Ashley blazing trail in fashion and tech

Lifestyle – Well-travelled Craughwell woman Ashley McDonnell has held pivotal roles in leading design houses including Dior and with top technology company Google. Now based in Geneva, working with Puig, the 27-year-old tells STEPHEN GLENNON how her childhood athletics coach helped nurture her tenacity, an invaluable quality in the competitive luxury fashion industry.

At just 27 years of age, award-winning digital media manager, fashionista and university lecturer Ashley McDonnell has achieved more than many would in a lifetime – including visiting 60 countries!

Having studied and worked in Paris for seven years, the Craughwell technologist was employed at the headquarters of LVMH – a multinational corporation responsible for brands including Louis Vuitton, Givenchy, Kenzo, Moët Champagne and Hennessy Cognac – before she joined their subsidiary, Christian Dior.

In April 2019, she moved to Google’s luxury accounts department. Within a year, Google elevated her to global manager and recognised her ability with an EMEA Impact award. Last December, she received further acclaim when Digital Business Ireland presented her with the Next Generation accolade.

Ashley is currently based in Geneva, working as Global Digital Media & eCommerce manager with the fragrance and fashion house Puig. Their brands include Jean Paul Gaultier, Paco Rabanne, Caroline Herrera, Nina Ricci and Charlotte Tilbury, which Puig recently bought a majority stake in.

Yet, for all Ashley has achieved, she says her story could quite easily have been one of rejection. She estimates that she applied for 100 jobs before getting inside the door of LVMH. It was the same with Google.

“If I had given up after getting one rejection from LVMH! It took 99 more applications to get in. The same for Google, it took nearly 10 years; I started applying when I was 17 for internships and I only got an offer when I was 26,” she says.

“Anything I have got to do in the last 10 years is purely down to perseverance. You have to keep trying. People who preserve will get in the door.”

Ashley is not one to take ‘no’ for an answer, as Puig found out. After applying for her current job, she received a ‘rejection email’. However, she felt she could play a big role in taking the company into the digital age and duly let them know.

“I’m always being rejected,” she laughs. “So, I was like, ‘no, this is not possible’. This was the first time ever I saw a job where I did actually have those qualifications.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

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