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JENNIFER MARIA SHEAHAN
I am a passionate, driven marketing student who is actively looking for a role that will challenge me.
I love to learn and find myself asking questions that most people don't even think to ask. Whether it’s through various documentaries about the business world, nature, or history, or through my curious mind and googling questions as they come to me about topics of interest.
I would describe myself as a driven, hardworking marketing student at, with excellent teamwork skills, organisational skills and analytical focus. An interest in art from a young age which has recently developed into a new business venture. And, proven experience in client management from offering art commissions on a small scale and a collaborative, outgoing mindset from liaising with outside agencies and individuals during placement at Spéire.
This year, being my final year, I look forward to studying with a brand new cohort and the many exciting projects we will take part in. For example, the live case we will be doing with the Marina Market. I am also delighted to share that I have been elected Public Relations Officer of the MTU Cork Marketing Society and I cannot wait to get involved and gain more experience in a specific role.
MY BACKGROUND
"When I chose to pursue marketing in college, I didn’t really know if it was for me."
On the open day of what was then CIT, I attended a talk on the business courses available at the college and came away with a plan B for my CAO options. And, when no plan A revealed itself, I took the jump and went for it. In first year, I was really unsure if it was for me but I realised that I had touch points with this area of business since I was younger. For example, my family and I were involved in the local summer festival committee for years and I eventually became a committee member once I turned 18. In 2019 pre-covid, we reached out to Tadhg and Derry Flemming to open the festival as pictured below with myself and my family.
FOLLOWING MY PASSION
Setting up an instagram page for my art
In 2019, I set up my first art page on Instagram with no goals except to have fun and see where things went. After a few months of sporadic posting, I decided to get serious and try to increase my follower count to 200 in the next few weeks by posting regularly based on trending reels. A few years and many pieces of content later, I have reached 450 followers through organic growth. Though I have gone on a recent hiatus due to being back in college after a year out, I hope to keep this trend going upwards and plan on reviewing my page again to see where I could improve soon. I have recently changed the name from jensdailydraws to jennifart as it adds more personality and gets rid of the expectations of daily posts. (Jennifart is what my cousins call me when we're being silly)
TAKING A RISK
I hated business in secondary school and was borderline failing the subject all the way up to the leaving cert exams. So what in the name of god am I doing in a marketing course ? As I've said before above, marketing was my plan B until nothing else came along and it became my plan A. Initially, I really wanted to pursue art. I had thought about doing visual communications, another course at MTU Cork. However, I didn't have a portfolio ready at the time and I had seen how much work was needed to complete one from my friend, who had done several all-nighters to try and finish hers. Marketing was the next best thing in terms of creativity and it also had so much more to offer in terms of job security and progression.
At first it was a bit daunting, especially with the presentation side of things but after a while this aspect became one of my favourite things about the course. I found out that I really enjoy not only coming up with ideas but also sharing these ideas with my peers and lecturers. I almost dropped out in first year due to the stress of being away from home for the first time and not really knowing if the course was for me. But I stuck with it until Christmas and I’m so glad I did. I realised that, even though I don’t seem like the most outgoing person, the course actually really suited me and has helped me become more confident in myself.
In first year, I also undertook setting up a new society which was successful up until the first lock down in March of that year. I was chairperson for a time and it was really exciting to be able to say that I had setup MTU's first art society. But, unfortunately, it wasn't to be as pressures from the new online way of life proved too impactful.
From there, I completed the next years of college through a mix of online and in person classes, until I was forced to defer my 4th year of studies due to an earth-shattering diagnosis of breast cancer in 2022.
THE FIGHT FOR MY LIFE
Beating Stage 3 Breast Cancer
In 2022 I received the worst news anyone can get. The biopsy taken from a lump in my right breast had shown cancerous cells: invasive ductal carcinoma grade 3. Cancer, at 22. My entire world shattered at that point. Not only would I not be able to return to college and complete my degree, I would have to undergo 6 rounds of aggressive chemotherapy, a partial mastectomy and 20 consecutive days of radiotherapy.
Due to my age and the likelihood of malignancy being around 5% in this age group, my GP and consultant were almost certain it would be benign but unfortunately this wasn’t the case.
Only for my GP having made my referral urgent because she thought it was an infected cyst I would have been waiting up to 3 months to be seen. But even so, there were still some positives. From the beginning I was told it was very treatable and my outcome would be good. It hadn't spread to my lymph nodes or anywhere else around my body and my surgeon assured me I would be cancer free come March or April of 2023. And he was right !
Chemotherapy was a roaring success. The lump melted away after the first round. Surgery was a breeze, and though it was tiring so was radiotherapy.
Now, a year later, I enter an exciting and somewhat strange part of the journey: survivorship. I say it's strange because it's hard to imagine myself as a cancer survivor. I don't like being put up on a pedestal but I also do understand the strength and bravery needed to embark on this journey.
I've learned so much from this experience and definitely feel more confident and grateful than ever. I also decided to go public with my story. On daffodil day of 2023, with the help of the Irish Cancer Society, I was featured in the Evening Echo and the Irish Independent aswell as speaking on C103 and sharing my story with RedFM. My story is also visible on the Irish Cancer Society's website. I chose to do this to help others out there battling cancer feel less alone but also to educate people of my age about the importance of self-exams. It seems so simple but it saved my life !
Read my article here !
WHAT'S NEXT FOR ME ?
Part of the fun is not really knowing ! For now I want to gain experience in industry with hopes to maybe even go out on my own at some point in the future. I have explored the idea of doing a graduate program as I think it would be a great step between college life and the working world. For now I'm taking each day as it comes.
Whatever is for me won't pass me by.