Kathryn Mason
Managing Director
MASONRY PR founder, Kathryn Mason has a career spanning over 35 years. This expansive career has seen the launch of some of the most iconic names in pop music including Take That and Westlife. She has extensive experience outside music working with the radio and podcasting industry along with being a publicist on TV shows.
Her career began in BMG Ireland where she worked her way up the ladder over eleven years from admin roles to Marketing Manager. In 2002 Kathryn moved to Universal Music Ireland where she headed up the company’s team of five people in the marketing & publicity departments. Here she restructured the department and took charge over budget management and decision making for the key releases.
- Diploma in Business specialising in Music Management – first of it’s kind course in the World.
- Virgin Records London – Art & Video Department Assistant
- BMG Ireland – Publicist, then moving to be Marketing Manager – launched the likes of Take That, Westlife, Christina Aguliera, Dido etc in the Irish market. Worked with artists such as David Bowie, Backstreet Boys, Whitney Houston, Barry Manilow and Annie Lennox.
- While at BMG she worked with the TV production of the Irish version of Popstars in which she featured and also went on to live with the band while in hiding as “house mother” – Six, the band that was formed, had the biggest selling Irish single ever, Kathryn led the publicity and marketing for this single and debut album.
- Universal Music Ireland – Head of Marketing & PR – lead a team of five PR and marketeers. Worked with artists such as Eminem, Sugarbabes, Busted etc.
- Kathryn has completed a Diploma in Digital Marketing awarded with Distinction.
- She also holds a Diploma in Event Management with the Public Relations Institute of Ireland (PRII).
- In 2021 Kathryn was awarded with Merit the AMEC International Certificate in Measurement & Evaluation in PR.
Dee Ní Cheallaigh
Publicity Manager
Not many people can lay claim to having taught Mick Jagger “a cupla focal” a few Irish words to greet the concertgoers of Slane Castle, accompanied Tom Hanks for audience greets in Chris de Burgh’s Dalkey garden, or helped veteran Irish composer Roger Doyle have a streaming hit on Spotify at 75 years of age – but then not many people are ‘Tenacious Dee’!
With close to three decades of cultural, event management and PR experience under her belt, Dee continually strives to be pitch perfect in her outreach to media, and then deliver exceptional results.
“It’s all about shaping the story to the needs for media researchers and producers. Successful results stem from the two way dialogue that I’ve been conducting with my media friends and contacts for decades. I know what they need and how they need it shaped.”
From literary to theatre to consumer showbiz, Dee’s successes lie not only in the outstanding recent publicity results she has delivered for the likes of celebrity authors Graham Norton, Rylan Clark and Hugh Bonneville as well as national profile for Kilkenny’s children’s author Helena Duggan and aiding the millions of global sales for The Light Thieves series of books.
Dee is keenly aware that the behind the scenes handholding at book store signings, school classroom and TV appearances on the likes of The Late, Late Show or with radio like The Pat Kenny Show also ensure stars like cyclist Dan Martin are ready and briefed to deliver and shine.
Dee’s previous experience as Art Production Manager and Guestlist Liaison for MCD, Ireland’s leading concert promoter, has ensured she has played key roles in some of the biggest concert productions Ireland has hosted. From the memorable Special Olympics Closing Ceremony in Croke Park in 2003 to U2, Lady Gaga, Madonna, Kodaline, and Neil Diamond concerts among many, many artists she has managed the all-important VIP contact lists for key shows.
A Trinity College Dublin Theatre and Irish graduate, Dee’s professional career began at Dublin’s Tivoli Theatre as General Manager helping shine a national spotlight onto the then little known Brendan O’Carroll and D’Unbelievables into sell out shows. Plus for Dublin’s Viking Centre, she was a specialist event organiser for Government events in Dublin Castle, overseeing, catering media resources and staffing.
And what’s most exciting for Dee is the prospect of more hits to come.