Lina Meshael is a strategy director at GroupM Ireland, where her clients include Fáilte Ireland, Suntory, SEAI and Laya Healthcare. With over 12 years’ international experience, she specialises in strategies that fuse audience behaviour, culture, and media effectiveness. A two-time Telly Award winner, she holds an MSc in digital marketing from UCD Smurfit Graduate Business School and an executive diploma in disruptive strategy from Oxford’s Saïd Business School.
01 When are you happiest?
Doing jigsaw puzzles with my dad
02 What’s your most treasured possession?
A photo of my mother in 1968, taken after her high school graduation, and a family tree necklace from my nephews
03 Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn?
Instagram
04 What’s the worst job you’ve ever done?
At 18, spending weekends as a face-painting clown at kids’ birthday parties
05 Your favourite writers?
When I’m not reading marketing books for work, I find comfort in Arabic literature. My all-time favourites are the Palestinian writer Ghassan Kanafani and poet Mahmoud Darwish. I also admire the work of Murakami, Oscar Wilde, Elif Shafak, and Khaled Hosseini
06 Last music you bought?
I don’t buy music anymore, the last time I did it was Hozier’s album in 2014
07 A film you’d watch again tonight?
Little Women
08 What do some people think about you that isn’t true?
No idea, I don’t think about it much
09 What keeps you awake at night?
What’s happening in Palestine
10 Which words do you overuse?
“You know,” “like,” and “does it make sense?”
11 Your favourite ad?
An Post’s Send from the Heart Christmas ad. Makes me tear up every time
12 Your favourite gadget?
Kärcher’s high-pressure washer. Oddly satisfying and surprisingly fun
13 A brand experience that disappointed you?
The Apple Magic Mouse with the bottom-charging port
14 What living person do you most admire?
My sister
15 Most embarrassing experience?
At the airport, I ran up and hugged who I thought was my friend from behind. It wasn’t. There was screaming, then laughter, and an awkward apology
16 Someone or something that strikes you as beautiful?
The way people’s faces light up when they talk about something or someone they love
17 In what other era would you like to have been born?
In the 1950s, so I could experience my twenties in the 1970s
18 Best advice you’ve heard?
It’s a quote from the Ricky Gervais black comedy series After Life: “A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in.” A reminder to think beyond yourself and do good that outlives you
19 What would be your fantasy act of heroism?
To help liberate Palestine and end the occupation, not just as an act of heroism, but as a moral duty to justice, dignity, and humanity
20 You’re on Death Row, what’s your last meal?
My mom’s lamb and yogurt stew
