Hello. Thanks for visiting my website. Seeing as you’re here, I thought I would tell you a bit about what I do and how I got here.
The road to copywriting has not been a straight one for me. I graduated from Communications Studies in DCU in 2011, having specialised in video production. Those were dark times. There was no work for a recent graduate who didn’t really know what she wanted to do, not paid work anyway.
Throughout college I worked as a supervisor in the Quiksilver store in Stephen’s Green. I worked my way up to Manager, honing my creative skills at every opportunity. I made my own window displays, painted a blackboard wall that I covered with seasonal drawings, and shot flat lays for the shop’s social media. I started a food blog where I shared my own recipes and reviews.
I was working, I was writing, I had money to keep myself in mojitos and I could grip a skateboard. Things were good, but there was always something missing. I wanted to be paid to be creative. I set myself a deadline – and with no job to go to – resigned in September 2013. It was terrifying, but as Joey Tribbiani once said, “I needed the fear”.
From there I took on internships and freelance work for friends. I even sold handmade embroidered Christmas garlands on Etsy for a time under the name Coton et Cœur. I learned a lot about what I wanted to do, and what I didn’t want to do. But I didn’t give up.
I eventually was offered a job as Digital Content Officer with international aid organisation, GOAL. I loved my job. I wrote every day and felt like – in my own small way – I was making a difference. I was responsible for all digital content: social media, blogs, stories from GOAL programmes. I even ghost-wrote for a few celebrities and higher-ups when they visited the field.
Leaving GOAL was a tough decision but the opportunity to join McCann was too good to pass up. I joined as a member of the Social Team. After seven months I was promoted to Social Media and Content Manager. I was responsible for the social team’s output, overseeing everything from strategy, copy, art direction, design and editing.
That role made me the creative I am today. It gave me the ability to see creative work holistically. What we do only works when words, pictures and placement all come together perfectly. I relished the challenge of this role, but while overseeing other’s work, I found myself missing writing.
A while later, McCann were looking for a copywriter. At first I didn’t think I could apply because of the gap I would leave where I was, but the MD assured me that was his problem to solve, not mine. So, I applied.
I went through the same application process as external candidates. There was an initial interview with the McCann CD, then a presentation to him and the Group CD. I put my heart and soul into it and got the job.
My journey to this role had given me a lot of skills. I was a good writer – particularly for digital channels – and a good presenter. I could edit video, and had an appreciation for a tidy visual. It had not however prepared me for the world of traditional media.
The first radio script I wrote was more like a short drama, it must have been a minute and a half long. But I asked for help, learned from my mistakes and absorbed the knowledge around me like a sponge. Now radio is one of my favourite media. I’ve gathered some of my radio work below for you to listen to.
I love what I do. I get to write every day and every project is different. At McCann I have written radio and press ads, six sheets, video scripts and treatments, animations and even a children’s book.
I have helped to create brands and informed how they speak to the world. I have made work for Microsoft, Médecins Sans Frontières / Doctors With our Borders (MSF), Dublin City Council, Zurich, safefood, Nakd and countless other clients. You can see a selection of these projects on the work section of my site.
With my fellow creatives I have made work that I could never even have imagined when I left Quiksilver in September 2013. Work that I will forever be proud of. Joey was right, sometimes you do “need the fear”
I have always written personal work, but until recently, I have kept it to myself (with the exception of my now defunct food blog). I recently shared an essay I wrote entitled My Endometriosis Story, which outlines my road to getting a diagnosis of, and treatment for Endometriosis. Sharing such a personal experience was one of the most daunting things I have ever done, much more daunting that quitting a job with nothing to go to. But, I hope that by sharing my rather long story, I can help to make another woman’s shorter.
If you would like to work with me, or just have a chat, please get in touch or connect with me on LinkedIn.