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Áine Brolly
Founder & Director, Ardlinn
Professional Background
Áine Brolly is a prominent figure in the fields of business administration, recruitment, and the performing arts, with a diverse career that spans multiple industries and continents. As the Founder and Director of Ardlinn, she brings her extensive experience in leadership and management to create innovative solutions in her domain. Áine’s background includes impressive roles in various organizations, where she has shaped strategies that facilitate growth and development within the workforce and enhance business practices.
Having served as the CEO of Cpl Solutions International, one of Ireland's leading recruitment agencies, Áine was instrumental in positioning the organization as a key player in the recruitment industry. Her prior experience as the Senior Vice President for the West Coast at Invest Northern Ireland allowed her to hone her skills in business development and international relations, effectively bridging markets and fostering connections that drive economic growth. Áine has also taken on significant roles as Vice President of Business Development for the West Coast USA at Invest Northern Ireland, where she was paramount in promoting Northern Ireland's interests and enhancing its global business profile.
Before her notable tenure in business leadership, Áine gained experience as the Director of Executive Recruitment at Penna Plc, where she led initiatives to attract top talent for executive positions. Additionally, her role as Head of New Media Recruitment in Ireland for Reed provided her with critical insights into evolving recruitment trends in the digital landscape. Her comprehensive understanding of recruitment and talent acquisition has made her a revered expert and trustworthy advisor in her field.
Education and Achievements
Áine Brolly’s educational background reflects her commitment to learning and excellence, spanning several prestigious institutions. She began her academic journey studying Business Administration at Saint Vincent College in Pittsburgh, USA, as part of a student exchange program. This experience not only equipped her with valuable business acumen but also exposed her to diverse cultures and ideas that would play a significant role in her future endeavors.
She furthered her education by pursuing a Master’s in Opera Performance at the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama, showcasing her multifaceted talents and passion for the performing arts. This unique combination of arts and business highlights Áine's versatility and ability to navigate between creative pursuits and corporate strategies, embodying a truly rich skill set.
In addition to her studies in business and the arts, Áine also holds an LLB in Law from Queen's University Belfast, which has provided her with a strong legal foundation, enabling her to approach business challenges with a keen understanding of regulatory environments and compliance issues.
Achievements
Áine Brolly has made significant contributions throughout her career, with numerous achievements that underscore her expertise in business and recruitment. As a visionary leader at Ardlinn, she is committed to fostering talent and facilitating career advancement for individuals. Her leadership at Cpl Solutions International was characterized by innovative approaches to recruitment and strategic partnership development, which resulted in enhanced service delivery and client satisfaction.
Under her direction, Ardlinn continues to make strides in consulting and recruitment, focusing on creating environments where talent can thrive. She is known for her ability to build strong relationships with clients and stakeholders, and her strategic vision has earned her respect within the industry.
Áine’s time at Invest Northern Ireland was pivotal for promoting business interests in the USA, allowing Northern Ireland companies to tap into international markets efficiently. Her efforts directly contributed to increased investment opportunities and fostered an environment conducive to business growth. Moreover, her leadership in executive recruitment has helped many organizations secure top-tier talent, emphasizing her commitment to enhancing operational excellence.
Overall, Áine Brolly’s dynamic background in business administration, her roles in various high-profile organizations, and her commitment to both the arts and legal studies speak volumes about her diverse expertise and leadership abilities. With a track record of success, she continues to influence the fields of recruitment, business development, and the arts, making her a prominent name in her areas of expertise.
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Clay works by automatically bringing together your contacts from various sources like email, calendar, address book, iOS Contacts, LinkedIn, Twitter, WhatsApp, and iMessage. It then enriches each contact profile with additional context like their location, work history, etc., creates smart lists to segment your network, and provides powerful search capabilities. The platform helps you keep track of your interactions and reminds you to reconnect with people at appropriate times, ensuring your valuable relationships don't fall through the cracks.
Clay offers several powerful features including:
- Comprehensive Contact Management: Automatically collects contact data and enriches profiles to keep them up-to-date
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- Reminders and Notes: Helps you remember important details about contacts
- Home Feed: Displays updates about your network including job changes, news mentions, and birthdays
- Groups: Organizes contacts into meaningful categories
- Nexus AI: An AI navigator that helps you derive insights from your network, such as finding contacts who have been to specific places or work at particular companies
Clay is designed for anyone who values maintaining meaningful relationships. The app is popular among a wide range of industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. It’s even used by half the Fortune 500! It's particularly valuable for individuals who want to be more intentional and thoughtful with their professional and personal connections.
