Thursday, 4 August 2022
Buncrana native Martina Doherty is a woman of many trades, marketeer, entrepreneur, digital nomad and cyclist, to name but a few. Along with husband Nigel, she returned home for an extended working holiday in 2022. Martina talks here about her career and experience of life back in Inishowen.
Having spent 15 years in the industry in a variety of roles, Martina set up her very own marketing and PR agency, MD Consulting while living in London, working with multiple companies in the FinTech sector. The motivation to set up her own business was driven by her in-house experience of external marketing agencies she dealt with while working in the banking sector. “I saw these agencies lacked sufficient knowledge of the complexities of trading and technologies or services they were trying to promote -. When I realised that my expertise as a technology product marketer was pretty unique, I set up MD Consulting to meet this gap.”. Since the company’s inception, her team has grown to a network of eight consultants, working with a range of clients from global investment banks to tech startups.
But it’s not just all work for Martina. In 2018, she and husband Nigel, embarked on an epic challenge, cycling from London to New Zealand! 35,500 km, 28 countries, 7 punctures and a few ailments later, the couple completed their journey in 2020. “The idea was hatched one night after a few drinks and it slowly took hold and became a reality when we made the definitive decision to do it”. When asked if it was a life goal to travel the world, Martina states “I was never a sporty person so it was definitely not a life goal for me or Nigel, but I am so glad we did it. A tour of Ireland is next on the cards!”
The spontaneous tour around the world and 2 years of lockdowns left the couple desperate to be nearer to the great outdoors and less crowded environment. In early summer of this year, the pair decided to move to Buncrana. As Martina put it, “Buncrana seemed like the obvious solution!”
“We wanted to have an extended stay in Donegal but we both had work commitments, so I googled Remote Working in Buncrana and the ii was top of my search”. After calling the hub manager, Kevin McShane, the pair were up and running in the Inishowen Innovation Hub for the summer.
Today, Martina works as an accredited Positive Psychologist and Leadership Coach, helping people to become emotionally intelligent by recognising, understanding and managing their human emotions. After returning from her epic journey, it felt right to make the change in career in a subject area she is passionate about. Martina embarked on her Masters in Positive and Coaching Psychology and now offers in-person and remote workshops and training programmes for organisations all over the world.
“The ability to deal with your emotions in the current volatile, uncertain and complex world is the key to be happy and healthy within ourselves. No matter what your industry or profession, being emotionally intelligent is relevant to everyone,” Martina says.
Working in the hub for the summer Martina outlines how it has opened the opportunity to work from Donegal more often. “One of the good things that the pandemic gave us all was the realisation that we can work from anywhere, and that location is not indicative of being able to do a good job.
Donegal is a great location to base yourself. For face-to-face trainings and workshops, the connectivity of direct flights from Derry to Stansted mean that working in person with London or Donegal clients is very easy to accommodate.”
Martina and Nigel returned to London for July and August for work and other commitments, but plan on returning to the county throughout the Autumn. Reflecting on her most recent visit to the county, Martina outlines the benefits of relocating to Donegal, “apart from being able to relocate with family and friends, immersing yourself in landscape of the county is amazing. Being keen cyclists and walkers, we are spoiled for choice for outdoor activities across the county, places I never even knew that existed, that were right on my doorstep.”
