First Minister Michelle O'Neill, is a champion for inclusivity and progress. From her humble beginnings as a councillor to her historic appointment as First Minister, Michelle's journey is both inspiring and enlightening. Michelle first entered elected politics back in 2005 when she was elected as a councillor. In 2007, she was also elected as an MLA and in 2010 became the first female mayor of Dungannon and South Tyrone. In Stormont, Michelle has served as a Minister for Agriculture...

Mark Wright is an award-winning influential entrepreneur and digital marketing specialist who is widely known for his success in winning BBC’s The Apprentice. After winning Mark went on to find and develop one of the UK’s fastest growing digital marketing agencies, Climb Online, in partnership with Lord Sugar.  Climb Online is the most successful business founded by an Apprentice winner to date. It is renowned for its disruptive approach to digital marketing, working with household brands...

Liz O’Hagan is a Community Pharmacist within the esteemed Meaghers Pharmacy Group. With a background in Integrative and Lifestyle Health, Liz plays a pivotal role in the implementation of Pharmacy 360, the latest initiative by Meagher’s Pharmacy Group. Prior to her current role, Liz pursued her passion for being a ski instructor in Austria. However, her calling to the world of healthcare and making a difference brought her back to Ireland.  We hear how Liz was not coping well with...

Georgie Crawford is the Creator of The Good Glow, one of Ireland’s leading health and wellness brands. Through her podcast, book, courses, talks and events, she helps people globally, create the life they have always dreamed of. Georgie started her working life as a Radio Presenter which led her to meet her husband Jamie. They now have two beautiful little girls.  Revolving for years in her job that meant so much to her, is how Georgie describes it, but ultimately she was consumed by...

Orann Coyle is a financial advisor who provides Wealth Management and Financial Planning Advisory services UK-wide for highly complex, high-net-worth clients including intricate investment, pension, trusts and estate planning. In this episode he talks about money mindset, what it is, what to consider, and how to make changes to your money mindset. How our finances should be set up remembering not everyone’s version of financial freedom is the same and not everyone comes from the same...

John Bosco OHagan is the Founder and Group Chairman of the award-winning, bespoke joinery and fit-out business, Specialist Group based in Maghera, Co Derry. They are a family business dedicated to manufacturing, project planning and installation excellence. Specialist Joinery’s first major export was a pub fit-out in Denmark. They were employed as a sub-contractor to the Irish Pub Company to manufacture and fit out a bar in Copenhagen. Learnings from jobs for the Irish Pub Company led to...

Gerry Hussey is a renowned performance psychologist, co-founder of ‘Soul Space’, multiple best-selling author and one of the leading minds when it comes to integrative health and wellness in neuroscience. He has worked with many elite Irish athletes, prepared boxing teams for success at the Olympic Games and Munster rugby players for Heineken Cups. He has also worked with Tipperary GAA and Galway GAA. Gerry’s first book, Awaken Your Power Within went straight to number one on the Irish...

Michelle Blake is director of Sales and Marketing at the renowned Dylan Hotel. She knows exactly what it takes to stand out and give that 5-star experience. Michelle has committed to training her team and travelling the world promoting Dublin’s only 5-star boutique hotel. In this episode, Michelle shares what makes the Dylan Hotel so unique and why it was important to support Irish within the renovation and the running of the hotel, giving examples of how other businesses could embrace...

Daniel Davey is a performance nutritionist and performance director working in professional sports and business. He is the Author of the best-selling books; ‘Eat Up, Raise Your Game and Eat Up, The Next Level. Daniel is also the co-creator of a collagen supplement with Kinetica Sport.  Daniel founded the platform daveynutrition in 2014, an online business which is based on education, webinars, consultations, events and commercial partners in the food and supplement space. The aim of the...

Sinéad Brady is a mother, partner, sister, daughter, friend, professional, author, lifelong learner and a deep thinker. Mum to four children and proud wife to Alan, together they live in County Cavan in Ireland.  She works globally as a speaker, a workplace consultant and an advocate of workplace equality. In 2023 she became a Best Selling author with her book, Total Reset. Sinéad admits that she isn’t always successful in managing the ‘and’s’ in her life, but she always does her best....

Kingsley Aikins is the former chairman of the multi-million euro lending platform Linked Finance and past president of the Worldwide Ireland Funds. Throughout his extensive career, he has come to appreciate the power of Networking and sees it as the ‘glue’ that makes everything happen. Having written extensively on topics such as Diaspora, Philanthropy and Networking, he has developed a range of online training programmes to impart valuable skills in these domains and is currently the...

Fintru are the core partner of The Talent Hub University of Ulster. Fintru believe in nurturing talent and embracing future leaders to join their business and help them move through different positions to gain as much experience as possible. They support The Talent Hub in helping give students experience in pitching, networking and so much more. This conversation with Greg gives a little insight into the importance which Fintru puts on looking after their staff, their brand values...

