I am Aaron Delgaty, founder of Note & Niche, a research-informed strategy studio for people building small, strange, and fiercely loved things.

Before this, I worked inside agencies, institutions, and startups — helping brands make sense of their markets and connect with real humans. I’ve led positioning work, designed national surveys, taught graduate seminars, and facilitated brand sprints. I’ve also lived through layoff, burnout, and the heartbreak of watching good work get flattened by bureaucracy.

So I started something of my own.

Note & Niche is my way of doing strategy differently. I don’t chase mass appeal. I don’t do corporate theater. I believe in clear thinking, deep research, and telling the truth — especially when it’s hard. My best work happens with clients who care more about resonance than reach, and who want to serve their people well instead of stretching to be everything to everyone.

My background (in case you’re wondering)

  • PhD in Anthropology, MA in East Asian Cultures

  • Industry strategist and researcher 

  • Author of Working Relationships: Crisis and Resilience at the Heart of Employee Experience

  • Affiliate researcher at UNC Chapel Hill

  • Occasional lecturer, writer, and facilitator

  • Girl dad.

I work across disciplines — part researcher, part storyteller, part teacher — but everything I do is anchored in one question:

What makes this work matter to the people it’s for?

Three copies of the book titled 'Working Relationships' by Aaron Delgaty with a yellow cover featuring a black snake illustration and a light yellow background.

A BOOK I WROTE

Working Relationships offers a powerful look at how crisis and resilience shape the employee experience through the lens of the relationships we build with our work, our colleagues, and our organizations. Grounded in ethnographic research, it reveals how continuity, reciprocity, purpose, and hope are essential to fostering resilient, human-centered workplaces.

Explore the human side of work through my anthropology Substack.