Sierra
Bretz
Researcher
_edited.jpg)
About Me
I am a researcher, moderator, storyteller and team leader based in Portland, OR. From design to readout, I love everything about the research process. What's better than getting to know someone by asking about their thoughts, experiences and opinions?
​
My background is in consumer psychology and I have worked both agency and client side. I have extensive experience in B2B, B2C and panel/community management. While I am a qualitative researcher at heart, I do love a quant survey and sorting through mass amounts of data to get to the good stuff. Coaching and mentorship is near and dear to my heart and leading a team is one of my favorite responsibilities.
​
When I am not annoying my friends and family by talking about my job, you can find me hiking with my dog, listening to podcasts and eavesdropping on conversations in public places.
Work Experience
UX Research Lead at Meijer (Oct. 2021 - Today)
Lead a team of 6 researchers to be the voice of our customers. User experience testing, benchmarking, market research, exploratory/discovery research, journey mapping, persona building and more.
​
Manage a long-term community of 12k customers who participate in surveys/studies on a weekly basis.
Research Manager at Echo MR (Dec. 2018 - Oct. 2021)
Design, executed and shared out project from end to end for companies such as Facebook, Ulta, Unilever, Michaels and more.
​
Managed an international team of recruiters and project managers.
​
Built a new product offering: long-term panel and community management. We designed, recruited, built and managed 10+ long-term communities.
Consumer Relations Coordinator at Tillamook (Feb 2016 - Dec. 2018)
Where it all began! Gathered verbatim consumer comments to draw actionable insights, tracked product feedback, and created a monthly dashboard to share metrics with Marketing, QA, Category Managers and more.
Education & Memberships
2018
University of Southern California
Masters of Science in Applied Psychology with a focus in Consumer Psychology
2015
University of Oregon
Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration
Minor in Spanish
Certificate of International Management
Memberships
Women in Research (WIRe)
Insights Association
Society of Consumer Affairs Professionals in Business (SOCAP)
Methodologies & Tools
-
IDIs, Dyads, Focus Groups
-
Ethnographies
-
Diary Studies
-
Journey Mapping
-
Blueprinting
-
Persona Building
-
Surveys
-
A/B Testing
-
General Usability Testing
-
Prototype Testing
-
Ad Testing
-
Mobile & Desktop Research
-
Competitive Analysis
-
Benchmarking
-
Grounded Theory
-
Phenomenology
-
Recollective (Certified Programmer)
-
UserZoom
-
FuelCycle
-
VoxPopMe
-
SurveyGizmo/Alchemer
-
SurveyMonkey
-
Qualtrics
-
FullStory
-
Medallia
-
Miro
-
User Intervews
-
SPSS (a little!)
-
QualSights
-
Zoom
-
Microsoft Suite
-
Google Products