizations, but they don’t always have resources for UX research. But I think they will continue to grow in those spaces. I know in my last position, there was a lot of UX community building, especially in a more remote working environment, but I do feel like I didn't have as much of a connection specifically with other Black people who were in UX. Black people that worked at the company? Yes, but Black people in UX? No. And for example you and I have never met [before today].

Brandon: In general, what advice do you have for young Black professionals interested in getting into UX research?

Cara: Well, number one, I have a list of websites, YouTube videos, training courses, and books that I try to share with people that I've just collected over time. I encourage them to continue doing those informational interviews to really see what type of space they want to work in. Because, you know, a space like Meta or Google versus a smaller startup or something or working in fintech or health tech, are just completely different worlds. Do you want to be someplace where you're one of three researchers or you're one of a thousand? Just think about what you want and continue to have conversations to identify what's out there. Also, I have a lot of conversations around our presentation of our credentials. So I have a government resume from when I worked in government. I have a more academic CV and then I have my two page UX resume and I think that oftentimes if we're coming from more of a traditional research background, we still want to put forth a long CV. So being able to make those changes, especially if you're first coming into UX, learning that language that I talked about earlier and being able to highlight, even if your title was data analyst or research associate or whatever it was, being able to identify things that you've done in your previous work that had an impact, that are things that we're doing in UX, right? I know you're maybe studying a population of people in a certain space, but they are users of some health services that you were studying or something, so it’s good to be able to make the connection there. Also I tell people that everyone doesn't have to immediately work at a Meta or a Google or something like we are also in a different time and we know about all the layoffs that happened last year. Even right now there's government roles that are titled, I just saw one a couple weeks ago for the federal government that was titled UX researcher and that is very new. And so just looking in those different spaces and being able to present all the work that you've done in a way that people can see it and say, “Ok, I can see that this person can do this type of research based on their past, even though it may not have had that exact title.”

Brandon: I used to work with the government and can tell you that they really need UX researchers, so I’m glad to hear that. Is there anything else you’d like to share about your experiences or perspective on making UX research more inclusive?

Cara: I just want to encourage us to continue supporting other people and if you do get someone who just randomly reached out, just think back to how you were feeling when you were figuring this out. I know people come into it for different reasons, like some think they can make a little more money here than a different research space and that's honestly true for many people. Others just have always dreamed of working in a tech company or always dreamed of making more immediate impact in whatever they’re studying. So I know people come for different reasons, but just make sure that the reasons that you come for are enough that when research may not be the top priority, or if there's the big tech layoffs like we’ve seen this year, you know that you really want to be here. As far as being Black in this space, those of us who are here I think it's helpful to continue to bring others along, share the knowledge and not just be gatekeepers of that knowledge. Because it would be great to not be the only one in the room.