Elspeth
Brown

An adventure seeker and adrenaline junkie, I love plunging myself into the unknown. Every trip is a fascinating journey of discovery, unearthing cultural nuances as I wander off the beaten path to experience a greater sense of a country’s unique quirks.

With a passion for understanding people I have been lucky enough to work with markets across the globe, from Egypt to China, France to USA, as well as across categories ranging from confectionery to beauty, healthcare to kids’ cereal.

Harriet
Monkley

My experience spans from consulting in a coconut oil company in Ghana, working in travel PR, to running a street food van at the Edinburgh Fringe. With an appreciation for the weird and wonderful, I am never happier than when unearthing shiny new insight.



Highlights from my time at Butterfly include mapping the cheese landscape in the UK, exploring French attitudes towards veganism in skincare, and asking Vietnamese consumers what a clean toilet means to them.



I love developing strategy that packs a punch, and blogs exploring how society is changing and why. A sucker for disruptive new brands, I can often be found prowling the aisles of Whole Foods hunting for the next big thing.

Amit
Kumar

Why and how people communicate has always been my thing. Whether poring over a poem while studying German at university or untangling the intricacies of a contractual clause in law school, I’ve always been intrigued how people get across their ideas. To me that’s what being a brand strategist is all about. Unpacking how words, design, actions and ideas come together to create a brand with power, personality and clarity.

I’ve worked in sectors as different as mining and mobile phones, on topics as diverse as heartburn and hotels.

A city boy at heart, I’m happiest getting lost in a city, any city – wandering, ambling and flaneuring to see where the day takes me. A cafe here, a second-hand bookshop there, I’m always looking to take in the new and eyebrow-raising.

Philipp
Mirow

I’m a self-professed geek. I love to tap into new technologies and methodologies that allow me to better understand people, their culture, and what makes them fall in or out of love with a brand. With a background in advertising, I use my skills to take these findings and inspire powerful strategic solutions and brand stories.

Some of my Butterfly highlights have been working on developing our research tools, disruptive innovation in the shaving category, understanding behaviours of the millennial traveller and getting to bring my dog, Liquor, to work every day.

Nicole
Whelan

As a classic storyteller, I love to get to the heart of the winding stories that make each person different from the next. Classic training within some of the world’s most loved brands such as Häagen-Dazs & Old El Paso has given me a solid business context to ground those stories in strategies that brands can use to unlock growth.

Things that have captured my imagination at Butterfly are author re-positioning for Pan Macmillan and bringing real stories to generational studies for Johnson & Johnson and Reckitt Benckiser, plus my commute to work is a 30 minute walk along the river path leaving me plenty of time to ponder the perfect ending.

Ben
Blackbourn

I enjoy taking a step back, looking at the big picture and asking questions like: what about a person’s upbringing influences their viewpoint today? How does this affect their behaviour? And how is this likely to evolve in the future? My favourite projects have been understanding the future of nightlife and the future of healthcare.

Bianca
Cawthorne

For as long as I can remember I have always had a novel on-the-go, or a film script I was imagining. Although my stories never made it to the bookstore, or scripts to screen, I have carried that love of storytelling throughout my career. The best stories rally our emotions, and this has been my professional mission; how to uncover, tap into and leverage emotion to create better brands and innovation.

I bounced from client-side to agency-side, building up my experience and honing my skills before setting up Butterfly 10 years ago. I have spearheaded our emotional approach, challenging us to look at how we can get deeper, richer insight to create better, stronger brands. It’s a labour of love that has taken me across the world – sharing vodka with locals in Siberia and going to an Emerati wedding in Dubai. Having built the London team to 40, I am now fast-tracking the growth of our NYC office.

Dal
Mahil

My favourite alarm clock is a big and knotty brand challenge, it is the one thing that makes me leap out of bed every morning (as well as good coffee). I’m passionate about marrying human truths with strategic thinking and business understanding to define and crack new opportunities for our clients.

As a seasoned moderator and facilitator, born with a dual sense of identity, I’m fascinated by culture and how it shapes consumer behaviour. You can usually find me waxing lyrical about cultural insights as well as my 3.5 years in Shanghai collaborating with international brands to launch and grow in mainland China.

Stephane
Le Moullec

I studied Philosophy because I believe that critical thinking and intellectual rigour are essential. With a PhD in Social Anthropology and years living and working in Asia and the Middle-East, I love being surprised and challenged by the diversity of values, beliefs, and rituals people follow – but also gripped by their incredible similarity.

I love seeing the diversity in the work we do for our clients and in all of the Butterflies. Watching the company grow, build partnerships and strive to constantly improve keeps me hooked.

Ellie
Ford

I am truly passionate about people, organisational structures and processes. Finding authentic ways to build relationships and culture to inform the best processes gives me my buzz. With a background in Business and Law, and 9 years’ Operations and HR experience in the Brand and Innovation world, I bring my meticulous problem-solving abilities to keep our London and NYC offices running smoothly.


