‘Difficult roads lead to beautiful destinations!’
We often come across this quote multiple times in our lives, don’t we? Well, the stories that we’ve come across in our journey to find the The Most Empowering Women in Business of 2023 are so delightful to hear, that it not only ignites the feeling of hope but magic as is what life and business is.
One such story hidden in Corlytics as its Head of Marketing and Business Development is Elaine Mullan. A brief talk about her journey and her expertise across various domains left us with only one word, magician.
So, without further ado, let’s get started!
The Unknown Road and the Beautiful Journey
The best part about Elaine Mullan is the way she talks and expresses herself. With a similarly high energy, she started her journey saying, ‘I started off studying design after finishing secondary school, then worked in the fashion industry for a few years. Realizing I just wasn’t good enough to turn this into a long-term career, I began my career in marketing; this often involved dreaming big for tech firms that lacked the money or understanding to make the necessary investment in marketing, so being pushed to ‘do more with less’.’
‘When I made the transition from design to marketing it was, as for many marketers, a creative or squiggly path. I used the public library to learn how to use some basic office packages and then the school near me to do a touch-typing course, a skill I still use every day, plus accessed some other relevant business courses through a range of free or inexpensive options – all of this helped me to gain greater control of how I envisioned my future work life. I’m a bit of a sucker for courses as I’m a big believer in learning for life and I’m usually signed up for at least one at any time. It’s important that women have learning opportunities and resources available to them as the workplace is regularly not a level playing field, with women being undervalued and underpaid, so additional skills and an understanding of your own self-worth is an important component of moving ahead career-wise. Then, I landed my first ‘office job’ and luckily found that the firm I worked for had finance options to help its employees study while working. So, four years later I qualified in marketing and my employers were able to help me transition into a marketing role within that firm. So, what next? Onto my first B2B marketing job in a tech firm and I’ve stayed marketing in tech ever since because I love it. It really is an industry that is constantly moving, which is really exciting,’ She adds.
Today, she heads up the marketing and business development for Corlytics and works with the CEO, John Byrne. Along with this, she is also a mentor for woman in tech on Manchester Digital’s MentorHER program. Talking about this she says, ‘Being a mentor in the program reflects values that I believe in – guiding others, the importance of lifting as we climb, and helping mentees see the value of unapologetic ambition and continuous learning. It is where I can help to empower women in a very practical way, assisting others in working towards accessing greater opportunities, and helping them to see the power they have in directing their own work life and career. It is the most satisfying project I’ve undertaken this year and I hope to do more of it in the future.’
The Magician’s Magic
Explaining about her goals and the approach that makes her unique, Elaine says, ‘Marketing tells stories, compelling stories that help to create engagement for brands and solutions and products – well that’s a textbook type of explanation that’s very popular these days. But it can’t be all ‘once upon a time’ and ‘happily ever after’, in fact, marketing at its heart has two key functions within firms: support, as in supporting the sales function and company business objectives; driving the firm forward by pushing out the message to the market, in order to grow the business through market development and market penetration. Firms need to fill those sales funnels and my mission is always to make that happen.’
‘In Corlytics, we are rocking and rolling our way along with the odd sharp bend followed by a wonderful freewheeling down the road – we are enjoying the journey, bumps and all. As a marketer at this stage of my career, I get to decide on destinations, point out directions, try to smooth out the bumps, and celebrate the freewheeling. It’s not quite a party bus but it beats traveling in the slow lane of those too anxious to step on the accelerator and go for it,’ she adds.
‘They say that you need at least two players to make a market, and there are more than two in the regulatory technology space, but Corlytics is not just another player. They are writing the blueprint for the regulatory intelligence space, incorporating the functionality required for the user to achieve value from their investment in a regulatory intelligence platform- whether that’s predictive analytics for risk management, automated workflow from horizon scanning, or benefitting from the aggressively growing global regulatory coverage. And then there’s our client-centric approach – we do walk the talk which helps us to grow through fantastic word-of-mouth recommendations,’ she says explaining her unique propositions.
Invest in yourself – A Mentor’s Advice
Advising the young businessmen stepping up, Elaine further adds, ‘Invest in yourself, you are a business of one no matter where you work, and you need to continue to develop that business. I’d encourage networking and learning from others – being interested and curious will open up unexplored paths. These are ways to help empower anyone developing their career. As a mentor, I’d recommend those coming up through the business to find their mentors or join a mentoring program.’
Future Roadmap
Talking about her future endeavors and her company she says, ‘Looking beyond 2024 at Corlytics, we are continuing to develop the Corlytics regulatory intelligence platform (its solutions and products) plus there are plans for further acquisitions following on from two acquisitions in 2023 – ING SparQ and Clausematch. Corlytics are not here to play small but to dominate and will continue to make strategic moves to ensure they remain relevant and achieve long-term success.’
