My Job
Making sense of arcane Eurospeak, policy and processes and translating these for non-initiated, and non-European clients. With my background in media relations, I work a lot on putting the PR bit into integrated policy campaigning. I also work a lot on multi-market pan-European and global campaigns.
My Experience
Sixteen years and counting in Belgium most of which has been spent in consultancy with a short hiatus in-house. Before that I’d lived and worked in Argentina, France, Germany, Italy and the UK.
My Proudest Achievements
Quite easily the work I did for the Walk Free Foundation that tackles the scourge of modern slavery. Leading a team from Perth to Peru we rocked the publication of two editions of the Global Slavery Index, secured blanket global media coverage hitting about 2.2bn people, had Russel Crowe chair a publication event in London, and got our spokespersons onto CNN’s Amanpour. It was also a great example of a PR campaign that advanced PA policy objectives in the area of social impact.
My Education
A BA (Mod) Hons in Italian and French from University of Dublin (TCD) with Erasmus at the Sorbonne in Paris and a research stint at the University of Bologna, followed by an MSSc in European Politics from the Queen’s University of Belfast.
My Languages
English, Irish, French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, bad German passive Dutch and woeful Hebrew.
My Interests outside work
My idea of heaven is playing a rubbish round of golf when the sun is shining, and walks and cycles through the countryside, and spending rainy weekends cooking in the kitchen whilst listening to talk radio. I’ve also been known to knit the odd scarf.