Inspiring the Future: Jennifer Kelly
Jennifer Kelly

Inspiring the Future: Jennifer Kelly

FORMAL third-level education isn’t for everyone – there are so many different avenues that people can go down if the Leaving Certificate does not go to plan.

Growing up in Bawnogue and Greenpark in Clondalkin, Jennifer Kelly took the unconventional route of pursuing a post-Leaving Certificate course.

Having gone to Scoil Nano Nagle, Scoil Talbot and Sruleen National School, Jennifer fell into a habit of not applying herself fully while at Coláiste Bríde.

“I did alright in secondary, I just didn’t know what I wanted to do,” she says.

“Looking back on it, I was good at languages, but because I was lazy I had no interest in doing that after the Leaving Cert because I knew it would involve hard work.

“So I kind of fell into accounting because I just thought it would look like I did a Leaving Cert and knew I was able to do it, but it certainly wasn’t my best subject.

“It could have been, but I didn’t push myself to do more.

“You weren’t exactly encouraged either to push yourself.

“I think a lot of it was a function of what your background was as well.

“They probably knew the kids that could afford to go to the likes of university and they were told to be a teacher.

“And then they knew the ones that weren’t interested, they were told to be a hairdresser.

Jennifer Kelly had her own personal wake-up call

“The ones like us in the middle were just told to be a secretary.”

After graduating with an ‘okay’ Leaving Cert in 1991, Jennifer went forward to study Accounting in Rathmines College of Commerce.

But the same old habits that Jennifer had fallen into started to catch up with her.

“I was only 17 when I started in college and I did nothing – and I failed,” Jennifer recalls.

“I failed the repeats and I dropped out.

“My parents were so disappointed because they were so proud I was going to third level [education] but I just did nothing.

“I was very young as well, but I really took advantage of the fact that there was no homework, there was nobody looking over your shoulder, it was totally up to you and I did nothing.

“It was the kick that I needed really, it was a wake-up call.

“I didn’t know what I was going to do.”

After taking a step back, Jennifer recalibrated and decided to pursue a Post Leaving Certificate (PLC) in Accounting Technicians at Rathmines Senior College.

“The course that I had done clearly wasn’t for me, but I didn’t know what else to do because I hadn’t looked at any other areas,” the Rathfarnham resident says.

“I decided to stay in accounting because I knew I had a flair for it.

“When I found the Accounting Technician course, that gave me a great foundation in terms of the basics of accounting and business and I knew that was something I wanted to continue.”

When asked if accounting was always in the plans since childhood, Jennifer laughs.

“Accountant? Absolutely not,” she says with a real belly laugh.

“I wanted to be a hairdresser. No actually, I’ll tell you what I wanted to be – an air stewardess.

“But accounting certainly wasn’t on the radar. It was once I started studying it at third level that I knew I had an aptitude for it.”

That childhood dream job of being an air stewardess was borne from a desire to travel and see different parts of the world.

In some sense, Jennifer was able to marry the childhood dream job and her new qualification when she started to work as an Accounting Assistant in a travel agents, Travel Machine, on Dame Street, Dublin.

“I worked there for five years and I had a very, very supportive boss, Patricia O’Connor, who saw the potential in me,” Jennifer says.

“She knew I wanted to travel, I was made to go travelling to Australia.

“So she agreed that if I qualified as an accountant, she would put me through college at night and pay for my ticket to Australia.

“She knew I had a brain in my head and just wasn’t pushing myself.”

Working in Travel Machine during the day, Jennifer would make her way to Dublin Business School every evening in pursuit of becoming a Certified Accountant.

During that time, there was a couple of exams that Jennifer didn’t pass and needed to repeat.

“It sets you back, knocks your confidence and then obviously delays how soon you can get your qualification – you just have to keep motivated and look at the end, knowing it’ll be worth it once you get through it,” she says.

“One of the ones I didn’t get was in my final exam and that was very hard, knowing that all my friends had finished and I still had that one to finish.

“Knowing that I wanted to get that qualification behind me before I went travelling, that keeps you motivated.”

After putting her social life on hold – for the most part – Jennifer worked hard to balance college and her day job, and eventually graduated with flying colours after three years.

“Patricia invested in me, I wouldn’t have done it without her,” Jennifer says, warmly.

“I went to her 50th birthday party and I was able to publicly thank her – her own family didn’t even know that she had done that for me.

“It was great to be able to thank somebody and say ‘only for you saw something in me and invested in me, I’d still be working as an Accounting Assistant somewhere, not pushing myself’.”

