Down & Dirty with Dr. T. is back with another episode and our featured guest this time is Amrita Sen.
Amrita is a cultural researcher and Partner at Quantum Consumer Solutions with over 10 years of experience in marketing strategy, consumer culture, and product innovation. She also mentors young team members and loves turning insights into ideas.
In this episode, Amrita shares how she manages both research work and team leadership, and how tools like Apple Podcasts and her morning routine help her stay informed and turn customer insights into practical ideas for her clients.
Highlights from the episode:
- A day in the life – What does a day in the life of a cultural researcher working across multiple continents look like? Amrita takes us through her routine, from podcast-powered morning walks to clever cooking hacks that keep her fueled. She shares how tools like Zoho and Microsoft Teams help streamline global collaboration, and reveals her Instagram curation trick that turns social scrolling into creative fuel. All this while leading cultural research projects across India, Indonesia, Thailand, and Saudi Arabia. She shares how tools like Zoho and Microsoft Teams help streamline global collaboration, and reveals her Instagram curation trick that turns social scrolling into creative fuel.
- Power of podcasts – For Amrita, podcasts are more than just background listening—they’re a core part of her research toolkit. She shares an example of how listening to Indonesian history podcasts directly enhanced a major food culture project, and explains why philosophy deep-dives on topics like Taoism end up informing client proposals in unexpected ways. Her "bird's-eye view" approach to learning creates organic connections across completely different projects, and she explains why she chooses podcasts over book summaries, Audible, and even AI for certain types of research.
- Challenges in work – It's not all smooth sailing. Amrita gets honest about the real challenges facing modern researchers. She struggles with "time-blindness" – getting so absorbed in research rabbit holes that smaller tasks fall through the cracks. Managing remote teams across different cultures brings its own unique set of obstacles, especially when trying to connect with younger team members she's never met in person. The constant pressure of "everything needed yesterday" deadlines and the complexity of navigating diverse markets while maintaining interdisciplinary marketing strategies makes for a fascinating discussion about the realities of consulting work.
Also listen on YouTube . Spotify . Apple Music . Amazon Music
👋PS: If you would like to talk about your favourite professional tool on our podcast, write to us at podcast@poocho.co!
