Meet The
Team
With over 60 years combined industry experience, we pride ourselves on being a highly innovative agency, a committed team of media fanatics with our finger on the cultural pulse. Our dedication shows in our outstanding client service and our many successes.
Sonia Harris Pope
FOUNDER & MANAGING DIRECTOR
Sonia is the Founder and Managing Director of Harris PR and takes a very active role in day-to-day client work. She is responsible for the overall strategy and direction of campaigns, liaising with clients and media partners to ensure all KPIs are delivered.
Sonia boasts a long and fruitful career, with 10 years in PR agency under her belt before she established Harris PR in 2009. She worked as a journalist with the Sunday Independent for several years, and is a regular contributor to national newspapers, online platforms and broadcast media outlets including the RTE Today Show.
Over the course of her career, Sonia has been the account lead on a number of multinationals, start-ups, festivals and events, delivering expert counsel and creative solutions to client briefs.
In her spare time, she obsessively cooks and bakes for her family, enjoys reading, and walking her dog #TobyHarrisPope – yes, he has his own hashtag!
Niamh McCarrick
SENIOR STRATEGY DIRECTOR
With over 20 years’ experience, both agency and in-house, Niamh is a versatile and passionate PR expert who joined the Harris PR team in 2020.
During the course of her career she has worked with a broad range of corporate entities and consumer brands from industries spanning retail, telecoms, and FMCG, and has been the recipient of a number of PRCA awards in recognition of her work. She later served on the judging panel for the annual industry awards for several years.
Niamh specialises in strategy, planning, media relations and influencer management at Harris PR, and is the account lead for a number of brands in the beauty, food & beverage, health & wellness and travel & tourism sectors.
In her spare time Niamh enjoys cooking, sport, and keeping herself fit with everything from pilates and yoga to running and hiking. You’ll catch Niamh and her family exploring Ireland’s forests, beaches and cultural sights most weekends in their vintage VW campervan, with their dog Travis in tow!
Natalie Burke Donohue
CLIENT DIRECTOR
With over 12 years’ experience in the media industry, and a former editor with RSVP and U Magazines, Natalie moved over to the world of PR taking a role in Arnotts in-house team where she worked for several years before joining Harris PR in 2020. During this time, she planned and coordinated numerous PR events and new brand launches while developing stellar media relationships and a strong contacts list.
Natalie has worked across a diverse portfolio of lifestyle brands and is creative, agile in her response to every brief, managing client projects from start to finish, and delivering excellent results every time.
With her background in journalism, Natalie has a nose for a good story angle, and is a keen writer, honing her skills to write about everything from beauty to baby to health.
A keen photographer, and a style aficionado, she often shares her beautiful snaps on Instagram. Natalie and her family love the great outdoors and are regular visitors to Ireland’s sunny southeast, Co. Wexford.
Brian Lyng
ACCOUNT MANAGER
Brian is a passionate PR professional with over 4 years of experience working in the luxury retail and fashion industry, having joined the Harris PR team in 2022 after working across Ireland’s two most iconic retail brands, Brown Thomas and Arnotts.
Creative and innovative, multi-skilled and results driven, Brian has extensive experience developing and implementing successful PR and Marketing campaigns and events that reflect and evolve premium brand positioning, meet business goals, and exceed expectations. Brian is the account lead for a number of brands in the food and beverage, interiors, and travel and tourism sectors at Harris PR.
Passionate about all things travel, food, and culture, Brian has his finger on the pulse of the best creative and cultural industries have to offer.
Niamh Shields
ACCOUNT MANAGER
Niamh Shields has had a diverse career journey, starting with a degree in English and Media from Dublin City University. After graduating, she began her career as a lifestyle journalist at Woman’s Way Magazine, where she honed her skills in writing, editing, and creating compelling content.
From there, Niamh transitioned to the role of Senior Digital Marketing Executive at PREM Hospitality. In this position, she was responsible for managing digital marketing efforts for over 10 hotel clients across Ireland, the UK, and continental Europe.
Her tasks included overseeing PPC (Pay-Per-Click) campaigns, social media management, and content marketing strategies to enhance the online presence and visibility of the hotel clients. This role provided her with hands-on experience in leveraging digital channels to drive brand awareness, engagement, and conversion in the competitive hospitality industry.