I am also a bit of a thrill-seeker and love to travel to far corners of the world, in hunt of the bests diving spots.

Alexandra
Mandl

By tapping into over 17 years in local, regional and global marketing leadership experience in blue-chip corporations such as Philip Morris, Barilla and Mars; I’ve come to have a lot of love for the value a sharp insight can bring to truly grow a brand’s equity.

As a cultural melting pot (I’m half German, half Polish), I love to bridge my past experience with a fresh perspective into how I design strategy, develop communications and launch innovations. I love the thrill of waking up to a new challenge every morning, from uncovering the future of nightlife to codifying sensorial experiences in emotional territories. I wonder what’s next!

James
Clarke

I’ve years of experience helping clients untangle complex problems across insight, innovation and brand strategy, in categories ranging from healthcare to confectionery, banking to BBQ sauces. What keeps me excited and loving what I do is a passion for understanding people – forging strong, collaborative relationships with clients, getting to the heart of what makes ‘consumers’ tick and enabling Butterflies to always strive for better.

My past life as actor and restaurateur gives me perspective and versatility – and a useful capacity to absorb and shake off pressure!

Michael
Hall

I’m a travel junkie. I love going to other places, whether for the first time or the twentieth. There’s always something new to learn as an outsider and inspiration can often be found in the most unlikely of places. I’ve worked across many sectors from travel to telecoms and I’m intrigued by the converging influences that are constantly reshaping peoples’ expectations.

Recent highlights include delving into the dimensions of ‘play’ for a lifestyle hotel; creating experiences that help business travellers ‘rest & rejuvenate’; creating new brand concepts in male grooming. I also enjoy riding my Vespa to and from Butterfly, through the leafy streets of southwest London.

Joy
Schlink

Coming from the very small country of Luxembourg, I always felt the urge to leave the familiar and approach things from a different perspective. Seeing new places, meeting new people and listening to what they say has shaped my design practice. Storytelling has become a great passion of mine; translating an abstract idea into a visual story that people can relate to and enjoy is at the heart of my thinking and doing.

Kelly
Greyling

With a background in archaeology and anthropology, I absolutely love learning and understanding the diversity of human cultures, both past and present. My passion for this and wanting to immerse myself in different backgrounds, has led me to work in a variety of industries enabling me to develop my multitasking skills, in particular my love of numbers and all things finance. From project analysis to month end reporting, no two days are ever the same here at Butterfly! I love to travel and am happiest when surrounded by friends and family.

Vatsala
Rathore

Having lived and worked across continents, my passion is to find that elusive nugget that turns the tide for brands and marketers. I am a self-confessed culture hawk and soak up as I travel for pleasure or work. I like to keep a pulse on how people are changing, what that means for us and how we can ask better questions utilising behavioral science, big data and archetypes.

Highlights at Butterfly include understanding how value can be defined for mass brands; defining the taste experience of a global soft drinks brand, to helping craft a purposeful positioning for a shampoo brand, and guiding the future direction of brands for a spirits company. The one aspiration that remains unfulfilled is to start bringing Buddy, my very jumpy (read naturally enthusiastic) labrador to the office but alas, this is yet to happen!

Megan
Powell

I started at Butterfly in 2015 as an intern and haven’t had a dull day since! Having studied Arabic and Islamic Studies, one of my many project highlights has been spending 2 weeks in Istanbul and Cairo having 4 meals a day and watching people eat, all in the name of research. I’ve also been lucky enough to become a regular speaker at international events to share my passion in understanding Middle Eastern and Muslim consumers, particularly around the fascinating topic of Halal Beauty.

I am hugely motivated by helping clients understand different cultures and perspectives, and considering the cultural and social context of consumer behaviour.

Ola
Kudzia

I am very good at organising myself and ticking off a to-do list, which comes to good use working in Accounts Payable, processing invoices and making sure we pay our suppliers on time.

I love making the world a better place, so organising recycling and taking care of our office plants is always high on my to do list. I highly recommend cycling to work as a way of staying fit and sane!

Amelia
Martin-Davies

Coming from a bi-lingual, bi-cultural Anglo-French family I have a strong passion and personal understanding for cultural quirks and nuances. My background in History has given me a craving to always know more and I am often the one asking incessant questions!

I have a love affair with all things food. One of my highlights at Butterfly has been understanding global consumer relationships with take out and delivery, and I have a breadth of experience in food and beverage innovation from chocolate, to juice, to savoury snacks.

Philippa
Davis

I am passionate about understanding people and what makes them tick. Having studied Experimental Psychology at university, I was fascinated to further explore what drives decision-making, how cognitive biases influence perceptions, and how people interact with, and react to, different products and brands. Getting to dig deep into what motivates people and apply those insights to meaty challenges on a daily basis is a luxury I don’t take for granted.

