My name is Grace O’Shea and I am currently working in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).
When I filled in my CAO form, I didn’t know that my current role existed. In Secondary School, I thought that choosing a career path meant choosing between becoming a teacher or a nurse or “a something”. I recall feeling quite boxed off, and being afraid of making a decision that may restrict me.
I started the Bachelor of Arts programme in Maynooth with the initial plan of studying two languages and then going into Education. This all changed when I walked into my first Marketing lecture which was being taught by an intelligent female business professional. I remember thinking to myself, “This woman is like something off The Apprentice!”. My view of the world began to change.
I graduated in 2018 with a Major BA degree in Business and Minor in French. With the guidance and encouragement from two female Lecturers in the School of Business in Maynooth University, I decided to apply for a Masters in “Marketing, Consumption and Society” in the University of Limerick.
Following the Masters, I was offered a place on the IBEC Global Graduate programme, which involved working with a Multinational company, Fujitsu Ireland while studying a part-time Postgraduate Diploma in Global Business Leadership in Technological University Dublin.
I recently returned to Maynooth University to complete a Professional Certificate course in Sustainable Business and Management, and I am also working with Undergraduate Marketing students on a live project with the very same female Lecturer who I thought was like someone off the The Apprentice all of those years ago. Who knows, maybe there’s a girl sitting in the classroom thinking the very same about me today!
Happy International Women’s Day to all Maynooth staff, students and alumni all over the world. Together we have and continue to Choose To Challenge