Ximena Vengoechea

XIMENA VENGOECHEA is a user researcher, writer, and illustrator. An experienced manager, she previously worked at Pinterest, LinkedIn, and Twitter. Her book Listen Like You Mean It: Reclaiming the Lost Art of True Connection tackles the timeless challenge of effective listening with veracity and offers practical concepts for work and real-life. The book has been named an Editor’s Choice from Porchlight Books and a Next Big Ideas Club Spring Nominee. Vengoechea is an experienced speaker and professional listener whose message resonates with companies and institutions across all industries. In her book and her lectures, Vengoechea outlines useful tools to help readers and audiences self-assess their current listening habits. Drawing from her own research sessions, as well as stories and interviews with marriage counselors, life coaches, filmmakers, podcast hosts, and other real-life listening experts, Vengoechea teaches audiences how to feel heard, connected, and understood in a world that keeps turning up the volume. Vengoechea has provided expert commentary on listening, workplace communication, and habit formation in publications such as The Washington Post, Good Housekeeping, The Muse, Fast Company, Inc., and Harvard Business Review. She also writes Letters from Ximena, a newsletter on tech, culture, career, and creativity and is known for her project The Life Audit.