This is a profile from the 2022 version of the DataIQ 100.
The latest list is available here.
Mairead Masterson, director of business intelligence and analytics, Bloom & Wild
What has been your path to power?
I’d love to say I’ve always had a passion for analytics, but I fell into this by accident! I applied for a business graduate scheme at BSkyB which changed to analytics at the last minute. During my time there (and later at dunnhumby), I learnt how powerful good insight could be for informing strategic decisions.
I was approached to start the data team at Bloom & Wild. Both the company and the letterbox flower concept were unknown at the time (Google yielded next to no results) and there were around 25 people in the company. After meeting some of the team, I loved the mission and could see how analytics and data could really help support that vision. Six years (and three office moves) later and our team now supports a company of over 400 employees.
What impact has the pandemic had on the role of data in your company/organisation?
As people were unable to meet up during the pandemic, the brand saw a huge increase in demand, with people sending more flowers for missed birthdays or “just because”. In the early days of the pandemic, we built new tools to help the team make fast decisions within this rapidly-changing context. We also had to ask new questions of our data to help us build a picture of this new trading environment and reframe our forecasting models.
During this period, we also acquired the flower brands bloomon and Bergamotte. Building out our function to support the needs of a family of different brands has been an exciting challenge for us. Flexible working has also been very helpful in allowing the data team to accommodate their different personal circumstances.
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