Series 5, Episode 2 - "Unconventionality." Sophy Norris in conversation with Michelle McCann PhD. Senior Advisor, CMO, Author and visiting scholar at Queen's University Belfast.

In our latest Episode, Sophy Norris interviews a dangerous woman who has done that most dangerous of things; she has followed the opportunities. So much so that she now has a dual career as a marketer and a published historian.

Michelle McCann PHD has an Irish/American heritage and has lived in the UK for over thirty years. She has created a dual portfolio: on the one hand, a senior advisor and CMO; on the other, a passionate academic and visiting scholar at Queen's University Belfast.

From a marketing point of view, Michelle is a B2B Marketing/Propolis Expert and Senior Advisor at M&A advisory company Collingwood. She specialises in delivering innovative and tailored GTM solutions to founder-led and PE-backed companies with ambitious growth targets and focuses on driving value by building award-winning, high-performing teams. She has worked for enterprise businesses in the US, Ireland, and the UK.

Michelle is also an accomplished professional historian and published author, specialising in nineteenth and early twentieth century Irish social and political history, with expertise in topics ranging from death investigation and the Great Famine to gender studies and the Irish Civil War. As an enthusiastic speaker, she shares her knowledge on diverse subjects, including administrative history, art history, innovation, and Irish estate life and management. Her published works, Melancholy Madness, published in 2003 and The Irish Coroner: Death, Murder and Politics in Co. Monaghan, 1846-78, released in 2023, unite Michelle’s passion for Irish social history, rigorous research, and storytelling.

In this Episode Sophy and Michelle discuss how to take the road less travelled, crafting a career that works for each of us individually, and the power of being unconventional. Amongst other things, they discuss:

• The importance of chosing place, where is right for us personally?
• How following your passion should mean making the right choices
• Starting over and reinvention
• Finding our tribes
• The well-being a hybrid/dual career can bring
• Spending time outside work differently
• How not to say in our lanes
• Why telling the truth is the hallmark of a dangerous woman
• Seeing it through to the end: "I can do this. I have got to make this work"
• The skill of getting agreement and buy-in
• Living in an ageist world
• Trying everything and doing it for the joy
• Remembering that underneath it all, we are all just naked humans
• Taking the gang on your journey
• Why being a contrarian is so important

Links and References

• Michelle McCann LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mimccann/
• Sophy Norris LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sophy-norris/
• The Alligator Pi Agency LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-alligator-pi-agency/
• Collingwood LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/collingwood-advisory-ltd/
• Melancholy Madness (A Coroners Casebook) by Michelle McCann: https://bit.ly/3MUR40B
• The Irish Coroner: Death, Murder and Politics in Co. Monaghan by Michelle McCann https://bit.ly/40RqzfE
• The Rest Is Entertainment: https://www.youtube.com/@TheRestIsEntertainment
• Olwen Perdue, Queen's University Belfast: https://pure.qub.ac.uk/en/persons/olwen-purdue/