About Me

Hi, I’m Karen, a marketing professional with nearly two decades of experience working in marketing, creative and communication roles for organisations.

  • 2024: Facilitator, World Happiness Summit, London

    2022 - Present: Board Member, Dublin Dance Festival

    2023-2024: Executive Coach

    • Coached many marketing and creative professionals to be more resilient, overcome imposter syndrome and accomplish professional goals

    2023-24: Interim Head of Digital Marketing, SSE Airtricity

    • Led out on the design of a new org model for the marketing function across Great Britain and Ireland. The org model is designed to grow and strengthen the digital marketing capability.

    • Coached senior members of the team to continuously grow in their roles and achieve their goals and set plans to create a Marketing Academy for continuous learning.

    • Set up an AI clinic to explore marketing use cases for generative AI and improve prompt-writing capabilities

    2023: AIM Innovation Centre

    • Led out on the brand strategy and website development for AIM Innovation Centre which saw increased interest and engagement after the work was rolled out.

    2017-2022: Accenture, Global Innovation Centre

    • Marketing mentor for founders of high-growth start-ups in the circular economy sector as part of The Circular’s Accelerator programme, which is an Accenture initiative in collaboration with the World Economic Forum.

    • Led a team of strategists to identify and validate growth opportunities for Fortune 500 clients using design thinking methodologies and executive facilitation skills.

    • Appointed Conduct & Behaviours Champion during the pandemic and together with HR developed an employee programme to support employee well-being and productivity while remote working.

    • Drove research that gave insights into the value of adopting cloud technologies. This research was developed into an immersive experience in New York.

    • Drove the proposition development of Accenture’s global innovation services with leadership and created business development materials.

    2015-2017: RTE, CRM Marketing Manager

    • Led out on marketing campaigns across multiple digital channels.

    • Managed the implementation of the Salesforce Marketing CRM system and designed and marketing automation journeys.

    2011-2015: Senior Producer, Aertv, Magnet Networks

    • Led a production team to livestream numeous video productions for a client list that included Jameson, Failte Ireland and Today FM.

  • Surprisingly, I never set out to work in marketing when I started as an Online Producer with Virgin Media in 2006. The only thing that’s consistent about my career is a tendency to work in teams driving change and innovation.

    I got drawn into the world of marketing as it became more digital. I realised it was a space that allowed me to work at the intersection of technology, data and storytelling. I’ve always evolved my technical ability as marketing changed and today that evolution is focused on extracting value out of generative AI.

    As I climbed the corporate ladder in the latter part of my career, I realised the increasing importance of interpersonal skills. My technical abilities were strong, but I often found myself entangled in perfectionism, jumping into solution mode too quickly, and struggling with workaholic tendencies. These habits led to cycles of burnout and misunderstandings in the workplace.

    Recognising the need for change, I started to strengthen my emotional intelligence along with learning about the neuroscience of performance, team culture and dynamics, and resilience-building.

    The marketing world is fast-paced and fraught with stories of pressurised teams, burnout, strained client-agency relationships, and complex team dynamics.

    To better equip myself and others, I became an EMCC-accredited coach and started to coach people working in agency and freelance creative roles.

    With all this experience, I want to make marketing and creative teams mentally stronger by equipping them with some of the knowledge I have learned and practised.

    Together, we can drive change technically and lead it humanly.

  • 2024: Dip. Diversity, Equity, Belonging & Inclusion (Ongoing), UCD

    2023: Dip. Coaching & Mentoring, Kingstown College

    2023: Neuroscience for Business, MIT Sloan Executive Education

    2022: SEO Masterclass, Udemy

    2018: Data Analysis, Udacity Nanodegree

    2017: Design Thinking Facilitation, LUMA Institute

    2016: Digital Marketing Leadership, Squared Online

    2007: BSc. In Multimedia, DCU