DESIGNER PROFILE

Greetings from the Huggleknits Crafty Corner.
This month I am delighted to be able to introduce Bernadette Sweeney from the Dublin ETSY office to you all.

Mo:  You are very welcome to Dublin Bernadette and it’s great that there is now an ETSY office here in Ireland.   How did you get involved with ETSY?

Bernadette:  Thanks for the warm welcome Mo.  It’s great to be here.  I started working at ETSY in May of 2009.  When I started, I was employee number 50 and now we have over 400 employees!  I had always been a fan of ETSY and I hit the jackpot when they found me on LinkedIn.  I am based out of our corporate headquarters in Brooklyn, NY, however, I am delighted to be living in Dublin for 4-5 months to help set up our new office at the Digital Hub.  The Dublin office will grow and become ETSY's International Headquarters. The team in Dublin will target international sellers and buyers of unique handmade and vintage goods, as well as craft supplies and the Dublin office will have operational support including customer support, seller outreach, engineering, IT, and human resources.

Etsy Office Brooklyn

  At Guinness Hub

Mo: That’s very exciting for all of us crafters here in Ireland.  Are you a crafter yourself?

Bernadette: I knit a little bit and I am really into photography.  I always have my camera in my pocket and it takes me a long time to get anywhere because I am always stopping to take pictures! I live in New York and although I travel a lot, New York is still one of my favourite places to photograph.  One of my recent trips was on a family cruise to Alaska which is a beautiful part of the United States and I took over 1,000 pictures in 7 days!

Brooklyn in the snow

 

Alaska

 

Mo:  Do I detect some Irish links with your name?
 
Bernadette:  yes, I suppose I can’t hide it.  My parents are both from Mayo and when I was younger, my 2 sisters, my brother and I were lucky enough to spend our summers here with our Grandparents and my cousins.  My Mom is the knitter in the family and has an Etsy shop called Moms Handmade Irish.  She learned to knit as a little girl in Ireland.   Last August, my whole family came to Ireland to help my Dad celebrate his 80th birthday.  We stayed in Mulranny, right on Clew Bay.  It was fantastic.  In January, I was able to visit my Aunt and 2 Uncles who live in Mayo.  They are right on the Atlantic Ocean and we always joke that New York is on the other side of the ocean!
 

In Clew Bay, Co Mayo

Mo:  It’s great to meet you Bernadette and I wish you loads of luck with your work here in Dublin.  Hopefully you will get to see more of the country while you are here.

Bernadette: Thanks Mo.  Before I head back to New York, I'd like to travel around Ireland to meet sellers that are not Dublin based. I'll be working with Sue to coordinate dates, times and places so stayed tuned!

And you can contact Bernadette here:   https://www.etsy.com/people/bernsweeney

That’s it for this month.  I’ll be back on Friday 12^th April with some more interesting people to meet.  In the meantime, Happy Mothers Day, Happy St. Patricks Day and Happy Easter.

Cheers Mo – www.huggleknits.etsy.com