Last week, our team traded our home offices for the "arctic tundra" of Washington, D.C., to strategize, reconnect, and define exactly who Citizen Codex is becoming in 2026. As a remote-first company with fifteen team members, finding moments to come together in person has proven vital to our culture and collective success. This time together sets our trajectory for the year. Beyond just aligning on goals, we define the precise actions needed to hit our targets and elevate how we deliver for both ourselves and our clients.
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While the conversations were wide-ranging, I left those two days with three defining insights:

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1. Hidden talents are revealed by an open culture

Fostering an environment where people feel heard, raise their hands for projects that combine their interests and career goals, and experiment with their research openly has enabled us to uncover hidden talent across all disciplines at Citizen Codex. We are more than data analysts or product designers; we are musicians, brand designers, real housewives historians, crafters, photographers, teachers; the list goes on! This brings a diversity of thought and ideas to our projects that simply cannot be quantified.

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2. The Power of "Delusional" Ambition

While we lean heavily into research and impact, we aren't afraid of the unconventional. Our CEO, Nicole Varela, shares a piece of specific advice every year as we set our goals and OKRs: “Be delusional.” We strongly believe in shooting for the stars and landing on the moon. Whether it’s tackling a unique engineering challenge or believing we can win a seemingly impossible RFP—we set the difficult goal because we’ve done it before, and we will do it again.

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3. Radical Alignment with the Mission

The only way to move forward is for all of us to be rowing in the same direction. This all-hands really validated that our current team share one common thread: we believe that data should be more than accessible; it should be usable, resonant, and enable real change.

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Looking Ahead

We are incredibly energized by our 2026 vision and deeply grateful to the members of Codex who believe in what we are building. You are the heart of our company and our practice.

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