5 minutes with Clare Manson

We recently caught up with the person that wears almost every hat at Dragonly! Currently our longest serving team member (after the CEO) and definitely the one that knows almost everything at the business. It was a delight taking five minutes to catch up with Clare and not have to crunch numbers for a change.

Name: Clare Manson

Job title: Finance and Operations Director

First job in the industry: Dragonfly was my first job in the marketing industry. Before that I worked in the accounting world for 15 years doing audit and forensic accounting.

What is your area of expertise:
Translating numbers into English and risk mitigation.  I see the world very differently to my lovely marketing colleagues and my special skill is translating large sections of data and jumbled numbers into something that helps them with their jobs.  My mind is a constant decision tree of potential routes, so I can offer benefits and consequences to people who might be too close to the problem.

What do you love most about your job?

A lot of people say it about their job, but every day really is different for me.  I cover a lot of areas and some of them can be unpredictable. I do love a plan and a to-do list, but I frequently find myself throwing my best laid plans out the window and winging it. It keeps things interesting for me.

In a digital first world, what excites you about print?

I have no spatial awareness (insert parking jokes here) and my brain can be told something is A4 in size, but I can’t picture how big that is.  I need to see and feel shapes and sizes to fully comprehend.  You don’t get this with digital. A good glue dot piece is particularly satisfying to open.

What’s caught your eye on your doormat?

More recently Sainsburys. Their packs have glue dots and inserts and extended extended A4s (not just single extended), reverse windows and are always different. Even though I am likely to forget to use the vouchers I am still loyal to Sainsburys because they communicate with me.

I used to love the Boots mailers but I don’t receive them anymore.  I haven’t changed my contact preferences so maybe they aren’t doing much DM.

Where is your mail spot in your home?

I have a tiny hall, so it is on the stairs which are directly opposite my front door. It then makes it to the dinning room table, which then gets cleared for dinner and moved to the sideboard.  I’ll then read it from there.

We are all in office 3 days a week at Dragonfly HQ in Edinburgh’s lively West-end, tell us something about your weekly journey to the office?

Buses really frustrate me 😊 On a rare good day I can be in the office in 20 mins but usually it’s closer to an hour. I should cycle in, but I would probably get squished by my arch nemesis – the Bus!

 Your best work from home tip?

Try to match your work to your environment. At home it’s quiet and I can focus more easily, but there is no one there to bounce ideas off, so extra detailed contract reviews, in-dept spreadsheets etc. are best left to home days.

 If you could have any superpower, what would you choose?

Flying.  I’m not the most patient person (see journey question) and the advantages of being able to get places quickly would be huge.  I could also get to the coast quickly as the sea is my favorite place to go to when I need to find some balance.

 If you didn’t do this your job would be….

I would love to work outside and possibly with animals, but only if they never got sick or hurt because I am a massive softy and wouldn’t cope if they did.