Woman in a man’s world

Leonora Quirke, 31, is outnumbered by men at her work at Thomond Park Stadium in Limerick, but says she refuses to sacrifice her femininity.

“As Masterchefs’ operations director at Thomond Park, I work closely with Munster Rugby, which has a lot of male staff. Before that, I worked on weddings where 90% of the time the bride was calling the shots. So I went from one extreme to the other.

“When I started in Thomond Park, it was quite intimidating — but only because I didn’t know much about rugby. Some of the male sales reps did question whether this ‘little girl’ could order enough beer for 26,000 people on match day. As the matches went on, I had to prove myself. Now I definitely hold my own among the lads.

“If I want to get my opinion across in a meeting, I outline the facts based on something I’ve done previously. I never bring emotion into it. Everyone gets stressed at work, but it would be a complete weakness on my part to bring on tiny tears.

“The guys I work with are great. They always take my opinion on board and never joke, ‘Are you having a moody day?’.

Whenever I meet a male colleague I haven’t seen in a while, I greet them with a handshake and they always give me a kiss on the cheek. At the end of the day, I’m a lady — and they respect that. I still wear skirts and high heels to work.”