Hilary Quinn is marketing director at Diageo Ireland. She started her career at Unilever in the personal care division before joining Coca-Cola Western Europe. She led the launch of Coke Zero, the brand’s first innovation for over 20 years and Coke’s partnership of the London 2012 Olympic Games. She joined Diageo in 2020 and has overseen two new major launches, Guinness 0.0 and Guinness Nitrosurge.
01 What was your earliest ambition?
To compete at Wimbledon one day. Alas, an unfulfilled dream
02 It’s our round. What are you having?
Gin ‘n’ tonic
03 Social media platform of choice?
04 A mentor or someone that inspired you?
My dad
05 If you could be born into another time and place, where and when would it be?
New York in The Roaring Twenties
06 Favourite writers?
Anything by crime novelists Lee Child or Michael Connelly
07 A film you’d watch again tonight?
Rain Man starring Dustin Hoffman and Tom Cruise (above)
08 Is there an unsung hero you’d like to thank?
All nurses. They’re never appreciated enough
09 Something that no longer happens that you miss?
Receiving handwritten letters
10 How physically fit are you?
More to do
11 Favourite ad?
Guinness Surfer. I know I’m biased but it’s a truly iconic film with stunning imagery and powerful music and voiceover
12 What do you find most irritating in other people?
Arrogance
13 A brand to which you feel some loyalty?
Apple
14 Someone you might be starstruck to meet?
Barak Obama
15 Something that recently brought a tear to your eye?
Birthday cards from my daughters
16 Something that recently got your goat?
Being left on hold with a large international airline for over an hour and then getting cut off
17 What would be your fantasy act of heroism?
Anything that could prevent childhood cancer
18 You’ve won the Euromillions and disappeared. Where might we find you?
The Maldives
19 Someone or something that strikes you as beautiful?
Without doubt, my three beautiful daughters
20 ‘Here lies Hilary Quinn’. Complete your epitaph…
‘Hilary, she danced through life like nobody was watching’
