1549 King Street North, P.O. Box 239, St. Jacobs, Ontario, N0B 2N0   |   416-364-8576
1549 King Street North, P.O. Box 239, St. Jacobs, Ontario, N0B 2N0   |   416-364-8576

Jo Luck made her own opportunities, with creativity and a drive to get things done

Jo Luck didn’t plan to end up in marketing.

In the late 1990’s, in her native Australia, she was working in the emerging IT recruitment industry, a role she enjoyed, but wasn’t sure she wanted to do long term. As it turned out, the marketing representative at her company felt the same way about their job, so they decided to swap positions.

Jo had always loved design and art, but wasn’t sure she could make a career of it until this unique opportunity came along. Blending an understanding of audiences and sales approaches from her recruiting experience, with her interest in creative work, marketing turned out to be the perfect fit.

And it was a skill she could take with her as she explored one of her other passions: travel. “I got on a plane to travel the world, as you do when you’re an Aussie, thinking I’d stay away a year or two. But I’ve been away for 16 years now,” says Jo, with a laugh.

After exploring everywhere from Egypt to Russia, Jo made a new home in London, England doing marketing for professional service brands in the legal and financial fields. For several years now she has worked with the Baker Tilly brand, first at Baker Tilly UK (now RSM UK) and today as a Brand Manager at Baker Tilly International, a global network of independent accountancy and business advisory firms..

“I’ve done just about every single marketing role there is. I like getting in and getting things done,” says Jo as she talks about helping to grow the networks’ brand presence. Though she’s worked as part of large marketing teams of 20+ people, Jo really enjoys a smaller team atmosphere, and its accompanying learning opportunities.

“You’re not pigeonholed,” she says. “It’s more challenging in a way, of course, but it means you look to other avenues for inspiration and that’s exciting.” Jo also considers herself blessed to have had great mentors and support systems throughout her career that helped provide that inspiration and helped her advance.

“I’ve been really, really lucky in that I’ve always had great female bosses, throughout my career. There’s this running trait with all of them – they treated me like a person first and employee second. They’ve allowed me to do my own thing, make my own mistakes and forge my own way, rather than micro-managing me,” says Jo.

Now when she mentors young professionals or is creating collaborative work environments or even member engagement she tries to do the same. “Strip it back to those basic things,” she says. “Treat others how you’d like to be treated – be nice, be thankful.”

Outside of work, Jo still loves to travel, but she’s discovered other passions as well. An avid baker, she enjoys trying out new recipes, finding it an ideal way to relax. Though at times she likes to compete as well. For a local competition, she not only submitted her own entry, a carrot-cake cheese-cake, but had her partner submit one of her creations as well, a chocolate Guinness cake. She won first and second prize. Talk about diversifying your market offering!