Free Newsletter
Listen to this article
Meena Kothandaraman Experience Strategist – Twig + Fish
With twenty-five years of experience, Meena has consulted to emphasize the strategic value of customer experience across any offering (product, service, or space). She truly believes that businesses can achieve greater focus by deepening their understanding of human behavior. As a qualitative researcher who is fascinated by the diversity and complexity of human behaviors, Meena sees incredible value to conducting research. Research not only strengthens the connection between an organization and the people it serves, it also inspires the employees of an organization with anecdotal stories of human realities and aspirations. The human element should be at the core around which all innovation practices are applied. This needs to be done in a way that is credible, meaningful, and transparent, so that a clear understanding of good research is established.
Apart from her fun work at twig+fish research practice, Meena lectures in the Bentley University Human Factors and Information Design (HFID) graduate program. In her fifteen-year tenure, she has contributed to the program to stand as one of the top human factors/user experience programs worldwide. She brings her passion for designing credible research studies to her class, and shares successful approaches to increasing the inclusion of the human element in all product development processes.
Meena holds a Master of Science in Information Resources Management from Syracuse University and a Bachelor of Commerce/Management Information Systems from the University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Canada. She is regularly sought out as a conference speaker, and thrives on learning from the people she meets.
Meena loves to have her hands in things that keep her learning. She has written a children’s book (“Can You Say My Name”), hosts a cooking show (“Come Veg With Me”) and philanthropic classes for low-income school children, and is a performing South Indian classical violinist. She has firmly maintained a strong work life balance amid all her interest, and has her two inspiring children and wonderful husband to thank for making life incredibly rich.
