Hi! I’m Carolyn Gearig.

I’m a user researcher and product manager exploring how people connect with news, information and each other. I’m also a photographer, reiki healer, and enthusiastic resident of NYC.

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Currently, I


→ Partner with teams to understand their users and build products that solve real audience needs on a freelance or consulting basis.  Interested in collaborating on a project? Learn more about my services & schedule time for a quick consultation.

Photograph NYC’s subway stations. Check out my zine of work from this project, which I’ve been working on since 2018.


In the past, I

→ Managed user research & non-subscriber product at McClatchy Media, building experiences and driving engagement across 29 local newspapers and 9 magazines.

→ Traveled solo across India, Nepal and Thailand during a six-month sabbatical in 2023.

→ Joined Prolegis as first product hire, creating tools for Congressional staffers and policy professionals to navigate complex topics.

→ Managed product development at experimental local media startup WhereBy.Us. I conducted research that grew membership and newsletter engagement and built a system for teams to design and conduct their own user research projects.

→ Helped build Axios' CMS from scratch as an early hire, owning newsroom onboarding and training processes.

→ Interviewed Michigan residents about their relationship to local and national news.