Towards the late 1990s, the Kelly family went international. While her parents Harry and Mary didn’t go anywhere, both Jennifer and her brother Brian emigrated.

Patricia kept her word, purchasing a one-way flight for Jennifer to fly to Australia and she spent a year out there before jetting back to Ireland.

Six months after returning home, Jennifer decided to head back to Oz with her boyfriend Ken – whom she had met during their time at Dublin Business School.

The first time Down Under, Jennifer worked as an accountant and followed that up with odd jobs as a cleaner and in a fairground to make up enough money to keep travelling on the second time.

“It was a big change for me,” she says.

“Going from living at home to being away for months on end and having to worry about everything.

“You’re cooking, you’re cleaning, worrying about where your money is coming from.

“You know you really just grow up over night.”

In 2001, Jennifer returned home for good and Patricia O’Connor let her know that Donnybrook Travel – a company which had purchased Travel Machine – was looking for an accountant.

And she stayed there until 2006, when a spanner was thrown into the works.

“This was another big hit really,” Jennifer recalls.

“In 2006, I was made redundant because the internet had really impacted the travel industry.

“People just didn’t really need travel agents to book their basic travel arrangements anymore.

“Why would you go to a travel agent when you could just book it on the internet?

“At that stage, I was at a crossroads and my confidence was at rock bottom because I knew travel agents inside out but there was no jobs in the industry.

“I knew I’d have to start from scratch.”

The redundancy came at a really tricky time in Jennifer’s life.

She and Ken had purchased a house in Rathfarnham in 2003 and they got married in 2005 – a year before losing her job.

“Being made redundant, you’ve a mortgage and everything, considering whether to start a family or not – it’s a big thing then to think ‘what do I do now?’,” she says.

“Luckily I got the interview with Mazars and my boss at the time, Mairéad Divilly, really took a chance on me.

“I didn’t have all the experience that they’d need but they obviously saw potential in me, decided to take a chance on me and I was hired as a Senior Accountant in the Outsourcing Division.

“I remember my first three months, I was miserable because I kept waiting on the tap on the shoulder, somebody to go ‘you don’t have a clue what you’re doing sure you don’t?’.

“I really just thought that I was going to be found out that I didn’t know what I was doing.

“I had great support from my colleagues and bosses and after a few months I settled in.

“I mightn’t be familiar with what I’m doing but I can learn – and I did.”

At Mazars Ireland, they operate as the finance team for small businesses and multinational corporations who don’t have their own in-house accountant.

Over the last 15 years, Jennifer has risen through the ranks and finds herself in a management position now as an Outsourcing Director, helping shape the future of the division with the company.

In 2008 and 2010, having been on maternity leave after having her children Leo and Karl, Jennifer wanted to be sure that her career would remain a priority in her life.

“Your career can stall if you let it,” she says.

“If you’re happy to take a backseat and say that’s it, I’m a mam now and go in, do the job and come home – that’s fine and that suits some people.

“When I came back from maternity leave, I saw all the people who had progressed and I quickly learned that nothing is going to land in your lap.

“If you don’t look after yourself, nobody is going to, you have to look after number one and keep pushing yourself forward if you want to progress.

“If you don’t, there will be plenty of people who will leapfrog you.

“You’re juggling so much because you’re trying to be a mam as if you don’t work, and you’re trying to work as if you don’t have kids.

“Sometimes you feel like you’re not doing either. What can you do?

“I decided that I still wanted to progress my career and made sure I put myself forward, looked out for myself and pushed myself.”

Both Jennifer and Ken work full-time and they’ve been “lucky” that their parents can mind the kids when they’re at the office.

With this, Jennifer pushed to up-skill at Mazars and was constantly vying to prove to herself that she can break through the societal norms that women often find themselves in after having children.

Reflecting on her entire journey, the bumps on the road and overcoming challenges to come out the other side, Jennifer says that “it’s okay to not have it all figured out”.

“I’m a huge advocate of post-Leaving Cert courses and apprenticeships,” she explains.

“When I was in school I thought apprenticeships were for fellas who wanted a trade.

“The amount of apprenticeships that are on offer now in accounting, insurance,

catering and a huge amount of sectors is amazing.

“It’s not the be-all and end-all if the Leaving Cert doesn’t go your way or the course you picked hasn’t worked out.

“Full-time third-level education isn’t for everybody – there are so many other

avenues.”

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