My Career: 'I worked with Zig and Zag and on Come Dine With Me...now I'm in communications'

Name: Amanda Spencer

Age: Old (enough) and young (enough)

Lives: Dublin, works Cork/Dublin

Job title: Marketing and Communications Director at ePower

Salary bracket: €60k+

Education background: BA in English and Philosophy. MA in Film

Hobbies: Must get some again!

Describe your job in five words: Busy, buzzy, collaborative, creative, and fulfilling.

Describe yourself in five words: quick-thinker, worrier, do-er, laugher, stresser.

Personality needed for this kind of work?

Flexible in your thinking, friendly and open.

My job at ePower means I work with people from all different career backgrounds. Gaining an understanding of what motivates them helps me amplify their message, find their audience, and promote their good work.

How long are you doing this job?

Three and a half years.

How did you get this job?

Starting my post-college career, I worked at Double Z doing production with childhood heroes, Zig and Zag, Dustin, Podge and Rodge. I had a ball!

It was fast-paced; everyone was very funny and talented, so I was a bit out of my depth, but the Double Z gang were lovely, so I soon found my feet.

I returned to my family business after a couple of years to build the client base and develop the business.

Link Personnel Services was founded by my parents in 1988. Currently run by my brother, I went back to the business at a time when we were looking to broaden our client base.

As I approached 30, though, I wanted to make sure I didn’t forget that TV/film was where I wanted to be.

I contacted two people in the business. Went to work and was lucky to be offered an opportunity of a permanent role within the first month.

That was with Darren Smith in Kite Entertainment – they make some of the nation’s favourite shows of the moment such as The Traitors, Gogglebox and Ireland’s Fittest Family, to name a few.

After some great years at Kite, I decided I wanted to go freelance and work with some different production companies. I didn’t know it at the time, but I think subconsciously I wanted to have different company experiences, as a couple of years later, I moved to London. Having worked on different kinds of productions, that gave me a bit of confidence.

Three months later, savings gone and no job offers, I got an offer to direct and produce Come Dine With Me, a programme I have loved for over a decade.

That opened doors to other TV jobs, directing or producing for Netflix, Channel 4 and Sky Arts.

I returned home to have my little boy. Covid came; I hadn’t worked in Ireland for seven years, so by the time it came to look for a job, I was lucky to be able to contact some previous colleagues.

Anthony Nilan from Virgin TV and I had worked together a decade before. He had an opening for a maternity leave contract in the Commissioning Department at VMTV. It was such a great time, getting to be a part of so many productions at differing stages of development.

After the contract, I did some freelance consulting on communications. A great pal from college, Paul O’Donnell, called me about a company he was really impressed by that his firm was doing some work with. That company was ePower.

I met CEO John O’Keeffe and worked for a short time as a consultant, before being offered my current role.

This is all to say, good relationships. Honest relationships with people you get and who get you have been necessary ingredients across every part of my career.

Do you need particular qualifications or experience?

Most people in my role would have a marketing qualification, but ePower were confident after my stint as a consultant that they could support me in the role, and it worked out so well.

Again, a reminder that if you’re recruiting into a role, the on-paper version of the right candidate isn’t always the right choice.

Describe a day at work:

I work with the wider team in ePower to promote our public, domestic and commercial EV charging and solar PV systems. Making sure the wider public know about us, know they can trust in our work and also making sure we are in a position to comment on / encourage policy in an evolving sector.

How many hours do you work a week? 40

What do you wear to work? Smart casual

Is your industry male or female dominated? Male

Does this affect you in any particular way? In some ways, but none insurmountable!

Is your job stressful? How? Rate it on a scale of 1-10:

2 on a good day, 8 on another! Balance.

Do you work with others or on your own?

Mostly with others, which I love.

When do you plan to retire or give up working?

No, I hope not.

Best bits:

A challenge, a new industry, an industry that’s making a difference for our environment and is in necessary growth. Kept on my toes, which I like.

Worst bits:

I do miss TV, but we create a lot of great content at ePower so that works out fine!

Advice to those who want your job?

I think because the route to here was non-linear, I don’t know if I’m qualified. I would say if it feels right, it’s probably right. The opposite holds true as well.

Each week, we feature career profiles of women working in Cork in WoW!

If you would like to find out how to feature, email mary.cororan@theecho.ie.