Griffith graduate designs her own route to success
Irish Independent Article highlights Griffith graduate's success
It is always wonderful to see one of our alumni reach their full potential in a career that they love. The Irish Independent recently featured one of our graduates, Audrey Gaffney, who now owns her successful business Audrey Gaffney Associates.
In the article, she admits, like many Griffith students that she took an unusual route to reach the success she has today.
"While I always wanted to get into fashion, I found myself directed by teachers to choose a more traditional industry so that's how I ended up studying computer programming". However, after a short stint in the sector, she soon realised that this career path was not for her. "I hated being stuck in a tiny cubicle all day," says Audrey.
"That's when I decided to focus more on the things I actually enjoyed and enrolled on an eight-week part-time course in interior design. I absolutely loved it," she adds. Although this eight-week course was appealing to Audrey, she was very aware that much more would be required of her to begin a career in her new passion of design.
"I knew that to get a job in design, I would have to return to college and I felt that at 24 I was too old to start over," explains Audrey. However, the motivation Audrey needed at this point of crossroads in her life came from an unexpected source. "When my younger cousin was diagnosed with cancer, she gave me a piece of advice that changed my life. She told me that I could go on living my life as it was - unfulfilled - or I could do something about it."
That’s when Audrey enrolled at Griffith College to pursue her degree in Interior Architecture while continuing to work full-time. Facing many challenges in starting her business, she is now proudly the employer of nine staff with a turnover rate of €750,000, and the success of her company has become very evident to all.
"Today, we are approaching 10 years of being in business and I now have an amazing design team around me and it is their combined effort and expertise that enables us to both grow and retain our loyal client base."
Audrey is a pure example of the opportunities that Griffith College can grant in enabling a life of fulfilment as she looks well on her way of achieving her goal of her firm becoming “one of Ireland’s leading interior architectural practices.”
To see the full article, CLICK HERE