A New Life:From fashion to festival, Geraldine Tierney brings her family and career home to Kilkenny, writes Brian O 'Connell
From a young age, Geraldine Tierney was a dedicated follower of fashion. Yet it wasn't just the labels or latest trends that caught her eye; she can recall questioning people's buying patterns while still in secondary school. This natural intuition would stand her in good stead later on.
The time was 1980s Ireland and, as with so many of Tierney's generation, academic choices were based not on personal interest, but professional realities. So, despite an aptitude for fashion and art at Junior Cert level, Tierney took mostly science subjects for her Leaving Cert and was soon heading for Manchester and a BSc in chemistry. "It was my first time away from home and, to be honest, I couldn't wait to get out of Kilkenny. The world seemed very big and I wanted to get away and see some of it."
But soon into the degree, Tierney realised that science wouldn't be the life for her, yet she continued with the course and graduated with honours. "The life of a chemistry graduate can be quite a lonely research-based professional road, so I knew I didn't want a completely research-based job at the end.
"In our final months many companies were recruiting in the college, one of which was Harrods. They had this graduate training scheme in buying and retail. I liked numbers and fashion so I applied and I started with them in September 1991. Thus I began my career in the fashion industry."
The traineeship exposed Tierney to all areas of the rag trade, from business buying to merchandising. She quickly found she had an aptitude for the industry and after three years she became assistant buyer for ladies' accessories. It was time to take the next step.
"I was approached to become the knitwear buyer for the Arcadia Group which I accepted. The downside with the retail trade is really unsociable hours and quite a pressurised environment. You're always only as good as your last season. It's a great buzz, sure, but when people think of the fashion industry often they just imagine the fashion shows and the glamorous side of the business. But there is a lot of travel involved, and you are working with big budgets with little margin for error."
By the time she reached her late 20s, Tierney had a decision to make: either stay in London or make a clean break and return to Ireland. She decided to head home, but not before a 10-month hiatus to explore South America. "I knew I would be going into full-time employment and I never really had a break after college so off I went.
"When I came back I became the knitwear buyer for Dunnes Stores, working out of Dublin, eventually being promoted to senior buyer. I stayed there for three years, at which point A Wear approached me. The work in Ireland was much more relaxed and I suppose the retail industry here was not as developed as the UK simply because of market size.
"With A Wear, I was responsible for a team of buyers who worked in sourcing material for the entire chain. The mainstay of the work remained the same - it was about manipulating large budgets and maximising sales profitability. It could be quite reactionary at times."
In 2005 Tierney married and soon after had a baby. The long hours of the retail trade were beginning to become a burden as she struggled to maintain a family and professional life. "I could be away for two weeks at a time which became really hard as I had no family in Dublin. I found the creche thing quite hard. Between traffic and trying to plan, it became very difficult. If the baby got sick or something happened, I found it very isolating. I used the creche at the IFSC, which opened at 7.45am. I remember being outside at 7.30am waiting for it to open. My baby was two to three months old and we waited in Starbucks, so I could hand in the baby and rush to a sales meeting. I thought to myself this is not right. I loved my job but something had to give. It was not fair being gone all the time and it put lots of stress on us as a couple."
Tierney and her husband, also from Kilkenny, began discussing the prospect of returning to their native city if an opportunity arose. They were keen to afford their children the type of upbringing they had, so they began monitoring the job market in the marble city.
When the position of chief executive of the Kilkenny Arts Festival was advertised, Tierney decided to take a punt. She'd never worked in arts before but had plenty of experience manipulating budgets and managing people. As it turned out, she was the ideal candidate.
"The chief executive of Kilkenny Arts Festival caught my eye. The job role was not too different from what I had been doing: it was about a product and delivering to people's expectations. There was a strong budgetary aspect to it, as well as implementing marketing and advertising campaigns. Sometimes people say, 'how did you go from the retail industry to this work?' but really there are a lot of similarities."
Having secured the role, Tierney moved back to Kilkenny in 2006, while her husband continues to commute to Dublin. Although the day-to-day logistics of Tierney's work life have changed dramatically, her workload hasn't changed all that much. "So far it's been crazy but really great. I was thrown in at the deep end, in what is difficult and challenging work. It's also a challenge coming from the commercial sector to a non-profit organisation. Resources are really tight and you have to be really clever how you use money. It can be stressful and really infuriating at times.
"There is no shortage of ideas or passion; the thing is finding money to be able to deliver. One of our biggest challenges is to break even."
Like any chief executive, Tierney is responsible for steering the overall direction of the organisation and ensuring everyone is moving in the same direction.
"I'm responsible for the entire logistical operation of the festival. Thankfully, we have an excellent team in place that is responsible for curating the artistic element. The mainstay of my work is fundraising, planning the logistics, and also planning all advertising, marketing and print work. It can be seven days a week in the lead-up to the festival in August."
Finally, does Tierney miss the high-flying world of fashion? "Sometimes I do miss the craziness of it. I love the fashion world. It's very instantaneous and you need to move very quickly. I do miss that and also the hype in some respects. But I have to say this new role challenges me every hour of the day. It's a different type of circumstance but the same types of challenges are still there. I'm happy out!
"A lot of people are scared of change, but you have to go with your instinct. That's the way I've always lived my life. I think it's important to do that and follow your heart and not be afraid of change. If you embrace it, you can make it work."