Sydney Principal Amy Darvill rejoined L.E.K. last year after working as brand director at one of Australia’s largest beverage companies. Her extensive experience across all facets of brand strategy and execution brings immense value to her role as Principal in our Consumer practice. Learn more about her career journey, her passion for consumer marketing and why she decided to be an L.E.K. “boomerang.”
Tell us a bit about your career journey and how you came to be back at L.E.K.
I studied at the University of Sydney and graduated with a degree in both commerce and liberal studies. These two different fields put me in good stead for moving into consulting as they were a mix of a lot of different areas. I joined L.E.K. Sydney as an Associate straight out of university in 2005 and moved up the ranks from Associate to Consultant during my time there. During that time I also did a swap to London, which was a fantastic experience. In 2010, I decided to expand my horizons a bit more and obtained a job at one of Australia’s largest beverage companies. I worked in corporate strategy there for just over a year before thinking, hey, I might give marketing a bit of a go and from there I was hooked. I worked my way across the full portfolio of brands within Lion and ended up as brand director. When I was on maternity leave with my second child, I decided to explore new career options, and that’s when L.E.K. came knocking and I rejoined in May of 2022 as a Principal in the Consumer practice here in Sydney.
Why did you decide to come back to L.E.K.?
It was a combination of things. Primarily, L.E.K. gives us the ability to be quite entrepreneurial as we move into the principal and partner ranks because essentially it does become your own business, and your job is to build up your sector and the client base of the firm. After working for a decade at a large corporate where being entrepreneurial is difficult, this really appealed to me. Secondly, I was also really looking forward to working with people with whom I had worked back in my Associate days. These people are obviously now quite senior within the firm. I really looked back fondly on our working relationships, and I was excited to get back to working with people I remembered as being so smart and great teammates. Finally, I appreciate the variety of work L.E.K. provides for someone at my level and the chance to learn new things got me excited to return.
What drew you into the Consumer practice?
Practically speaking, I’ve lived and breathed consumer for the past decade where the job of my team was essentially to be the voice of the consumer within the organization. So not only is it something that I have a level of expertise in, but also it’s something that I am just naturally quite passionate about. I really enjoy understanding what makes people tick, why they behave the way they do, why they choose certain products and how you can use that to your advantage as an organization.
What professional and personal value do you feel a career at L.E.K. brings?
Professionally, a career at L.E.K. gives you the opportunity to work with people who care very deeply about solving clients’ problems. A lot of workplaces can be consumed by office politics and things that don’t matter, but here at L.E.K. you are surrounded by people who truly care about their jobs, and you’re surrounded by inspiring and rigorous thinking every day. Personally, the feeling of having this business feel partly like my own and knowing I’m helping drive its future is really rewarding. You don’t often feel that connection when you are working in big corporate. Finally, as a mother of two small children, the flexible working practices are also something I personally value, and this really helped me over the line [when deciding] to come back.