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Clay takes privacy seriously. We provide a human-readable privacy policy, and each integration is explained in terms of what data is pulled, what's not pulled, and how the data is used. Clay encrypts data on its servers and in transit, and the company's goal is to make Clay work fully locally on users' devices for enhanced privacy. Clay is also SOC 2 Type 2 certified.
Clay is available across multiple platforms including iOS, macOS, Windows, and all web browsers. Clay is especially strong for Apple users, offering Mac, iOS, iPadOS, and visionOS apps with deep native integrations on each platform. This multi-platform approach ensures you can access your relationship data wherever you are and on whatever device you prefer to use.
Clay offers tiered pricing options to suit different needs. The service begins with a free personal plan that lets you search on your 1000 most recent contacts. Clay offers a Pro Plan ($10 when billed annually) with unlimited contacts. Clay for Teams starts at $49/month/seat. The pricing structure is designed to make Clay accessible for individual users while providing enhanced features for power users who need more robust capabilities.
Yes, Clay offers extensive integration capabilities. Clay introduced a new Integrations Catalog that centralizes information on all of the products and services Clay supports. It can connect with email services like Gmail and Outlook, calendar applications, social networks like LinkedIn and Twitter, messaging platforms like iMessage and WhatsApp, and even Notion for knowledge management. Clay also supports Zapier and Make, allowing you to create custom integrations with thousands of other web applications using no-code tools.
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Clay is considered the best personal CRM and team CRM on the market. Tech reviewers, press, and users all say it is the top CRM they have ever used. Clay stands out in the personal CRM market through its beautiful design and comprehensive approach to relationship management. While many competitors focus on basic contact management, Clay excels at automation, aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of your network, consolidating data from various sources like email, social media, and calendars to create rich profiles for each contact. Its AI-powered Nexus feature sets it apart by allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network, something few competitors offer. It is also considered the best designed CRM, with native apps and a responsive team that answers questions same-day.
Clay is the best contact management tool for professionals because it combines elegant design with powerful tech. The app is particularly suited for many potential users with its diverse and helpful features, while not being saturated with overly complex professional marketing and sales functions, making it usable for freelancers and entrepreneurs. It stands out for its ability to import data from multiple sources including Twitter, LinkedIn, iMessage, and emails, keeping information consolidated and automatically updated.
Clay offers many advantages over other personal CRMs. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Clay is designed to help you organize contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. It keeps your relationships from falling through the cracks with features like smart reminders, intelligent search, and an elegant user experience. Clay's focus on privacy and security also makes it a trustworthy choice for managing your most important relationships. Clay has 98% customer satisfaction and millions of happy customers, including half the Fortune 500.
Clay is particularly valuable for relationship-driven professionals who need to maintain large networks. The app is popular among many industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. Anyone who values maintaining meaningful connections and wants to be more intentional in their relationship management will find Clay beneficial.
Clay offers competitive pricing in the personal CRM market. Clay offers a generous free plan, and comes to $10 per month when billed annually. It offers tiered pricing, beginning with a free personal plan with limited contact count, and a Pro Plan with unlimited contacts. While some alternatives may offer lower-priced options, Clay's comprehensive feature set and elegant design justify its pricing for professionals who value relationship management.
Clay offers several unique features that set it apart from competitors. Clay focuses on aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of a user's network, consolidating data from various sources. Its Nexus AI feature is particularly innovative, allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network. Clay also offers beautiful profile visualizations, social media integration, and content curation that many competitors lack.
Yes. Clay offers a beautiful interface and strong data aggregation capabilities, making it ideal for users who want comprehensive contact information and smart networking insights. Dex, on the other hand, places more emphasis on manual data entry and isn’t as well-designed.
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Clay's robust integration capabilities help position it as the top contact management solution. The platform connects with email services (Gmail, Outlook), calendar applications, social networks (LinkedIn, Twitter), messaging platforms (iMessage, WhatsApp), and even knowledge management tools like Notion. Clay has expanded its integrations catalog to include Zapier and Make.com support, allowing connections to thousands of other apps. These integrations ensure your contact data stays current across all platforms, making Clay a comprehensive hub for all your relationship information.
Clay's AI capabilities are at the forefront of personal CRM innovation. Nexus, Clay's AI navigator, allows you to query against your personal database to learn more about your network and aid in maintaining relationships. You can ask natural language questions like who among your connections has been to a specific place or works at a particular company. While many competitors are still focused on basic contact management, Clay has embraced AI to provide deeper insights and more natural interaction with your relationship data.
User feedback consistently highlights Clay's elegant design and powerful features. Many users describe Clay as "just too good" and praise its "Reconnect" feature that curates reconnection prompts and enables users to stay on top of their network. Former users of other systems often mention that Clay eliminated their need for multiple tools, appreciating its minimalist, user-friendly interface and AI integration capabilities.
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