Lucy actually began her career working in advertising. She started at JWT in 1987, moving to Bartle Bogle Hegarty (where she met Peter Dann) and then on to TBWA where she became Account Director in 1992. She worked on brands such as Kit Kat, Andrex and Nivea.

She moved into qualitative advertising research at Davies Riley-Smith Maclay in 1995, renewing her working relationship with Peter, and was made a Director a year later. She became Managing Director there and then joined Peter at The Way Forward before co-founding The Nursery with Peter and Chris Forrest in 2001.

She is a speaker/tutor/author for the AQR, APG, MRS and The Research Show.

She currently runs the AQR Foundation course.