Following her tenure at PREM Hospitality, Niamh embarked on a radio journey and joined Highland Radio as a producer and social media/digital executive. During her time in radio, she experienced winning Gold at the esteemed IMRO awards and organically gaining 10k Instagram followers.
Niamh Hoy
ACCOUNT MANGER
Niamh is a new addition to the Harris PR team as an Account Manager. She combines her academic foundation—a master’s degree in Public Relations & Strategic Communications from DCU—with 2.5 years of hands-on industry experience in a fast-paced marketing agency to deliver impactful campaigns for both global and local brands.
Niamh has worked on ideating and managing numerous brand awareness campaigns, such as introducing Orchard Thieves’ new ‘Wild’ product and launching electric vehicle brand BYD into the Irish market. Her experience also includes the successful relaunch of West Coast Cooler in its new can format, rejuvenating the brand’s appeal to a broader and younger audience. Niamh developed creative strategies to establish a strong market presence using event management, earned social and media coverage, and bespoke influencer collaborations.
Beyond awareness campaigns, Niamh has implemented multiple ‘always-on’ content and engagement strategies. She has managed events and influencer content for iconic brands like Absolut, Heineken Ireland, West Coast Cooler, Kahlua, and Benecol. By developing innovative approaches, Niamh ensures these brands stay at the forefront of consumers’ minds throughout the year and cut through the noise during key moments.
Nollaig O'Sullivan
SENIOR ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE
Nollaig joins the team as a recent graduate with honours in BSc Multimedia studies from Dublin City University.
She is creative and hard-working with an extensive knowledge in 3D design, graphic design, animation, videography and motion graphics. In her final year in DCU Nollaig was joint editor in chief of DCU Style Society’s fashion and lifestyle magazine The Look.
Her role in Harris PR is to support the team overall with media sell in, reporting and social media plans across Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and TikTok.
Nollaig is extremely creative and in her free time enjoys sewing, as well as creating homeware and jewellery using clay. She loves to travel and experience diverse cultures.
Chloe Lawlor
ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE
Chloe is currently in her 3rd year of college studying toward a BSC in Marketing at Technological University Dublin. She recently joined the Harris PR team in September as part of her work placement programme in collaboration with the University. She has developed numerous skills as part of her degree such as market research, digital marketing and marketing strategy.
She has worked with the team across many different projects and provides support on social media content creation & posting, coverage monitoring, influencer & media outreach and reporting.
In her free time, Chloe enjoys keeping up with the latest fashion and social media trends, reading a good mystery book or travelling to new places.
Sarah-Kate Spratt
ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE
Sarah-Kate joined the team in May as a 2024 postgraduate with a master’s in public relations from Technological University Dublin. She has developed numerous skills as part of her postgraduate degree, including creative ideation, writing press releases and pitches, video production and presentation, digital PR and social media, crisis and issue management, marketing strategy, brand and reputation management.
Eager to gain industry experience and hone the skills learned in the MAPR program, Sarah-Kate has taken a hands-on approach since joining the Harris PR team and supports the team across multiple consumer brands.
Sarah-Kate’s interest and drive in consumer PR stems from her desire to be as creative as possible in her work. Her ability to think outside the box and passion for developing unique and captivating initiatives feeds into the work she contributes to Harris every day.
Carolina Lucca
JUNIOR ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE
Carolina joined the team in September, as part of our bursary programme with the PRII and Open Doors Ireland. Following a degree in gastronomy in Brazil, and some time working in the food sector, including as a business owner, Carolina moved to Ireland seven years ago. Carolina perfected her English while working as a child minder, and is putting her skills to great use as a voluntary English tutor for Ukrainian refugees.
Recently, Carolina has been studying digital marketing at the Digital Marketing Institute, which will assist in her PR role across many clients. Carolina brings great enthusiasm, creativity, attention to detail, and excellent communication skills to her new role.
Cathy Harris
ACCOUNT LIASON
Cathy has been with Harris PR since its inception, supporting Sonia on a multitude of clients, campaigns, and events over the years. With a history in marketing and event management, these days Cathy supports the team behind the scenes, operationally and administratively, to ensure the smooth running of the business, and also provides valuable support for client gifting programmes.
When she’s not working, Cathy loves nothing more than bringing her beloved dogs for a walk or catching up with friends over a coffee.