Cactus Imaging business development manager and recently announced NSW Women in Print patron, Karen Lawler, discusses her career highlights, the importance of social responsibility, and how Cactus Imaging is leading the way to be green.
Can you tell us a little about your career and how you started in print?
Before working in print, I worked in hospitality and event management. I worked for seven and a half years for a major hotel group in Sydney’s CBD and loved it, but it burnt me out. I then worked for an IT company, but it wasn’t the right fit for me. I joined Cactus Imaging in my current role in 2017. I did have a very short stint as a pre-press assistant with Torch [Publishing] when I was younger, so I came to the role with a very basic understanding of print, but not of digital print, so it was a steep learning curve. The great thing about this job and the print industry is that there’s always something new to learn. My role changes quite a bit on a day-to-day basis, with different jobs coming through – it can be anything from a birthday sign to a large-scale building wrap. I also have a substantial client base, between 300 and 350 clients the last time I counted, which also keeps it interesting.
What have been some career highlights?
For me, what comes to mind when it comes to career highlights are some of the projects I’ve been involved with and the impact these projects have had. One project that stands out is the Woolworths Indigenous art building wrap on George Street in Sydney’s CBD that we did in 2022. The largescale artwork, ’Ancient Tracks’, which was also designed by Indigenous artist, Toby Bishop, was made from mesh and wrapped around scaffolding on the façade of the Woolworths building across from Town Hall. Social responsibility, both personally and professionally, is something that is important to me, so I was proud to have been involved with that project.
Another highlight was Cactus’ involvement with the ASEAN-Australia Special Summit this year, which saw leaders from ASEAN and Australia all come together in Melbourne. It was more than 150 individual fabrics and 2200sqm of work for one event. It was hectic, but seeing all those leaders standing in front of fabric that I worked towards getting there was very cool. Another rep I work with did a large mesh print during the NRL’s Indigenous round for the Brisbane Broncos. Seeing that on the field on the TV was also exciting To be involved in some capacity with events like these, that have an impact on people, is a very rewarding part of the job.
The ProPrint Awards is always a great night. It’s great to catch up with everyone in the industry and for all of us to let our hair down and celebrate our hard work. There are so many amazing people in this industry, so to have been previously nominated was also special.
What do you enjoy most about your role and the print industry?
The people – not only the people that I work with, but also the people that I meet across all aspects of the industry. One of the things that I love about working at Cactus Imaging is our team. We have a small sales team – there’s four of us in Sydney and one in Melbourne – and I know that if I’m away, I can always rely on the team. When I first started, Nigel [Spicer] told me Cactus Imaging is like a family-run business, and it really does have that feeling. What I also love is how many aspects there are to the print industry and going to events like the ProPrint Awards opens your eyes to how big this industry is.
What do you think the industry can do to help attract, engage, and retain more people?
A lot of people think printing is a dying art, but I think there’s always going to be a need for print. I think it’s important for us as an industry to continue to raise print’s profile. While there’s also a place for digital, there’s a real art when it comes to traditional printing, which needs to be celebrated. If we’re looking at ways to get more people in the industry, then we need to sell it with its biggest asset – the people. It’s such a great community to be a part of. I grew up around motorsports and there were instances where you were made to feel excluded as a female, but you don’t get that in this industry. There are more women entering the industry too, which is great to see, but I think we still need to do more to encourage that.
What’s next for you and the team at Cactus Imaging?
Sustainability is a big focus for the Cactus team and we’re always looking at new ways of how we can implement more sustainable and socially responsible practices into the business and our operations. It’s not only important to us, but it is also increasingly important to our clients. Last year, we won the Outstanding Achievement in Sustainability Award at the ProPrint Awards for our development of Ecobanner, in conjunction with oOh!media and Gale Pacific. Ecobanner is a fully recyclable material that is manufactured in Australia using cleaner and more sustainable processes than PVC. Winning the award was a really proud moment for the whole team to be recognised for our work in this space. It’s important to us that as a company, we are leading the way in to be greener.
This first appeared in the September issue of Australian Printer magazine. Read the original article here.
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