Although Nessa O’Gorman was born in Dublin and spent her formative years there, her family were on the move almost every five years.

“My father was a bank manager, so I also grew up in Tipperary, Waterford and Cork,” she says. “My roots are therefore questionable, and this nomadic lifestyle has become part of my DNA.”

O’Gorman graduated from Dublin City University with a BA in applied languages (French and German), which also involved spending a year at university in France. This was followed by a masters in conference interpreting in French, also in DCU.

For a number of year she worked in Dublin for American Airlines as a tariff analyst, and also did freelance interpreting. Eventually, however, O'Gorman's inner Francophile emerged.

“I decided to move to France for three years, where I interpreted and taught,” she says. “I also did a six-month stint in Stockholm working for American Airlines.”

Returning to Ireland in the early noughties, she discovered that opportunities for a linguist were limited to call centres and teaching, neither of which she was drawn to.

“I felt I was being pigeonholed into roles, so I decided the time had come to broaden my horizons and reignite my career. Geneva, in fact, was my plan A and London my plan B. London was the first to deliver and what was planned as a one-year dip my toe in the water ended up being 14 years and still counting.”

Marketing top hotels

O’Gorman began her career in London as a revenue account and marketing manager for Preferred Hotel Group. She was responsible for Europe, marketing some of the most well-known four- and five-star hotels.

In her free time, she trained as a life coach and freelanced as a career coach. Then, in 2010, she and her boyfriend (now husband) Martin decided to go on a sabbatical for a year. “We cycled from Mexico to Ushuaia in Argentina over a period of 16 months, passing through 15 countries and covering 16,000km.”

The couple kept a blog of their adventure, and it makes riveting reading (see https://caminolatino.wordpress.com).

"We now live in southeast London, in Catford, close to Greenwich," she says. "The quality of life currently in London during the week is what the French refer to as train-train de la vie quotidienne, which equates to 'commute, work, sleep'. Commuting is very time-consuming in London and can be stressful."

O'Gorman is currently senior loyalty programmes manager for Expedia, where she is responsible for the loyalty programme, Expedia+, across 11 European countries, with a further three launching this year.

Expedia, a fast-paced and diverse high-tech company headquartered in Seattle, was voted the No 1 firm to work for in the UK by Glassdoor.

London offered O’Gorman a springboard to truly launch her career, and she advises that the opportunities are endless.

“I was immediately struck by the kudos associated with language skills in London, something which is almost taken for granted in Ireland. Irish professionals are very highly rated in London and are known for being hardworking, diligent and having that can-do attitude.”

The London bubble

How does O’Gorman view Brexit? As a professional in London, she says day-to-day life hadn’t changed since the referendum, and she doesn’t expect it to for several years. “London is a bubble and voted to remain, which puts it at odds with the rest of the UK.”

She does, however, think Britain will eventually regret leaving the EU. In terms of a silver lining, her Irish passport has suddenly become quite fashionable.

She found London a daunting and transient place at first, with people coming and going all the time.

“I very much put myself out there at the beginning and joined a rowing and cycling club in addition to studying Greek. As London is such a melting pot of cultures, it wasn’t long before I made new friends – so much so that at our wedding the priest counted 15 different nationalities.”

With so many Irish people in London, Nessa describes her domicile as a home away from home.

“One key benefit of leaving Ireland,” she says, “is it makes you appreciate the things that were overlooked when I lived there – the easy commute, kindness and friendliness of the people, the beauty of the landscape and, of course, friends and family.”