About Us

Farrah Bostic, Founder, Chief Strategist

Farrah Bostic is the founder and Chief Strategist of The Difference Engine, a strategic insights consultancy whose mission is to help business leaders make big decisions. She turns audience, customer and stakeholder insight into brand, communications, and product strategies for B2B and B2C companies across a variety of industries: logistics, software, sports, news, television, fashion, retail, spirits, healthcare, finance, education, & more.

She founded The Difference Engine in 2011 to fight back against the usual objections to doing research: it costs too much, takes too much time, doesn't add value, isn't as good as "data". But she quickly discovered the real battle - that most people don't understand what research is, how to do it well, and most importantly, how it can (and should!) be used to help businesses and brands make big decisions.

Prior to founding The Difference Engine, Farrah had served in various research and strategy roles including as VP, Group Planning Director at Digitas; SVP Consumer Immersion at Ipsos/OTX; and Partner/Head of Innovation at Hall & Partners. She has a bachelors degree in journalism and communications from the University of Oregon, and a juris doctor from the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law. She serves on the board of the Science Museum of Long Island, is an advisor to games media agency twofivesix, and was a member of the faculty at Parsons in the Strategic Design Management masters program, where she taught design research and led an immersive studio for first year students.

She's a current member of MRS, ESOMAR, EPIC, and QRCA. You can read more about her professional background here.

Ashley Derrington, Research Associate & Operations Lead

Ashley Derrington is a veteran of award winning creative marketing agencies where she oversaw the day to day activities of the company and projects from conception to post-production. At The Difference Engine Ashley provides critical project management and oversight, as well as supporting the research itself with online moderating and analysis. In addition, she is a member of the United States Women's National Deaf Soccer team. Prior to the start of the pandemic, Ashley was a digital nomad, pursuing a passion project while traveling that entailed interacting with and learning about the deaf and hard of hearing cultures around the world. She plays a contributing role with hearinglikeme.com (Phonak) and Envoy Medical as well as serving as a face of hearing loss for the Hearing Health Foundation.

You can learn more about Ashley's professional background here.