Sonic Sense with Nicole Cadoret

[Episode 1] Nicole Cadoret is the opposite of a wallflower. She’s compassionate, empathetic, and outspoken when she believes something unjust is in desperate need of attention. When she locks in on something she believes in passionately, she becomes driven, a self described evangelical to make things better. Her drive was already well known as a graphic designer in NYC, when she was inflicted with sudden and permanent hearing loss one day in 2013 while playing with her kids. She needed hearing aids, but hesitated to get them. When she finally did get a pair, and in the process experienced an industry in real need of attention. She dug into researching the hearing aids market, and was astounded at what she learned, and vowed to make some changes for the better. In an almost surreptitious-like fashion she met two businessmen who felt the same way about the state of the hearing aid industry. Together they co-founded Lively. It was then she literally felt she’d found her calling, which had only come to light from personal necessity. What makes Lively different is their commitment to offering more affordable, versatile hearing aids. She and her partners are just getting started, and have big plans ahead for more changes for the better to help all of us who may see hearing aids in our “graying” future.

Episode Book Pairing

Each episode the The Gray Matters podcast is paired with a book that complements the episode’s subject matter or simply had an impact on our guest’s life and journey.

Don’t Make Me Think

by Steve Krug

This book resonated with Nicole in her earlier days of design and she still references it today. It’s a usability design book first written in 2000. And it’s timeless. In fact, Nicole encourages all the folks she works with who are not product designers to read it as well.

Get your copy of Don’t Make Me Think from Bookshop.org.

About Nicole Cadoret

Nicole is a leader in product design and e-commerce, bringing more than 15 years of experience across startups, consultancies, and agencies. Nicole built the highly-regarded UX design team at Quidsi, overseeing 10 brands including Diapers.com and Soap.com and led the team through the Amazon acquisition. Nicole was formerly the VP of Design at Blink Health, a leader in the online pharmacy space.

Prior to her startup career, Nicole worked as a consultant at several NYC-based agencies, including serving as Partner and Design Director at Modus Associates where she built an award-winning design team to serve clients like NBC Universal, Comcast, Sittercity, Dow Jones Ventures, and Wyndham Worldwide. Nicole holds a BFA in Graphic Design from the Massachusetts College of Art.

Nicole was diagnosed with permanent, sudden hearing loss in 2013 and got her first pair of hearing aids in 2015. Her experience has made her a passionate advocate for education and adoption of hearing aids. In 2018, she co-founded Lively with Adam Karp and Elad Kolet, with a vision to make hearing aids more accessible and affordable. In 2021, GN Hearing, a global hearing aid manufacturer, acquired Lively for $94M.

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