From Anthropology to Consulting: A Conversation with Brigitte Anderson, Founder of Orange Vista, LLC
Brigitte Anderson is Founder and Principal of Orange Vista LLC, a market research consultancy focused on the health and education sectors. She has nearly 20 years of professional experience in the US and abroad. Brigitte holds an AB in Anthropology from Princeton, an MBA from Chicago Booth, and an MS in Biomedical Informatics from The University of Chicago.
Asher Joy (AJ): Why did you decide to major in anthropology at Princeton, and how did your academic pursuits influence your decision to work in the financial services industry?
Brigitte Anderson (BA): When I came to Princeton, I was initially interested in studying biology or economics, but I realized they were very large departments. I just wasn't excited about it. When I came to Princeton, I don't think I even knew what anthropology was. If you would have asked me before, I would have said “Oh, that's like Indiana Jones or like going on digs or something.” I remember taking an introductory class my sophomore year at Princeton, and I learned that anthropology is the study of people and cultures and how language and our biology evolves; I think for me, that just seemed like a really interesting and exciting subject.
At the time, I was also very interested in documentary film, so the summer after junior year, I went to LA and worked as a film production assistant for an alum who’s a film producer. Although I got paid, my bank account was still in New Jersey, so I got paid via a check every week. I noticed that in the immediate neighborhood I was living in, there weren’t many banks to deposit the check without a fee. My anthropological brain was like, “Why aren’t there banks in these neighborhoods...is there an aversion to financial institutions here?”
When I came back to college senior year, I wrote my thesis on this topic. That’s when I decided I wanted to work in a bank and learn about why banks choose to offer certain services in certain neighborhoods. I got recruited to join a predecessor of JP Morgan, Bank One, in Chicago and learned about how a financial institution works. After four years of working at a bank, I realized I wanted to go to business school.
AJ: After your experience in different financial services industries, what sparked your interest in founding Orange Vista?
BA: Similar to how I felt 20 years ago, thinking about culture and financial institutions and perceptions about money stayed with me. I went to University of Chicago for business school, and I concentrated in strategy and entrepreneurship. When I was there, I did this lab program on experiential education, an initiative that sent me to Botswana for 10 weeks to investigate microfinance. At the time, there was a lot of interest in financial institutions going to emerging markets, whether it was India or Africa or Latin America, and creating affordable ways to provide financial access to people.
I spent a lot of time with entrepreneurs and people who had their own little businesses. They could be people just on the street selling airtime, which was a big business back then, or people who were selling fruits and vegetables. Understanding their need for financial access both formally and informally was a great experience for me.
When I finished business school, I wanted to go abroad again, so I went back to sub-Saharan Africa to Johannesburg and later, Nairobi, where I worked on projects that promoted financial inclusion and operational sustainability. From the cultural side, I learned how banking occurs in a very different part of the world with very different values and concerns. When I finished my four years abroad, I came back to the US super excited about Africa as an area of potential.
I realized that so few people had much knowledge about Africa and how diverse its cultures and economics are. However, as much as I love market research and collecting data and generating new insights, my African market research interest wasn’t sustainable if I wanted to stay in Chicago. Moreover, in Chicago, I realized that a new innovation scene had popped up. It made me think, what sort of business am I trying to start? I wanted to focus on something that I knew well and made me different from people. I then thought about what other industries interested me. I chose to work in healthcare and education, even though these fields weren’t what I had spent most of my career doing. However, I felt that I could meet new people and discover interesting opportunities that would make this a sweet spot.
AJ: How does Orange Vista’s expertise in research, digital marketing, design methods, consumer behavior, etc. distinguish it from other market research-based consultancies?
BA: I would say the thing that makes us different is that we’re a small company. For a certain type of company, there are definitely larger players out there to help them with problem solving, but sometimes depending on their budget or the depth of the engagement and what they need, not all of them can afford going to larger players unless they can write a six-figure check. The work that I do in terms of being smaller and nimble and providing a more personalized service distinguishes Orange Vista.
The other big distinguishing factor is that I’m deeply attached to the innovation scene. I’m always thinking of new ways to do things and challenging the status quo, and sometimes industries like healthcare and education aren’t accustomed to do that unless change is forced upon them. Also, larger consultancies that do innovation consulting sometimes come with a larger price tag or are slower to provide such recommendations for innovation and that can create a different experience.
AJ: In terms of challenging the status quo, what are the biggest challenges you face while working at Orange Vista that also result in the greatest reward?
BA: The world of consulting is two things. If you’re purely a strategy consultant, oftentimes your job is twofold: you make a beautiful Powerpoint deck presenting to whomever commissioned the assignment, and their stakeholders at the end of every strategy consulting assignment come with recommendations. You explain the problem and how you analyzed it and then you show the options and next steps.
The other side of consulting is implementational. The strategy has already been outlined and you’re hired to make that strategy happen. The most frustrating thing when you can’t be both is, for example, when you become an expert in an issue and present your clients with options, but they ultimately don’t even move forward with anything. When you’re just working on implementation you may not even agree with the strategy you’re implementing, but you can’t do much because you’re just there to implement it. So as a consultant, the best case scenario is when you can analyze a problem, devise a great strategy, and also stick around to see its implementation and the impact of your work.
AJ: How has being a woman and person of color affected your journey in entrepreneurship?
BA: It can be tough. I think sometimes I attend different events and people don’t necessarily think that I’m the CEO; they might think I work for someone else. People feel surprised when they see “Principal and Founder” on my business cards. That can be challenging sometimes, as there’s a perception of what people are used to seeing in terms of who the decision makers or the boss is, and it’s usually not a woman or a black person.
AJ: Who has been the most influential person who has guided/mentored you through your studies and business school?
BA: For me, it’s a bunch of people. From an academic perspective, many of my professors have influenced me. I loved my anthropology professors, and I received an African American Studies certificate. I enjoyed interacting with those professors and thinking about the world from that perspective. Most recently, I went back to grad school and studied informatics, and in that program, I bonded with a couple professors there who had an interest in public health and population health.
From a business perspective, I’ve had some pretty phenomenal female bosses and mentors along the way. When I landed my first job at Bank One in Chicago, I was recruited by a Princeton alum, and having her there as a mentor who had a practical but passionate view toward the development of women and people of color in the workplace was very helpful. Similarly, I had a phenomenal executive mentor in South Africa. These female mentors taught me to be a leader and what it takes to take your career to the next level. It’s definitely a sacrifice--the energy it takes out of you--and finding that work life balance can be difficult, so working with such phenomenal women was very beneficial.
The other people who have influenced me are my own mentees! I’ve had college students intern with me and I’ve learned so much about how they think, how they ask questions, and how they utilize resources they’ve been given. They’ve been a big inspiration to me.
AJ: You’ve had an incredible experience in so many different cultures and have had an inspiring entrepreneurial journey. If you could tell your younger college-self one thing that you’ve learned what would you say?
BA: My younger self didn’t have the confidence to be an entrepreneur. I thought it involved a lot of money, but I realized it really doesn’t. Having confidence as well as finding/maintaining a relationship with mentors and people who are encouraging early on is very important. The other thing I would have considered is a little more business training during my undergraduate years. Even though I said that I was good at quantitative subjects, I definitely feel that in the early years of my career, there were certain things that I should’ve learned before I started working. I learned the hard way, but I learned!