Bringing humanity back to modern insights with Vanessa Hensler
June 4, 2026
In this episode of Change Agents: Inside Modern Insights, Devora Rogers sits down with neuroscientist and researcher Vanessa Hensler to explore how neuroscience, emotion and human intuition continue to shape better decision-making in the age of AI. Vanessa shares lessons from her work at Google, Pinterest and Reddit, including the insight that helped reshape a company’s growth strategy, why mixed methodologies often reveal what traditional surveys miss and why human-led research matters more than ever. The conversation also dives into the future of neuroscience in market research, the rise of AI-generated insights and the methods that still uncover the deepest emotional truths behind consumer behavior.
About the Guest:
Vanessa Hensler, Ph.D. is the founder of Outsight Insights, which operates at the intersection of neuroscience, business strategy, and storytelling to uncover emotional truths that drive action. She is a neuroscientist with over two decades of academic and industry experience. Her Ph.D. under Dr. Antonio Damasio was focused on the role of emotions in decision making.
She has used her research expertise to develop new company-wide strategies grounded in data at Reddit, Google and Pinterest. She has partnered with C-suite, led teams across product, market and safety research and helped clients across verticals drive higher ROI.
To learn more, visit:
https://alteragents.com/
Listen to more episodes on Mission Matters:
https://missionmatters.com/author/devora-rogers
