#FollowTriterra & All-Ireland Sustainability
Danielle McCormick is the founder of Triterra, a sustainability consultancy with a passion for green strategies, training, and mentoring. Her journey began with over two decades of environmental experience.
She launched the All-Ireland Sustainability Network, followed by the Summit and Awards to foster change and celebrate success. Beyond work, she's a devoted wife, mother, and yoga teacher. Learning from her female founder journey, she values collaboration, intuition, and persistence. Danielle joined AwakenHub to connect with like-minded women and dreams of expanding her initiatives. Family remains non-negotiable, and her motto is "Trust your gut" for a thriving future.
Danielle’s membership is sponsored as part of our partnership with Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council.
To get us started - how would you describe yourself in 6 words or less?
Informal, creative and enjoy a challenge!
Describe your business and what prompted you to start it?
Triterra is a sustainability consultancy focusing on developing bespoke sustainability strategies, training, mentoring, project management and green marketing solutions for businesses. This stemmed from a passion and depth of knowledge from my background in environmental science, and over 22 years experience of working in the sector.
I went on to establish the All-Ireland Sustainability Network, a free network based on LinkedIn, when I saw a sea-change on the horizon following COVID and felt that there maybe weren't enough 'hands on deck' to really implement the changes needed across NI alone, and so wanted to create a space where we could find out who did what, where they were located, how we could all learn from each other and create opportunities for collaboration.
The network progressed really well, now sitting with approx 450 members, and so I felt that I could do more. From that came the All-Ireland Sustainability Summit, and consequently also the All-Ireland Sustainability Awards, with the hope of educating and facilitating change for businesses and organisations, as well as showcasing and celebrating success stories occurring throughout the Island.
Tell us a little bit more about you?
I am married to Conrad McCormick, otherwise known as @thatbotanicguy for all of the gardeners out there. I met my husband at secondary school, we now have 2 boys aged 19 (Callum) and almost 14 (Noah) and we live just outside of Ballycastle, Co. Antrim.
I have always worked in the environmental sector and was an employee until 2016 when on the eve of Christmas eve that year (after buying a nice new house) I was told that I was being made redundant. Not the best Christmas if I'm honest!
BUT, I prefer to see opportunity in a difficult situation and so told my husband on New Year's day 2017 that I was going self-employed. His immediate reaction: "Um....like, right now....after we've just bought this house?!" but I told him that if I didn't have a client within 6 months I would get a job, and here I am 6 years later. He has since often been the voice of encouragement behind my little business even when things have felt at their absolute lowest ebb.
Honestly, work is my hobby, it has always been the thing that is 'all mine', but aside from loving what I do, and all of the people that I get to work with, I do enjoy a number of other hobbies including travelling, walking, reading, baking (and eating it) and yoga, and have actually been a yoga teacher for about 7 years.
Fill us in on your female founder journey.
I have learned many, many things including that it is not a linear pathway; that you have to work hard at building your own network; that people really do (sometimes) want to take your ideas, and that one good year doesn't mean that you've finally made it.
I always assumed that if I worked hard that a) my work would speak for itself and b) it would eventually reap its rewards in the years ahead. I thought that money earned was directly proportional to time invested. I realise now that these assumptions were very much not the case!
I've also learned that you do need to share your ideas and information if you want to create partnerships, but perhaps need to be a bit more careful about what, when and how you share that information, and go with your own gut instinct on with whom. However, that aside, when you do find your 'people' there is nothing more rewarding that working together to achieve shared goals, and that having a driving force, and a 'why' really does make all the difference.
What is means to be a female founder, for me, means working hard to get ahead, to achieve that credibility and to establish your tribe, but I have learned to trust my gut and it has been a fantastic personal journey, and an opportunity for growth that is all mine!
Why are you a member of Awakenclub?
I am still very new to the Hub but have already found the network of ladies so welcoming and so keen to work together to help every member and their business. I have met some immensely talented, and incredibly impressive women already, and am inspired by the vision of the Awaken Hub founders to make a positive difference for female founders.
Or if you've recently joined then 'Why have you joined AwakenHub?'
I have participated in a few mentoring type groups / programmes and memberships before and have found very limited results, especially as a professional services based business, and so I was keen to align myself with a team of women founders who could better understand the journey and who had a reach across the whole Island of Ireland. I know where I am as a business, I know where I want to go, but would really benefit from a strong network of like-minded women who can help me get there, and likewise, that I can also create value to my co-members in return.
I am also keen to learn more about the AwakenAngels programme with the hope that, in time, I might be in a position to invest my own money and help other women co-founders get off the ground, creating a real win-win for all.
Have you an ‘ask’ which we can share with fellow #Awakenhubbers?
I am keen to continue to grow the All-Ireland Sustainability Summit and Awards events across Ireland with a view to helping drive positive, sustainable change for businesses and organisations across the Island.
My ask is that my Awakenhubber colleagues can help me spread awareness of my events and encourage engagement across their own networks and / or that they might be able to point me in the direction of opportunities for collaboration or partnerships that can help me further my goals.
As a founder - what are your non-negotiables?
I think that my only real non-negotiable is that I always prioritise family needs and events first, after that they get much looser. I believe strongly in what's for you won't pass you by, I always try to say 'yes' to an opportunity and worry about it later, I work to challenge myself and work outside of my comfort zone on a pretty regular basis and (try to) only do the types of projects that I know I'll love.
Where do you see yourself in 12 months and 5 years time?
In 12 months time I would like to position myself as the 'go-to' sustainability consultant and event organiser in Northern Ireland! I would hope to have made good progress in accessing contracts in Ireland, and even have managed to get a couple of minor projects under my belt there; I will also be underway in planning my 3rd Sustainability Summit (scheduled for the 21st of March 2023 in the Europa Hotel, Belfast) and 2nd Awards ceremony as well as organising 2 informal networking events for the Sustainability Network in the Dublin area.
In 5 years time I would hope to have grown The All-Ireland Sustainability brand to a significant level of success, and start considering collaboration with an external party who would like to get involved, and help me and take it further than I can alone. I would plan to have become a fully integrated and recognised sustainability consultant in both NI and Ireland, with a strong, ongoing pipeline of work, and perhaps even start to consider reducing my working week slightly to 4-days.
What are your top tips for other women founders?
Say yes to opportunities and worry about it later
Take time twice a year to write down goals and make them into SMART targets. Review you old ones before writing new ones and you might be surprised at how much you have achieved.
To finish up with what are six words to live by?
Trust your gut