One of my favorite things about Butterfly is the variety of projects we get to be involved in. I have been lucky enough to work on everything from innovation in snacking, to exploring the future of luxury socialising, to brand positioning within the finance sector.

Ryan
Dethy

Communication through design has always fascinated me; the way a simple idea can power and incite curiosity, offer a new perspective, and create something completely new. This drives my passion for an ideas-first approach to design, finding excitement in visual storytelling, illustration, concept design, and creative direction.

Sara
Abernethy

I’m a food and retail junkie. I’ll fly for hours to an exotic destination for a “vacation”, only to spend hours wandering the aisles of the local grocery store looking for new ideas. My phone is chock full of pictures of packaging and retail executions. I reject routine – I take a different path to work each time I go to the office, but I’m most happy when I’m hopping on a plane, train, or car to get a different perspective on the world.

A former elementary school teacher, my favorite moments are when I’m facilitating a workshop, working hard to inspire and get the best out of the people around me.

Sinead
Egan

I love all things Field! With many years’ experience of Field Project Management under my belt, I’ve got a vast amount of knowledge in organising domestic and international projects for a wide variety of brands, ranging from the Arts & Entertainment world, Health & Beauty, Tech and NGOs. I love working alongside the strategy teams, helping with absolutely all of their Field needs, getting my teeth stuck into huge multi-market costs to finding needles in a haystack of super consumers for interesting and diverse projects.

With a background in the Arts, I thrive on being immersed in different cultures, visiting new places, meeting new people and discovering new creative ideas.

Thais
Pina

My background in Architecture, Design Thinking and Business reflects my passion for the powerful combination of empathy, strategy and creativity. I’m driven by innovation that improves people’s lives and my favourite questions usually start with “What if…”.

Originally from Brazil, I’ve worked on global projects in different sectors, from Healthcare to Finance, F&B and Hospitality and I must confess l fell in love with all of them. Each project is an adventure for me. Deep diving into the lives of consumers aged 65+, creating a brand from scratch for the Russian market, and uncovering insights to improve the packaging of one of the most iconic products of my childhood are just a few of my thinking-with-feeling love stories at Butterfly. And speaking of stories, writing is my favourite hobby.

Kim
Stokes

Coming from a corporate background in audit and group reporting, it is absolutely fair to say that I indulge in the dynamic day-to-day activities of finance here at Butterfly! Give me anything that I can throw into an Excel sheet and with the simple application of pivot tables and formulas I am the happiest Head of Finance alive!

I am a foodie at heart, love anything health and fitness, and my everyday mantra is balance – something else I have in common with the father of accounting!

Tim
Harris

I lend my hand to many creative disciplines; from print to branding, and even a stab at menswear design. This broadened perspective, along with a meticulous approach, has allowed me to understand a variety of different brands’ and people’s needs. Unearthing a deeper conceptual understanding and applying it across the range of challenges we’re set.

Tyler
Young

I first realized that I had a great passion and knack for building creative solutions to problems after starting my own company to invent the mixtape of the future (a venture that didn’t quite become the million-dollar-idea I had hoped it would be). This personal revelation set me on a path to tackle strategic challenges across a series of categories, including advertising, consumer insights, brand strategy, and innovation. Throughout it all, I have applied my entrepreneurial and consumer-first way of thinking, while weaving in some creative flair garnered by my background as a Studio Art Major.

Lorenzo
Pavesi

I joined as an intern in 2015 and have been lucky enough to get my daily espresso hits from the Butterfly kitchen ever since. Motion designer by day, amateur 35mm photographer by night, I try to create eye-pleasing work that makes sense. Be it a concept ideation workshop in Madrid or a short film about innovation in cat food, no day is the same here and that’s what keeps me going.

Holly
Sandberg

With boundless curiosity and enthusiasm, there is nothing I love more than dynamic explorations of the bigger picture, before diving into the nitty gritty to piece together a gripping narrative.

I’ve worked on everything from luxury travel to men’s deodorant, but my true passion lies in beverages. Having undertaken a year of sobriety, I’m the resident expert for all things low and no alcohol.

In my spare time I continue my love affair with understanding people through strategy and creativity by teaching myself astrology. You can find me on any given Friday doing birth chart readings for Butterflies at the pub!

Conor
Hartigan

Born in Saudi Arabia, educated in Rio de Janeiro and spending the remainder of my childhood in the northeast of England, I had quite the mix of surroundings during my upbringing. It made for an interesting story to tell but, more than this, a real interest in people and cultures, and how one can come to define the other.

Coupled with experience in both sales and marketing, I’ve built an understanding for both sides of the coin while developing a real passion for unpicking the emotional drivers that motivate people’s day to day decisions, and the significance these have to play in the bigger picture. Getting the opportunity to empathically narrate this journey within a beautiful story is my favourite part of the job by far.