Meet the Team: Kiersten Chalhoub

Tell us about you! (Where are you from, hobbies/interests, things you do outside of work!)

Hi everyone! I'm Kiersten. I'm proudly from nowhere (I moved a lot as a kid) and was raised in a mixed Palestinian-German household. I now live in the DC area and absolutely love it.

I'm a collector of hobbies: gardening, sewing, knitting, cooking, hiking, camping, and traveling (of course). You name it, I probably do it for fun. One of the big things I do in my free time is randomly cook through the world via a random number generator. I was a professional cook, so I love challenging myself in the kitchen. You can access all the recipes I find and my research here!

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What does a UX Researcher do anyway? How did you get into to research?

UX researchers are the lucky people who get to understand the why behind users' behaviors, attitudes, motivators, and more. We use different techniques (or methodologies) to gain insight into our users' lives so we can help our team build the right things in the right way.

I've always been a bit of a researcher. My background is actually in chemistry. During college, I took a quick break to work at America’s Test Kitchen where I was a test cook. Think “food researcher and cook!” After deciding that the professional culinary world wasn’t for me, I went back to chemistry. My first job out of college was focused on building and testing instruments for scientists. One day, I started doing interviews to understand what was working and what wasn't for a new product we had built. From there, I kept chasing the chance to bridge between users and companies!

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What's your favorite thing about your role here at Going?

Every single one of us here gets to work towards feeding people's curiosity about the world around them. It's so beautiful to watch people find deals that let them expand their horizons in ways they didn't expect.

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What advice would you give to a candidate interested in working at Going?

Be yourself. It's cliché, I know. But we don't care if you aren't a mega-traveler or had a failed project in the past. We care about who you are and what you've learned in your career. We want to know how you have learned, grown, and adapted.

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What brought you to Going in the first place? What's your why?

I was actually a big fan of Going before I joined the team. I absolutely love traveling, and I love letting a good deal decide where I go next. Now, my why has transformed into a desire to help everyone get out and see somewhere new to them.

Some of the super unexpected places I ended up exploring are Latvia, Russia, and Estonia. I never sought these places out, but I’m so glad Going helped me get there! Next up, Poland and Jordan!

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What's the best Going deal you've ever booked?

$330 to Shanghai, China. Unfortunately, I was supposed to leave on March 15, 2020 - the day the US shut down due to COVID-19!

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What always makes you laugh, no matter what?

My husband and my dog! They're complete goofballs, but I wouldn't have it any other way.