Sharon O'Dea

I’m an experienced web professional, specialising in intranets and the digital side of internal communications.

I started my career early, writing for The Guardian at the age of 14. I went on to work as a journalist in La Paz, Bolivia, then moved into communications, working for organisations as diverse as Defra, Save the Children UK, and Westminster City Council‘s communications consultancy team (where I was named Internal Communicator of the Year in 2009).

In early 2010 I moved to a new role as Intranet Manager at the Houses of Parliament, where I managed the rollout of a new CMS, as well as delivery of an award-winning mobile intranet platformfor MPs and Peers.

In April 2012 I joined Standard Chartered as Senior Manager, Online Communications – looking after web, intranet and social media channels for this global bank. There I am working on a wide range of online communications projects and campaigns.

I genuinely love communication. Done well, effective communication brings enormous benefits to both employees and the organisations that employ them.

I love communication theory, too. I studied it at Goldsmiths, and in 2009 completed the CIPR Internal Communications Certificate, with a final assessment on social media and employee advocacy.

My experience of social media is wide-ranging and as an early adopter and longtime geek I’ve been interacting with strangers via the internet for nearly 20 years. Ironically, I was also a freelance contributor to a printed guide to Facebook. I tweet a lot; about intranets, mostly, but also UX, usability, technology and public services. Plus food, TV, whimsy and regular rants about South West Trains. Despite this, Ragan.com named me as one of their