Apple’s newly appointed retail boss Deirdre O’Brien joins Instagram to detail her world tour of company stores

Deirdre O’Brien, who was promoted to Apple’s Senior Vice President of Retail + People after the departure of ex retail head Angela Ahrendts, is touring Apple Stores around the world to familiarize herself with Apple’s retail efforts, documenting her experiences on Instagram.

She joined the popular photo-sharing service owned by Facebook just three days following Ahrendts’ last day on the job. Her handle is @deirdre.at.apple so go follow her if you like.

The account has been verified by Instagram.

At the time of this writing, she had more than 1,600 followers and just four photos on her Instagram profile depicting the interiors and exteriors of various company-owned retail stores, including Hong Kong’s ifc mall and Macau’s Cotai Central.

Her bio reads as follows: “Leader of retail and people at @apple. Thinking different since 1988.” Following Ahrendts’ departure after five years as Apple’s head of retail efforts, the Cupertino company basically created a brand new Retail + People role for O’Brien.

Interesting enough, about two years ago Apple promoted Deirdre O’Brien, then Vice President of Worldwide Sales and Operations, to a new role—Vice President of People—also created just for her. As Apple’s boss of People, she’s been managing human resources functions like talent development, recruiting, benefits, compensation and business support.

Some people commented that combining the Retail and People roles into a single job is too much work even for an Apple Vice President, casting doubt on O’Brien’s suitability as a replacement for Ahrendts. O’Brien earned her bachelor’s degree in Operations Management from Michigan State University and an MBA from San Jose State University.