Belfast native, Jack McGarry, is Managing Partner of The Dead Rabbit, Manhattan, New York. It is one of the world’s most awarded and globally recognised pubs, winning eight Tales of the Cocktail awards and five World’s 50 Best Bars awards, including World’s Best Bar twice. Opening in 2013 with a bold vision to be the world’s best, Jack reflects on his journey, his struggle with alcohol and what his recovery taught him. He emphasises the pivotal role of self-belief in achieving “one...

Chupi Sweetman, CEO of Chupi, an Irish luxury jewellery brand with a global reach, leads a team of fifty and boasts a community of over two hundred and fifty thousand worldwide. Recognised by the Irish Times as one of Ireland’s most loved brands, Chupi has recently unveiled its impressive four and a half thousand square foot flagship store in Dublin.  With less than 2% of venture capital going to female founders, she shares valuable insights on pitching a brand to investors and...

Caroline O’Neill, host of the Digg Podcast, takes us on her transformative journey from Occupational Therapist to the visionary creator behind the renowned Digg brand, encompassing Digg for Success, The Digg Podcast, Digg Mama, and Digg Deep for Kids. Throughout her remarkable eighteen-year journey, Caroline’s resilience and reinvention have been pivotal.  In this episode, she imparts invaluable insights on recognising the need for change in your business, embracing authenticity in the...

Grainne Kelly, a celebrated entrepreneur with multiple awards to her name, serves as the CEO and mastermind behind Bubblebum UK Ltd, the pioneering creator of the world’s first inflatable car booster seat. Established in December 2009, Bubblebum has successfully extended its reach to twenty seven countries, securing placement with major retailers like Walmart, Amazon, Halfords, John Lewis, and Target. Grainne, a mother of two, embarked on the journey of inventing Bubblebum to address her...

Laura Bonner, the CEO and Founder of The Muff Liquor Company, has a remarkable journey in the business world. Her achievements include winning the Business All Star in 2018, being recognised as the Ulster Business Woman of the Year in 2019 and making it to the Industry Era’s list of the top 10 most inspiring CEOs in 2021. In 2023, she was honoured as the Handcrafted Spirits Business Leader. While these accolades speak volumes, Laura’s story is one of humble beginnings that ignites a spark...

In 2019, Caroline O’Neill and Niamh Taylor established the Northern Ireland Social Media Awards. The recent third ceremony, held a few weeks ago, enjoyed remarkable success, sparking significant curiosity about the intricacies of organising such an event. The following seven guests, from seven different businesses, who contributed to the successful awards ceremony this year, share their top tips for event planning. Jamie McMinnis - Mad Colour Jamie is Managing Director at Mad Colour, a...

Brian McEniff is a name synonymous with excellence in the hospitality industry. His legacy continues to shine brightly through the McEniff Group Hotels which consists of six hotels across Ireland: Skylon Hotel (Dublin), Sligo Southern Hotel, Great Northern Hotel (Bundoran), Yeats Hotel, (Rosses Point), Westport Woods Hotel, Holyrood Hotel (Bundoran). With a career spanning decades, Brian has established himself as a visionary leader, a passionate hotelier and a committed community...

Oonagh O’Hagan is the Owner and Managing Director at Meagher’s Pharmacy Group which has nine stores across various neighbourhoods in Dublin and an online store that ships to over seventy countries worldwide. They have been named as one of Ireland’s Best Managed Companies, by Deloitte, for the ninth consecutive year and have reached the platinum standard for the third year in a row. Outside of Meagher’s Pharmacy Group, Oonagh is Managing Director of Symprove Ireland and a board member of...

Niall McKenna is the Chef Proprietor at Waterman House, Belfast, which is the latest addition to the James Street restaurant group he founded in 2003. Niall has been in the kitchen since he was fourteen years old. He worked in London for 12 years, training with the best in the industry. He has opened multiple restaurants in Belfast and has been recognised for food and service excellence by the Michelin Guide, the Waitrose Food Guide, Food & Wine Magazine and the prestigious Georgina...

Inspiring, Connecting and Enabling Ambitious Leaders of SMEs to Scale with Purpose is a recurring headline for Brendan McGurgan online. Brendan was group managing director and finance director at CDE Global for seventeen years, which had 700 staff and a revenue of one hundred million pounds. He is now the co-founder and director of Simple Scaling, co-author of the Amazon bestseller- Simple Scaling, regular keynote speaker and host of the acclaimed ScaleX Insider Podcast.  He has...

Brendan McDowell owns the global beauty brand BPerfect which is stocked in over two thousand stores all over the UK and Ireland. His business has increased by 71% since last year with six flagship stores and plans for ten more, launching in Dubai before October and a new range coming in Primark and Pennys. One of his products is the best selling product on the Aer lingus airlines. He is also the Co-Founder of award winning hair care brand, Voduz. Brendan never stands still in...

Meghan Semple is the Performance Marketing Director at the award winning, Belfast based digital marketing agency, Digital 24.  She leads a team of specialists, driving comprehensive performance marketing strategies across many different industries around the world. Meghan is a leader in the digital field. In this episode, Meghan deeply dives into the various AI tools she has tried and tested. Some of these have radically changed the way she works. Links from episode: OpenAI/ChatGPT...