Sky Island Consulting

I’m a narrative researcher working at the intersection of social science and design. My background is in ethnographic fieldwork, observing how people move through systems, spaces, and stories. I use tools developed in the tech world, like UX research and behavioral mapping, but I apply them more like a fieldworker than a product tester.

Most of my work lives outside the lab. I run short, immersive studies that help organizations understand how things actually feel on the ground, what’s working, what’s not, and what’s being missed. I don’t lead workshops or make media. I surface insight that informs strategy, design, and storytelling—but begins with lived experience.

Sky Island is where that work takes shape: tailored, human-centered research for people trying to do things that matter.

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About the Author

Hi, I’m Ryan Badertscher.

I’m from Santa Cruz County, Arizona—south of Tucson, along the border. I studied history at Northern Arizona University on a state scholarship, spending summers fighting wildfires to pay for school and chase some adrenaline.

After college, I worked as Collections Manager at the Mesa Historical Museum, where I led research and storytelling around local history. That role sparked a deeper love for people-centered research, which I carried into grad school in Berlin, where I began a master’s in Global History. I eventually stepped away from academia to focus on applied research instead. Work with a more direct, less abstract, academic impact.

Since then, I’ve worked with Thomson Reuters and completed a master’s in Information Technology, continuing to build a practice grounded in systems and human experience.

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