Naomi Henderson Legacy Awards
Empowering Excellence
“I’d like to be remembered for shifting my industry for having been in it and being a contribution to thousands of people who moderate under a banner of practices as opposed to ‘making it up as you go along and hope you get over.”
– Naomi Henderson
The Naomi Henderson Legacy Awards honor Naomi Henderson: her innumerable impacts on the insights field through her qualitative research education efforts as the former CEO and Founder of RIVA Market Research, former CEO and Co-Founder of the RIVA Training Institute and her seminal book, Secrets of a Master Moderator.
Naomi’s influence on the insights community is large, from starting RIVA as one of the first Black commercial market researchers in 1981 to launching the first training institute for qualitative research methods in 1982, when many professionals were asked to teach what she knew. Along the way, Naomi has helped refine how to do qualitative research, given rise to thousands of trained professionals, and served as an inspiration, not just for people of color, but all insights professionals.
The Naomi Henderson Legacy Awards celebrate Naomi’s two interrelated loves:
- Teaching and training qualitative market research methods; and
- Upskilling students with her qualitative market research teaching via RIVA, on college campuses, and presentations at various industry events.
Award Categories that Honor Naomi's Legacy
- Teaching Award: Are you an educator or mentor passionate about shaping the future through qualitative research? This award celebrates those who bring Naomi's visionary spirit to life, encouraging diversity and inclusive practices. Open to individuals, groups, and companies globally, your dedication to innovative teaching methods and professional growth in qualitative research could earn you this accolade.
- Learning Award: If you're an emerging talent with 2-5 years in qualitative, UX, CX, or product research, this is your chance to gain invaluable skills. Attend a RIVA qualitative research training course free of charge and continue Naomi's commitment to lifelong learning and knowledge sharing.
Apply here
Award For Learning
apply here
Award for Teaching (Individual)
apply here
Award for Teaching (Group)
Key Dates
- June 16, 2025: Submissions portal open
- October 15, 2025: Submission deadline
- December 4, 2025: Recipient notifications
- December 2025: Public announcements
- Feb 2-5, 2026: Formal recognition at QRCA 2026 Annual Conference in San Antonio
- Formal recognition at the Insights Association 2026 Annual Conference
- Formal recognition at the Insights Association 2026 Corporate Researchers Conference (CRC)
Qualifications
Teaching Award
The ‘next Naomi – now’ will embody Naomi’s vision of sharing, not gatekeeping, knowledge through their teaching.
- Can be from any corner of the global insights or academic communities; applicants do not need to be QRCA or Insights Association members
- Demonstrates a dedication to advancing excellence and inclusive best practices in qualitative research methods and techniques via an education series, published works, curriculum, or overall body of work, as an individual, group, or company
- History of mentoring other educators and students
- Reflects Naomi’s values:
- Love of teaching and helping others
- Practices are impactful, bold, new, or innovative
- Has “unconditional positive regard for others” – a favorite axiom of Naomi
- Works towards diversity, equity, access, and inclusion both in their teaching and to whom they teach
- Teaching efforts must go beyond a one-off effort
Learning Award
The ‘next Naomi – future’ will demonstrate an insatiable thirst for learning how to conduct qualitative research as part of their job and willingness to share with others what they learned.
- Applicants can be from any corner of the global insights or academic communities; applicants do not need to be QRCA or Insights Association members. If selected, the recipient can attend the RIVA training course in-person or virtually.
- Demonstrates a commitment to qualitative research in their career
- Must have at least two years of professional experience in the industry where qualitative methods are part of or wholly their job, but no more than five years, whether starting their career or switching to formally incorporating qualitative research in their career
- Reflects Naomi’s values:
- Love of learning
- Love of passing their knowledge to others
- Desire to be more impactful, bold, new, or innovative in their use of qualitative research
- Has “unconditional positive regard for others,” a favorite axiom of Naomi, at their jobs and in their work
- Believes in inclusive research
How we will celebrate the recipients
Teaching Award
- Recognition in the form of a physical award and celebration within the community
- QRCA membership for one year
- Insights Association membership for one year
- Pass to the QRCA 2026 Annual Conference
- Passes to the Insights Association 2026 Annual Conference and 2026 Corporate Researchers Conference (CRC)
Award requirements
- “Teach it forward” as a presenter at both the QRCA and Insights Association Annual Conferences on their teaching methods
Learning Award
- Recognition in the form of a physical award and exposure within the community
- Ability to take a RIVA seminar on qualitative market research (exceptions: RIVA 195: Principles of Qualitative Market Research, RIVA 199: Project Management and Screener Development, or RIVA 433: Mastery in Action & Exam and Master Moderator™ exam)
- QRCA membership for one year
- Insights Association membership for one year
- Pass to the QRCA 2026 Annual Conference
- Passes to the Insights Association 2026 Annual Conference and 2026 Corporate Researchers Conference (CRC)
Award requirements
- “Share it forward” by presenting what they learned at RIVA to young QRCA and Insights Association members via an online webinar
Additional requirements
The Teaching recipient and the Learning recipient will participate in a mentoring and reverse mentoring relationship for one year to learn from each other and strengthen their respective positions as a teacher and learner.
About Naomi Henderson
Naomi Henderson was a legend in the minds of many in the insights community and among the pioneers in the corporate qualitative research arena. If you were one of the lucky ones to have been her friend, attended one of her training courses, or watched her speak on a college campus, it was a guarantee that you left smiling from her jokes and down-to-earth nature...along with a notebook full of tips and ‘Naomi-isms’ on how to better conduct qualitative market research.
Naomi Henderson was the owner and CEO of RIVA Market Research and CEO and co-founder of the RIVA Training Institute with her sister Jo Ann Hairston. Her career started in 1964 as a door-to-door survey researcher. She went on to found RIVA Market Research in her basement with just an IBM typewriter, a two-line phone and a feline associate in 1981. A year later, on a train ride home from a lackluster moderation training with Jo Ann, they realized there was an unmet need for formal moderation training among corporate and non-profit researchers. And from there, the RIVA Training Institute was born.
Naomi and RIVA’s impact in the qualitative research field are immeasurable. She loved passing her knowledge on to the next generation of researchers not just through RIVA seminars but also via guest lectures at universities, speaking engagements and informal chats with insights professionals she met along the way. Naomi could talk to anyone, make them feel comfortable within minutes and believed in giving more than 100% of herself when someone asked. Through RIVA Market Research client work, she became the midwife to many consumer products we know today.
Naomi loved life, found the good in almost everything and was ready to do whatever came next. She was a prolific writer, sometime jewelry maker and crafter and a cook. She was proud of her Creole/Cajun heritage and enjoyed her food spicy just like she herself was.
While Naomi passed in December 2021, her legacy continues to bloom through RIVA and her sister, Jo Ann, her seminal qualitative market research book, Secrets of a Master Moderator, interviews, recordings, contributions to publications like Quirk’s Magazine, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and QRCA, Plus the over 7,000 people she trained.
Quick facts
- 1: One of the first African Americans in the qualitative consumer market research business
- 1: RIVA Training is the first known non-academic, qualitative market research dedicated training institutions
- 5: Number of continents RIVA students call home
- 427: Pages in her book, Secrets of a Master Moderator, often cited by universities and researchers alike
- 6,000: Qualitative research studies conducted for clients
- 7,000: Students trained in both public and custom trainings
- 10,000: Pages of curriculum written for 13 in-house RIVA courses
- 50,000: Individuals Naomi talked to about conducting research since 1965
- 100,000: Respondents that have been part of research Naomi conducted
