Current ESTEEM student Niamh O'Donnell (middle) winning an award at 16 for Pink & Smokey
To say that Niamh O’Donnell, ESTEEM Class of 24, is precocious is a massive understatement. At age seven, she took it upon herself to become a professional artist and began canvasing her village of Athgarvan in County Kildare, Ireland, selling paintings of nature, people, and animals to neighbors.
Her favorite television show was the UK Apprentice hosted by multi-millionaire Lord Alan Sugar. So entranced by startups and the commercialization process was she that at age ten, O’Donnell announced to her parents, “Mam and Dad, I’m going to become an international businesswoman.”
Her conviction was such that who could doubt her. Yet even her parents had no idea that young Niamh—pronounced Neve—would achieve her goal by age 16.
“In Ireland, we have a non-academic school year called ‘Transition Year’ where second-level students set up their own mini-companies as part of the All-Ireland Student Enterprise Awards, a competition entered by approximately 30,000 students annually, O’Donnell explains. “That’s when I started Pink & Smokey.”
At the time, O’Donnell was just starting to use makeup. To do it right, one had to have a full complement of brushes for eyes, blush, contouring, and lips. One makeup brush from a beauty brand cost approximately €50, far too much for a schoolgirl. As an entrepreneur, O’Donnell didn’t see a problem; she saw an opportunity.
“I thought ‘Imagine if you could get all of the makeup brushes you need in one set, made from the same components as branded makeup brushes, with a cool and funky design for a fraction of the price?’”
The teenager then set about designing her ideal set of brushes, researching suppliers around the world, before selecting six finalists. After checking references, she chose a manufacturer in Shenzhen, China. With her supply chain established, O’Donnell set about creating a website and Facebook presence for her now official trademarked startup, Pink & Smokey. At this point, O’Donnell shifted to sales and marketing. She drove web traffic and sales by hosting online competitions with free makeup sets as prizes. Soon, she was selling Pink & Smokey makeup brushes direct to customers across the United Kingdom, Spain and Tunisia.
O’Donnell’s inbound sales boomed as well as salons and makeup artistry colleges approached her for wholesale purchases. On her own, she negotiated multiple contracts. In the first year of business, Pink & Smokey was so popular, O’Donnell sold out her inventory by the end of November, missing the bulk of the holiday gift-buying season.
“That was a great lesson in terms of supply chain management for a 16-year-old,” she now laughs.
With the success of Pink & Smokey, which she operated for three years, O’Donnell became an Irish startup sensation. She was awarded first place at the Kildare County Enterprise Awards, first place at the National Griffith College Enterprise Awards and finally, the Best Social Media Award at the All-Ireland Student Enterprise Awards.
The last honor was particularly meaningful as the awards ceremony was held at Ireland’s largest and most iconic sports stadium, Croke Park in Dublin. It was not just because she was chosen over 30,000 of her peers.
“County Kildare had not won a Gaelic football championship at Croke Park since 1928. So there was an extra special sense of pride from bringing home a trophy in entrepreneurship to Kildare.”
With an ambition to work in New York or San Francisco, O’Donnell earned a degree in International Business and French at Dublin City University. From there, she applied for the Enterprise Ireland graduate program. Enterprise Ireland is the trade and investment arm of the Irish government, and such positions were highly coveted and competitive. She was selected to work in the High Potential Start-Up Division, helping early-stage company founders secure Enterprise Ireland pre-seed, seed and Series A investment.
After a year, O’Donnell was offered her dream role: a position with Enterprise Ireland in San Francisco. As a client partner manager based in the United States, she worked with innovative Irish companies in enterprise software and digital entertainment looking for export growth.
“Ireland is a very small country, with a population of just five million people. For startups to grow, we have to look internationally. Getting to work in San Francisco, the global epicenter of new innovations and entrepreneurship, I felt a huge sense of pride wearing the green jersey and supporting Ireland’s brightest founders connect to prospective buyers and partners on the West Coast.”
