Hi! I’m Anika, an author, journalist and product manager. I work with news and social media startups - as well as anyone who wants to grow authentic connections and sustainable businesses online.

Over the past fifteen years, I’ve worn a lot of hats. I broke science/tech stories for news organizations in DC and New Delhi, conducted global user research projects for think tanks in Paris and Beijing, wrote a book on online communities, and led digital product teams in news and fashion. These experiences left me with a rich suite of skills and a interdisciplinary perspective on how to best create authentic connections and businesses online.

Every project I work on - just like the organizations I work with - is unique, but here are a few examples of things I’ve done for my clients:
—> Create early user flows and community guidelines for a seed-stage social media startup. I lent the founding team my expertise as they built out the first iteration of a new social media app. A few key questions I helped them answer: what (from both legal and community perspectives) needs to be in our community guidelines? How do we keep out assholes while welcoming friends? How do we design an onboarding flow that lets us serve our users the best content, without annoying them by asking for too much information upfront? How do we design online spaces around interests, and how do we want our users to interact with each other?
—> Refine and restructure business development efforts for a local media startup. I worked closely with the senior editorial team to better understand and refine their strategies for raising money from both individual and institutional donors, helping produce key impact metrics and business strategy plans. Key questions I helped them answer: What does our ‘funnel’ look like, and are our donation initiatives actually helping us advance members along the funnel? How much do our various pledge initiatives cost, versus what they raise? How do we scale the initiatives that work, while retiring the ones that don’t? How do we hire and incentivize business development consultants to work with us long-term on these questions?
—> Generate actionable insights for a local news startup looking to reach underserved audiences. I worked closely with the community lead for a local DC-based digital news startup to better understand and serve information needs in Wards 7 and 8 - DC’s historically underserved communities. I designed and produced a community-focused research project that unearthed new insights, strategies and information needs for how the news outlet could truly partner with these audiences. Key questions I helped them answer: How is our coverage currently perceived (if at all?) by these audiences? What do local residents actually want to know? Whom should we be partnering with in the community - and how - to grow our reach? How do we respect the historical wisdom of underserved audiences in our coverage?
—> Conduct research on behalf of an established social media company to help them grow their userbase. I worked closely with the company’s COO to understand the gaps in the product marketplace, perceptions of their existing product, and how to prioritize features in order to enable user growth. I conducted research and presented a final report to the team. Key questions I helped them answer: How is our product perceived by the market versus our competitors? What user insights are we not capturing and how do we improve our user listening practices? What are some of the core concerns that first-time users face with our products? How do we take those newer users’ concerns into account during our prioritization process?

What do people have to say about the experience of working with me?

The Frisc is a small local news startup run by veteran journalists. Anika's experience and guidance have been invaluable as we build our operations, hone development strategy, and think more broadly about audience.

—Alex Lash, Editor in Chief, The Frisc

Want to work together? Get in touch. Learn more about my services and read some more testimonials from clients here.