'Following my dreams to become a director..motherhood made me reassess what I wanted for my future'
Love Your Local: Belfast’s Fiona McCartan, founder of Infinet Media reveals how her challenging journey to become a mum changed her dreams and influenced her to start her own social media and marketing business, Infinet Media
I have always been career-focussed, working towards what my next move will be and how I get myself there.
For the past 10 years, I have worked as a manager in manufacturing businesses across Northern Ireland. From marketing, to purchasing, to supply chain management. While working full-time, I have had a side hustle of being a social media content creator/influencer (@glutenfreefi), which over time has become my creative outlet and passion project.
Before going off on my second maternity leave, I was working as a Supply Chain Manager for a start-up manufacturing company that was about to go IPO on the London Stock Exchange. I worked day and night while we scaled and to support the company’s goal, but also working towards my own goal - I wanted to be a director. Of course, I needed to have this baby first!
Our journey to become parents wasn’t an easy one. We were told that we were infertile and wouldn’t be able to conceive naturally, but against the odds, we did! Devastatingly, we lost our first baby. A missed miscarriage.
The lonely club that nobody wants to be in - the ‘1 in 4’ who have experienced baby loss. With luck on our side, we fell pregnant twice again.
Once with our son, Arlo who is now four, and then with our daughter, Ottilie who is one.
I had two traumatic births (sometimes I feel guilty for even saying that, because I know how lucky I am). My most recent, leaving me very fortunate to still be here today. It made me reassess everything and for that I feel grateful. I realised that opportunities to support other people’s businesses will always be there, but supporting my family and my own dreams won’t.
As a result, I made the decision to start my own social media and marketing business, Infinet Media.
Infinet Media connects businesses with their target customers. I use my unique industry experience as a content creator to tell a brand’s story and engage with their audience.
I offer everything from social media strategies, full social media management, rebranding, copy writing and influencer collaborations. People often think that social media is a grey area when it comes to sales and growth, but on the contrary, I rely heavily on data and insights when creating a custom marketing strategy for a client.
How I move forward is based on data driven decisions. The results they will see are in black and white.
Despite only starting the business in recent months, I have been working with a host of amazing local businesses from a software development agency to a yoga house and already we are achieving incredible results, helping the businesses grow – in both awareness and sales.
For now, while I grow my business, I am focussing on what I can do for my family and what Infinet Media can do for my clients.
Despite only being a company of one, I have lots of opportunities for outsourcing work to photographers, videographers, graphic designers and web developers. I’m excited to not only see my clients’ businesses reach new heights, but also to be able to offer work to other people in the process.
If you would like to get in touch, pop me an email on [email protected], or follow me on Instagram @infinetmedia.
