What course did you study?

I graduated in 2015 with a degree in MSc Marketing.

 

What has your career path been since graduation? 

Since graduating, I moved from a graduate program with Apple Retail in Belfast into a Retail Marketing role for Apple Retail EMEA based in London. I did that role for a few years before moving into a Commercial Manager role within the Apple Retail Market Development team.

Following that, in 2020, I moved into a global role in Apple Inc based in London. As the Global Channel Programs and Development Lead, my role involves working collaboratively with sales, legal, finance, operations and marketing teams across the globe and at our headquarters in California to ensure we have a sales channel that is dedicated, strategic, competitive and consistent. The role is massive in scope and geography but very focused on a couple of specific sales verticals and programmes.

A typical day could involve assessing a partner candidate in Greater China, negotiating commercials with finance teams in Central & Latin America or refining legal terms in Canada — in short, there is no typical day!

In addition to my day job, I took on a leadership role in one of our diversity network associations - Accessibility@Apple. As I’ve gained experience throughout my career, I’ve found a passion for giving back to others through mentorship and guidance, as well as channelling my skills and knowledge towards a value-driven purpose. I feel it’s really important to pay it forward.

The DNA (Diversity Network Association) that I lead is fairly young in tenure, so most of my time is spent pitching and garnering support from across various parts of the Apple organisation. I also work a lot on events, communications and employee engagement.

I love collaborating with the rest of the leadership team on our strategy for employee engagement and for growing the membership base; it’s a really creative group of people. I’ve learned a lot from our members and look forward to hopefully making an impact in the coming years.

 

How did your degree prepare you for your current job role?  

The MSc Marketing Course was the catalyst to shifting my career from retail sales into marketing. It gave me the theoretical and practical experience that I needed to connect the dots between marketing and sales, as well as prepare me to take on a full-time marketing role and change functions in my company.

 

What were your favourite courses, modules or educational takeaways from your time at Queen's and why were they impactful?  

My favourite modules were consumer behaviour and marketing analytics because they really challenged me to think critically and creatively, as well as giving me real-life experience with statistical analytics software and classroom instruction by the SAS Institute.

This accelerated my learning and elevated my thinking to the next level. To this day, I still think about that software and the predictive analytical models we built and tested!

 

What advice do you have for someone considering studying at Queen’s Business School?

Get ready to engage on a deep level with your learning, your fellow students and the professors.

Make the most of the campus and facilities, as well as the openness of the faculty and meet as many people as you can.

 

What career advice would you give someone looking to go down a similar career path as you?

Stay curious and keep your student hat on, ask a lot of questions and meet a lot of people and explore as many career options and job functions as you can, early on.

Never be afraid to ask others for help, whether it's advice, a referral, some coaching or for some information. You never achieve anything completely on your own!

 

What has been your career highlight so far? 

What I love most about my role is coaching sales teams around the world on sales excellence and being exposed to the cultural nuances of a diverse range of markets.

However, my career highlight so far was leading Apple Retail's commercial expansion into India, which was one of the most challenging but rewarding experiences of my career so far.

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