Marianna Dooley is an experienced marketing professional who has built a successful career in marketing and brand management. Her experience lies within fast moving consumer goods, working with brands such as Waterford Crystal and Premier Foods. She thrived on the pace, challenge, relationship building, and international travel in an ever changing exciting career.

In 2009, Marianna took a 13 year career break to raise her young family and relocated many times during this period to support her husband’s specialist medical career – 20 times in as many years to London, Ireland and Australia.

As an expat in a new country, Marianna shares the challenges of uprooting her life, often with very little notice, and trying to build a new life in a new country with 3 young children in tow. She talks of how her professional skills came into play in helping her to manage these moves – research, planning, project managing and networking – and how reaching out to others in her new destination helped her to learn from their lived experience and smoothed the transition.

Once back home in Dublin and ready to resume her professional career, Marianna proactively reached out to people she’d been in touch with before her career break and took steps to get professionally and personally ready for her return. On a professional level she upskilled, and on a personal level she got fit and healthy, helping to ensure her return to work would be sustainable. “I do feel a big part is not just being professionally ready. I think that part is actually not as important as being personally ready and in the head space to really assess why it is you want to work and what it is you’re looking to get from work”

Marianna found success through the Deloitte Ireland Returnship Programme. 

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For advice, support, opportunities, and connection, see our Women Returners website: https://bit.ly/3eAhKQH