Research Associate - Speaker Strategy and Programming

World Salon produces invitation-only digital roundtables that bring together VP and C-suite executives from companies like PVH, Gucci, Levi Strauss, and Walmart to discuss global trade, tariffs, supply chains, and geopolitical shifts. Our clients use these roundtables to build relationships with exactly the senior leaders they want to reach — through substantive conversation, not cold outreach.

As our Research Associate, you’ll be at the center of how these events come together. You’ll research industries and companies to figure out who the right speakers are, study their backgrounds to craft outreach that actually gets responses, and help produce the roundtable from topic design through post-event delivery. You’ll work directly with the Head of Research and CEO to get hands-on exposure to global trade, executive networking, event production, and business development — all from day one.

This is an ideal role for someone who is intellectually curious, a strong writer, and wants to build real skills fast in a high-access environment. You’ll be contacting VPs at Fortune 500 companies in your first week. We’re a small team, which means you’ll have real responsibility and direct impact from the start.

Research & Intelligence

• Research industries, companies, and individual executives to identify ideal speakers for each roundtable. You’ll read trade publications, scan LinkedIn, review earnings calls, and track policy developments to understand what’s top of mind for potential panelists
• Build speaker profiles: who is this person, what’s their role, what have they spoken about before, what’s happening at their company right now, and what angle would make our invitation relevant to them?
• Map organizations to find the right contacts — the VP of Global Sourcing is a better fit than the Director of HR, and knowing the difference is half the job
• Stay current on trends in global trade, tariffs, supply chain, and related industries so you can contribute to topic development and ask intelligent questions
• Build and maintain a speaker intelligence database with profiles, past participation, responsiveness, and relationship notes

Speaker Outreach & Recruitment

• Draft personalized outreach emails and LinkedIn messages to potential speakers. Your research is what makes these messages compelling — a good outreach from you will reference something specific about their work, not a generic template
• Manage multi-touch follow-up sequences, tracking who’s responded, who needs a nudge, and who’s confirmed
• Help curate balanced panels: the right mix of speakers who match the client’s ideal profile, neutral industry experts, and credibility anchors
• Track outreach metrics (response rates, acceptance rates) and work with the CEO to continuously improve the approach

Event Production & Programming

• Help design roundtable topics, agendas, and guided discussion questions based on your research into the industry and speakers
• Create event materials: speaker posters, event page content, and discussion outlines using Canva and our design tools (we’ll teach you)
• Support event-day execution: speaker prep, Zoom Events logistics, and ensuring everything runs smoothly
• Package and deliver post-event assets: recordings, speaker bios, recap summaries

Partnerships & Credibility Building

• Research potential association and institutional partners (trade associations, universities, policy organizations) that could co-brand events with World Salon
• Help publish event recaps and speaker highlights on the website and YouTube
• Collect speaker feedback and testimonials after events
• Maintain and update event pages and speaker information on world-salon.com

Must-Haves

• A bachelor’s degree (any field — we care about how you think, not what you studied)
• Strong research instincts. You know how to get smart on a topic quickly — whether that means reading industry reports, scanning LinkedIn, or digging through a company’s investor relations page. You’ve done this in school, internships, or a first job
• Excellent writing skills. You can take complex information and distill it into a clear, concise, compelling message. If you’ve written research briefs, pitches, outreach emails, policy memos, or journalism — that counts
• Strong attention to detail and organizational skills. You’ll be tracking dozens of speakers and multiple events simultaneously
• Intellectual curiosity about business, global trade, geopolitics, or international affairs. You don’t need to be an expert — you need to find it interesting
• Self-starter energy. We’re a small team. You’ll get clear direction but not micromanagement. That excites you
• 0–2 years of professional experience (internships, fellowships, research positions, or a first full-time role all count)

Nice-to-Haves

• Experience in research, journalism, policy, consulting, think tanks, or event production
• Familiarity with LinkedIn as a professional research and outreach tool
• Interest or background in fashion/apparel, trade policy, supply chain, or international development
• Bilingual in English and Mandarin Chinese
• Experience with Canva, CRM tools, or email outreach platforms
• Previous startup or small-team experience

• Access you won’t get elsewhere at this level. In your first month you’ll be researching and writing to VPs and senior counsel at companies like Gucci, Walmart, and PVH Corp. At most associate roles, you’d spend a year before getting anywhere near this kind of exposure
• You’ll build real, transferable skills. Research methodology, executive communication, event production, partnership development, and business strategy — this role touches all of it
• Direct mentorship from the founder. You’re not buried in a team of 50. You work directly with the CEO, learn how decisions get made, and see how a business is built from the inside
• Intellectual stimulation. Our roundtables cover global trade policy, tariff impacts, supply chain resilience, AI-driven strategy, and geopolitical risk. You’ll learn something substantive every week
• A clear growth path. As World Salon grows, this role grows with it. You’re not filling a slot — you’re helping define what this function becomes
• Columbia University roots, NYC-based, with a global perspective across English and Chinese-speaking professional networks

We believe in clear, fair expectations. You’ll ramp up over 90 days and then be measured on:

• Speaker outreach volume and quality (target: consistent weekly output with improving response rates)
• Speaker response rate (target after ramp: 15%+ of outreach gets a reply)
• Speaker acceptance rate (target: 60%+ of respondents agree to join)
• ICP match rate (target: 70%+ of confirmed speakers match the client’s ideal profile)
• Research quality: are your speaker profiles thorough? Are your outreach angles informed and specific?
• Event materials delivered on time and at quality
• Reliability: do things you own get done without reminders?