Delve into the life of Mary Shiels, Global Gead of PR at ghd. Find out inspirations, influences & how Mary unwinds... (including a hip hop yoga class!)
07
Mar
Daisy Churchward
Celebrating International Women’s Day, we’ve put together a Women in Beauty series delving into the lives of inspirational women heading up the beauty industry.
What helps you relax and unwind from work?
To relax and unwind after work I do a hip hop yoga class with Kirsty Raynor at ONE LDN. This helps me to clear my mind and to focus on myself for an hour of the day. After the class I feel relaxed and try not to check my phone until the following morning.
What is your daily mantra?
Positive mind, positive vibes, positive life. I am all about staying positive, no matter what life throws my way!
What advice would you give your younger self?
Don’t stress so much about work. Hard work doesn’t go unnoticed so keep giving it your all, you’ll be rewarded for it eventually.
What’s next for ghd and yourself?
The new ghd SS18 limited edition Saharan Gold collection launching later this year. It’s a beautiful capsule collection of hair essentials in warm golden metallic hues, inspired by opulent desert escapes – delivering smooth, shiny and healthy hair at home or on the go. We’re hoping to launch the collection at Coachella festival so I’m currently planning that at the moment.
What gives you strength?
Being around my family and friends gives me strength. They’re the most important people in my life and I try to spend as much time as possible with them all.
What has been your biggest professional hurdle?
Believing in myself has been a hurdle that I’ve had to overcome. When I started out in PR I spent too long worrying about what others thought of me when really I should have just believed in myself from the beginning.
What has been your biggest professional (or personal) achievement?
Setting up the in-house PR team at ghd from scratch and delivering results that were up 300% in the first year. Plus external recognition that the ghd PR team delivered the highest PR results in 2017 for the whole haircare category in the UK, beating all of our competition. I’ve got a dream team working for me and together we make work fun and deliver strong results at the same time!
What do you do for fun?
Travelling and exploring new places is my favourite thing to do so I squeeze in as many holidays or weekend’s away as possible throughout the year – all of my friends joke about the amount of holiday’s that I go on but there really is nothing that beats the buzz of a holiday for me!
When I’m not on holiday meeting up with friends for brunch or dinner (anything that involves delicious food!) is my kind of fun.
What is your Desert island product (from your own brand!)
ghd soft curl tong – it is super easy to use and creates the perfect effortless loose waves. It’s the one product that I cannot live without, I’m obsessed with it!
What woman has had the most influence in your life? Or who is the woman you most admire?
100% my mum. She is a total ray of sunshine, full of positive energy and always looks on the bright side of life. Everyone who meets her instantly loves her and I’m constantly inspired by her and want to be like her.
If you ruled the world for one day, what universal law would you put in place?
I’d ban mobile phones for the day so that everyone fully communicated and engaged with the people around them instead of staring into a screen all day long!
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