Darran’s advisory role to Ailuna focuses on corporate partnerships, growth and expansion. He has a professional background in licensing and branding, as well as in digital products and services. Darran has led teams across the globe for high-profile children’s brands such as Moshi Monsters, as well as working with Microsoft and Universal Studios and being a seed investor for meditation and mindfulness app, Calm.
Darran’s biggest professional passions are seeing the journey of a company or product from the very beginning. By getting involved with a business from the early stages of development, he can see, and actively play a part in its growth. He loves the idea of a product being seen to be “punching above its weight” and reaching people all over the world.
Ailuna excites Darran because of the positivity and purpose it provides. He says that the community aspect of the platform gives a different perspective. The way the app is geared towards creating success for its users, using the support infrastructure built into the Ailuna community, gives it the potential to make a huge difference.
Darran and his family live on the riverside in Twickenham, UK. He has three boys and the eldest two are the most active in the family when it comes to environmental issues. The family has gone from having just one recycling box, to a sophisticated six box system, all managed meticulously by the children.
Living right on the river, the family sees first-hand how much pollution goes into our waterways. His children even have nets so they can catch floating rubbish as it passes – their own mini water filtration system!
Darran and his family are currently investigating installing solar panels to generate some of their own renewable energy, and they have recently changed their cars to more eco-friendly models. They’ve also switched to a water meter so they can monitor their water use more closely.
As a family, Darran says there is so much more they can do, which is why the Ailuna app is particularly exciting as he feels it will open them up to many more ways they can help.
When he’s not juggling three children, a dog and his work, Darran and his family are music festival fanatics. His children have been to more festivals than a lot of adults and the family all loves the escapism and freedom a weekend of playing and dancing brings.
They’re also sports fanatics and have a particular love for London Irish rugby club and Tottenham Hotspur football club, arch rivals of fellow AIluna advisor Colin’s team, Arsenal. Darran also loves to read but says he finds it difficult to find the time to get around to the ever-expanding titles on his office bookshelves!
If he was given the power to make one positive change to the world, Darran would allow children to play more, and learn through adventure rather than the more rigid education system that currently exists in a lot of settings. He believes that through play and through experience, children can thrive and learn more about the world around them, and what they can do to make it a more sustainable and fair place to live.