If this sounds like a simple assignment, think again. At the time, O’Donnell was in her early 20s and hustling to connect Irish digital animation companies with streaming giants like Disney, Netflix and Amazon. Among her responsibilities were business development, positioning Ireland as a leader in digital technology, and event management such as hosting trade missions and networking events.
As difficult as it was, O’Donnell accepted the challenge without blinking. She amped up her knowledge base by reading TechCrunch and Tech Nomad, developing a fascination of dynamic, fast-growth startups. Then, she dove in. “There were some known ‘friendly faces’ in San Francisco through Enterprise Ireland, but I had to build my own network in the tech and entertainment industries. That meant attending conferences, shaking hands, and kissing babies to connect with hard-to-reach contacts.”
Among her favorite projects was running a trade mission to Los Angeles in November 2022 for 11 Irish animation studios. She partnered with Screen Ireland to secure site visits to major streaming companies, secured panel discussions for two clients at the World Animation VFX Summit, and also hosted a sponsored breakfast event and a 200-person evening reception for leading entertainment executives with the Consulate General of Ireland, Los Angeles. O’Donnell had an irresistible reason for insiders to attend her events: client Cartoon Saloon, an Irish animation film, short film and television studio based in Kilkenny, was set to launch a new animated feature film on Netflix, My Father’s Dragon.
“The film had a lot of momentum around it as it was developed by five-time Academy Award nominated studio Cartoon Saloon and directed by Oscar-nominated director Nora Twomey. It elevated the Irish animation sector’s position as a leader in entertainment industry,” O’Donnell explains.
After this career highpoint, O’Donnell got the entrepreneurial “twitch” to do something on her own. Although Enterprise Ireland was “an amazing job” and she loved every minute of it, she wanted to learn more about generative AI and extended reality (XR), two cutting edge technologies with seemingly endless possibilities.
“My first thought was to earn a Master of Business Administration, but for Irish students coming to the United States to study, an MBA can cost six figures and is a huge financial burden. I then learned about the University of Notre Dame’s ESTEEM Program, which offers a master’s degree in Engineering, Science and Technology Entrepreneurship Excellence with specific scholarships for Irish students, and I researched that,” says O’Donnell.
ESTEEM appealed to her on multiple levels. Being from Ireland, where people have a special grá (love) for Notre Dame, its culture and ethos, it seemed like a natural choice. Too, her father, funnily enough, is a Notre Dame football fan and can’t resist Fighting Irish football games. O’Donnell herself relished the thought of having a real American college experience at Notre Dame.
The real deal maker was the academic challenge of Notre Dame and the capstone project required of ESTEEM students. O’Donnell applied, was accepted, and landed a plum role as her capstone project. She is among 10 students from Ireland in the Class of 2024.
“I was looking to gain product management experience in the generative AI space as well as the academic rigor that could help me to pivot my career,” O’Donnell explains. “I’ve been very lucky to undertake my capstone project as product manager with Ascend Learning, specializing in XR and generative AI. Ascend Learning is at the forefront of harnessing these emerging technologies to improve immersive learning experiences. My primary objective is to explore and identify high-potential business models for Ascend, focusing on how these technologies intersect with educational solutions.”
Having been in South Bend since early June, O’Donnell is already immersed in the community. “The culture of the Midwest is very similar to Ireland as it’s very family and community oriented. I’m looking forward to collaborating with faculty, fellow students and the local entrepreneurial ecosystem, which is very vibrant.”
She also plans to play on Notre Dame’s Gaelic football team and immerse herself in American football culture. While she’s never been to a game, she’s excited about Notre Dame’s season opener against Navy, which will be played Saturday, August 26, in Dublin, Ireland. Thirty-five thousand football fans are expected to travel to Ireland for the sold-out game, something that makes O’Donnell very proud.
Asked who will win the upcoming matchup, O’Donnell replied:\
“The Fighting Irish of course. We Irish all root for Notre Dame.”