Throughout the morning and afternoon sessions at Higher Options, a number of talks will examine the various career opportunities that can follow different study choices. Each talk will feature a panel of guests at various stages of their careers and studies, who will share their experiences, insights and advice.
Here are a couple of the speakers attendees won’t want to miss.
Kathryn Mason is the managing director of Mason PR. She studied a business diploma specialising in music management.
“I knew from day one I wanted to work in the music industry. And it’s quite niche, so it’s very hard to get into,” Mason explains.
Nonetheless, she managed not only to forge a career in her preferred industry, but now owns her own PR firm that remains firmly connected to the music business, albeit in a different way.
Mason began her career working for record labels, before taking a break for a couple of years, moving abroad and becoming a ski instructor. “Because that’s what you do,” she says jokingly.
When she returned to Ireland, Mason was certain she wanted to continue working in the music industry, but to also broaden her line of work.
Her role means she is dealing not only with those who work in the music business, but also with people across the many forms of media. This gives her insights into, and experiences of managing, two sectors that often overlap.
One of Mason’s clients is the IMRO Radio Awards and she set up the All-Ireland Podcast Awards. “When people think media is dead, it’s not dead. It’s anything but dead. It’s just a different way of working it. That’s the difference.”
- Kathryn Mason will take part in a discussion on Careers in Arts and the Media at Higher Options.
Sandi Ndebele is a chartered principal process engineer at Eli Lillyand Company. He didn’t necessarily realise at the time of studying that this was the branch of engineering he wanted to pursue, but he enjoyed his modules in chemical engineering and, after a few internships in the industry, he figured this was the path for him.
“Being a process engineer translates really well with all the stuff they try to teach us at college,” says Ndebele. “And the further up you go through the degree, the more it makes sense.”
Few paths, of course, are completely straight, and Ndebele has tried his hand at other things. Including being a trivia quizmaster.
During a career break, he travelled to Australia and while out there, found a new way to make some money. “For six months, in a different bar in Melbourne, I would host a quiz, go home, repeat,” he explains. It was an experience he could have, knowing that he could return to his company once his travels were complete.
And no skill is ever a wasted skill – Ndebele puts those quizmaster talents to good use for charity purposes, on occasion.
He is a recent convert from rave-music enthusiast to metalhead, in case you were wondering what kind of music a process engineer might enjoy. “It helps me concentrate,” he says.
One of Ndebele’s goals in life is to figure out what his cat’s meows mean. “I think we’re starting to understand each other. He knows what he wants. And I can tell he knows what he wants. I just have to go through different options.
“There’s a lot of engineering to be done, but we’ll get there,” he adds.
- To learn more about being a process engineer (and to discover if Sandi Ndebele is any closer to becoming a cat whisperer), come along to the talk on Careers in Engineering at Higher Options.