Member Spotlight: Malin Cunningham, Founder, Hattrick

Introduce yourself:

Hej! I’m Malin Cunningham, founder of Hattrick, a B Corp-certified PR & thought leadership consultancy. I came to Manchester from Sweden in the 90s to study and have called this great city home ever since. A Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses alumni and board trustee for the UN-recognised Carbon Literacy Trust, I believe in balancing commercial realities with people and the planet. Hattrick also delivers accredited carbon literacy training to support businesses on that journey.

Career highlight:

Starting Hattrick with Google as our first client was a real coup! In more recent times being featured in Sangeeta Waldron’s book ‘What will your legacy be?’ *actually available at Waterstones* was a real ‘pinch yourself’ moment! An inspiring read collating conversations with global changemakers on simple ways people can create and take simple everyday actions on climate change. The imposter syndrome is palpable but it’s a definite high!

Name three words that describe your personality:

Resilient, collaborative and optimistic.

What’s the best thing about pro-manchester?

It has to be the fantastic community and networking! pro-manchester offers seemingly endless opportunities to connect, learn and share ideas.

What are your priorities for 2026?

To grow Hattrick’s impact for us and our clients, both through our PR and thought leadership work – and by making sustainability training mainstream. There are so many inspiring stories to share across the region but we know that many leaders don’t have the bandwidth or inclination to do so. We thrive off working with experts in their field to build their profile and be louder and prouder about their innovations and solutions. Typically, this involves helping them articulate their ‘story’ well and securing speaking opportunities, media interviews, opinion pieces and other means of ‘stand-out’ in their industry.

What do you think are the most important things going on in Manchester at the moment?

Manchester is a real ‘let’s roll our sleeves up and get it done’ kind of place, which is one of the things I love about living and working here. The city continues to lead the way in the creative and digital industries – as it always has done – and is also setting the bar in the green economy and tech for good. Not least by aiming to be the UK’s first Carbon Literate city. There’s a real spirit of collaboration here – so many businesses are joining forces to upskill teams, share knowledge and support each other. It’s a great place to be!

Are there any particular types of businesses you’d like to meet?

I’m always keen to connect with partners who believe, as I do, that collaboration is the path to real progress. The more we share, the more we learn and the faster we all move forward. I’d love to meet people that feel their organisations should be getting more recognition for the good work they’re doing. Oftentimes we find the most humble are doing the most extraordinary of things and don’t even realise it. Discovering inspiring regional business stories that deserve to be told well is what makes being part of this community so valuable.