GreenBook Future List Spotlight: Lynzie Riebling

Who is your career role model or source of inspiration?

This is tough one because so many people inspire me daily – but women like Bozoma Saint John and my friend Shavone Charles come to mind. We’re all working to break down decades of antiquated stereotypes about what women in the workplace are supposed to look and behave like. To that end, anyone who lives their truth and brings their unapologetic, authentic self to the table at work truly inspires me. It’s so much easier to keep your head down and abide by the unspoken rules that were set forth for us dictated by an unjust system, so when I see others creating change, using their voice, and shaking sh*t up… I get a twinkle in my eye and fuel to press forward doing the same.

 

What advice do you have for folks hoping to start a career in insights?

Understand the value of your voice. It’s one thing for me, at age 33 to be reporting on ‘youth culture’ but there’s a whole ‘nother level of respect for someone fresh out of college (or not) who can do the same. I realized this early on and have been heavily leaning into it ever since.

I remember presenting in Senior Programming meetings at MTV as an intern and how all of the executives were clinging onto my every word, they had this aura of ‘Oh wow, a real live Millennial, let’s pay attention’ *cue Baby Boomer execs leaning in to listen closer about Millennial desires in 2010*. I stress this to young folks a lot when I speak at High Schools and Colleges all the time. If you’re able to package your experiences and opinions up in the right way – there’s real tangible value there, that people will pay for. Don’t ever discredit the value of your unique life experiences.

You may be green to the career world, but no one knows culture better than you.

 

How do you advocate for others on your team or your customers?

I’ve always described my job to people as being “the middle man between brand and consumer”. It’s our responsibility as MRX professionals to capture the voice of consumers and report it to our organizations accurately but it’s also our job to take those findings and create actionable strategies that super-serve consumers’ needs. It’s a duty I don’t take lightly and when it comes to my current role at REVOLT I make it my mission to ensure everyone from the production team to the ad sales team knows exactly who our consumer is and how we can create content and initiatives to better serve them.

I think a large part of our role that the folks don’t talk about much is the need to be constantly educating your teams internally. Something I would challenge others in our industry with is to start implementing a quarterly all-hands session with the sole objective of educating your org on who their consumer is. The more your brand knows about their consumer the better products & services we can all create to serve them.

 

Where do you see the future of insights heading in the next 10 years?

As an industry, we were already heading in a way of digital, but I think the pandemic has sent that trend into hyper-drive. In my opinion, nothing will ever replace IRL ethnographies or intercepts at events, but I think more and more we’re all seeing the heightened value of doing things virtually. I’ve been doing digital work for years, and it’s been exciting to watch others who once shunned away from it now embrace it.

We’re also seeing a lot of innovation with what’s possible from tech platforms. Without a doubt, this trend will continue to grow and I’m just personally waiting for the day focus group facilities close and we’re all meeting through holograms.