Applied Worldwide is a media and consulting firm using sociology and digital media to help clients solve problems and finish projects. Our scope of work may seem vague, which is why we need a director. Our clients range from a variety of industries and all have diverse needs. In this interview with Dr. Stephanie Wilson, Applied Worldwide’s Director of Consulting Services, we dive into some of the specific projects we’ve had the pleasure of working on. Keep reading below to learn more about what directing Applied Worldwide’s consulting services looks like for Dr. Wilson!
What are some of the most rewarding projects for you?
I have worked with a couple of non-profit clients, which is always rewarding work. For instance, I have served on the board of directors for Colorado Dance Collective, a non-profit adult dance repertoire company based in Northern Colorado. I recently stepped into the role of Vice Chair, and am excited to serve this organization in such a capacity! I do all of my work for them remotely, which mostly includes digital media and marketing projects and streamlining communications and organization using Google Drive. I love this work, because it is for an organization that is important to me. When my career was first starting out, I spent more time working on these types of projects because I liked it and I gained a variety of professional experiences to add to my resume.
Another non-profit I recently started working with is Postpartum Support International’s Arizona Chapter (PSI AZ). PSI AZ exists to support the mental health of pregnant and postpartum people across the state of AZ. They provide the gold standard for perinatal mental health training in the state, and are constantly collaborating with other community and state-wide organizations to bring the best perinatal mental health care to Arizonans. I’ve been able to write a grant with this organization to support their project ideas as well as design a research project to support Arizona’s upcoming rollout of the Alliance for Innovation on Maternal Health‘s perinatal mental health and substance use disorder Patient Safety Bundles.
I also really enjoy working with small businesses. There is something about working with small business owners who have real life “sociological” questions about how their business can survive in changing societal conditions that is definitely rewarding. Sometimes the answers for these small businesses might be as simple as updating a website or starting a Facebook page, but as sociologists we always try to paint the big picture as to why our solutions are important within the context of larger social trends.
What are some of the biggest challenges you face as Director of Consulting Services
Working with non-profits and small businesses is rewarding, but conducting research is rewarding in a different way. I have a PhD, we have the capacity within our business to conduct research, and generally I just enjoy research. Additionally, my expertise is in medical sociology and research in the medical field tends to pay well. While I thoroughly enjoy working as a research consultant to professionals in the medical field, that research is often, if not always, reliant upon grant funding.
That means there are cases where I am writing grants to come up with funding for my own salary. Again, it pays well and when funding is awarded I get the chance to apply my sociological skills to some really exciting health research. But, in a way you are fighting for funding the same way you would as a university professor, which is something I never really wanted in my career.
Can you tell us more about what you do as Director of Consulting Services at Applied Worldwide?
As you can tell from my answers above, we work with diverse clients, so I spend a lot of time communicating back and forth with people, which I enjoy because I like all of my clients! There are some projects I work on where there are privacy issues so I take care of those by myself. For instance I teach an online social theory course at my alma mater at the University of Northern Colorado. I also have research contracts with privacy constraints where I have to work alone.
However, for most other projects I have a team I can rely on. Applied Worldwide CEO and co-founder Luke Hanna is a sociologist and I draw upon his expertise in community and urban sociology a lot. I also have a growing network of sociologists from which I have brought people in on projects when needed. So, I do have to delegate tasks at times. Also, sometimes I am hired to join an already established research team and act as project manager for the duration of my contract. In those instances, I have to work with and manage people on the research team.
Basically, as Director of Consulting Services I talk with clients, find the “sociology” hiding in their problem or project, propose solutions or directions for a project, and then often manage the implementation of those solutions and projects. I do this process for several projects simultaneously, so there is a lot of multitasking. More often than not, each workday looks different than the one before.
Can you leave us with any final thoughts about sociology consulting services?
I have talked about it in other blogs, but one of the biggest hurdles we have faced is related to the fact that clients don’t necessarily know what sociology is or how it can help them. We believe we can sell the value of sociology to potential clients and so far it has been successful. In a practical sense, this means we have to spend more effort finding clients because we can’t really just put an ad out in the newspaper. We rely heavily on word of mouth and our virtual networks to find interested parties. With that said, the more I get to sell sociology to clients, the more I believe we are truly “enhancing a vision of applied sociology“—which is exactly why we founded Applied Worldwide in the first place!
