Reuben Skinner: Videographer at Canva, Sydney, Australia
Reuben Skinner is a Belfast born and bred videographer currently living in Sydney Australia with his wife Estelle and three kids to Dora-Rose, Toban and Zeke. Having initially studied Education with Art and Design, Reuben moved to Japan in 2010 to teach English, they were caught up in the devastating 2011 earthquake. Upon his return to Belfast, Rebeun set up a small video production company, working initially in weddings and events before transitioning to commercial and brand video content.
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Carmel McKinney: Northern Ireland Fire And Rescue Service (NIFRS)
Carmel McKinney is the Chairperson of the Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service (NIFRS). After studying English and French at university, Carmel went on to become a teacher and one of Northern Ireland’s leading experts in the area of Dyslexia. This journey eventually resulted in her becoming the principal of a school and receiving an OBE for her work in education. Later in life, Carmel pivoted into a career into the public sector, sitting on and advising many boards — some which where she was the only woman out of 35 people — before becoming the chairperson of the Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service.
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Nick Whelan: CEO Of Dale Farm
Ok, so when I think of Dale Farm I think of milk, cheese, eating Joker ice lollies in the car. Tasty delicious, love it. But I always assumed it was just another Northern Irish food company like the rest of them. But, as you will hear today, I only knew a small slice of the incredible Dale Farm story and in this episode, you’ll have the chance to hear it for yourself, from a man who is equally as interesting. Nick Whelan is Group Chief Executive of Dale Farm, the UK’s largest owned dairy cooperative. Unlike traditional companies, Dale Farm is owned by the 1300 farmers that that make its products and that all profits get pumped back into the local farming industry.
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James Leckey: Founder & CEO of Leckey Design
James Leckey is the founder & CEO of Leckey: a company focused on designing life-enhancing products for physically challenged children. After starting out small in a garden shed, the Northern Ireland-based company now employs almost 200 people. Today, Leckey is a globally recognized pioneer in the research, design and development of pediatric postural supports that are clinically focused and based on the developmental needs of children, including their social and emotional needs.
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Baroness May Blood: Integrated Education Fund
Andrew Cuthbert is a tech entrepreneur, polymath, innovation maven and cofounder of The Change VC: a venture capital fund that invests in people with ideas that have the potential to change the world. Over the course of his life so far, Andrew’s been involved in research trips to Madagascar, campaigning for human rights, setting up social enterprises, publishing books, writing patents and developing strategies for businesses in sectors like proton therapy, microbiology and satellite technology. He’s also a husband and father to four kids.
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Ciaran Sheehan: Clarendon Executive, Young Enterprise & Corcreggan Mill Holidays
I first met today’s guest when I was 16 while doing Young Enterprise at school and since then I’ve also known him to be incredibly passionate and supportive of entrepreneurship for people at every age and stage of the journey. Ciaran Sheehan is an entrepreneur himself, probably best known as a leading Executive Recruiter and Board advisor to many companies in NI. But he also has business interests in Care Homes and most recently a very exciting venture in tourism in North Donegal on the Wild Atlantic Way – an authentic holiday, glamping, camping experience that is really taking off!
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Jonny Quinn: Snow Patrol
Jonny Quinn is the drummer of Snow Patrol, an alternative rock band from Northern Ireland that has released six albums so far and sold over 13 million copies worldwide. Their latest album ‘Reworked’ features reimagined versions of their career highlights, including all-time classics like Chasing Cars, Open Your Eyes and Run. Hailing from Bangor via San Jose, Jonny has been nominated for both Grammy and Brit awards, won a prestigious Ivor Novello Accolade and has been responsible for several era-defining singles.
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Sarah McAnallen: McAnallen Design
Sarah McAnallen is the CEO of McAnallen, a design-focused business that creates products with the purpose of making life easier for individuals with mobility issues. When Sarah was six-years-old her mum had a stroke which caused her to lose the use of her left hand — making everyday tasks difficult. It was out of this personal experience that McAnallen was born.
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Zoe Salmon: TV Presenter & Lawyer, Blue Peter
After 30 years of singing together, brothers, Fr Eugene and Fr Martin O’Hagan, along with their friend and colleague Fr David Delargy, came together and recorded their debut album — ‘The Priests’ — with Sony Music. The album sold 3 million copies worldwide securing them a spot in the Guinness Book of World Records as the fastest-selling classical of all time. Ten years later, their career has led to three further albums and tours and across the world including performances for the Irish President, the Royal Family. They even shared a stage with Pope Benedict XIV in London’s Hyde Park to a live audience of 80,000 and to a global audience of millions on TV.
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Philip Bain: Entrepreneur, Author, Philanthropist
Philip Bain is the co-founder of ShredBank – a multi-award-winning on-site shredding company and the author of two business books: Start to Grow and Start to Lead. Being a well-known public speaker and a lay-preacher, Philip is no stranger to microphones and has used his influence to raise tens of thousands of pounds for the Princes Trust and other charitable organisations.
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Lady Mary Peters: Olympian, Author, Legend
Lady Mary Peters, LG CH DBE RNR OLY — or Mary P as her friends call her — is an Olympic Gold Medalist, member of the Order Of The Garter and most recently the author of her new book Passing The Torch. After moving to Northern Ireland when she was 11-years-old, Mary trained as a Domestic Science Teacher before competing professionally in sport. This ultimately led to Mary winning the women’s pentathlon gold medal in the 1972 Summer Olympics and setting a world record that still stands today.
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Cowfield Design: Exporting NI Landmarks To The World
Cowfield Design is a father and son, creative design crafts business setup by Conor and Sean Kelly. After starting initially as a hobby making lamps/mirrors out of Donegal driftwood, requests for stock in shops and commissions kickstarted the Cowfield journey into a full-time gig. Two years later, Cowfield Design has a whole host of products that celebrate Northern Ireland including beautifully crafted models of the Harland and Wolff Cranes, Belfast Sink, Titanic and Wild Atlantic Way.
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Tim Brundle: Ulster University
Tim Brundle is the Director of Research & Impact at Ulster University. He also holds the position of CEO of Innovation Ulster Ltd, the university’s award-winning investment company, alongside working closely with Invest NI, being the Chair of Young Enterprise NI, a trustee of Blick Shared Studios and actively involved in the local start-up scene. So he’s a busy man, to say the least. In today’s episode, we cover Tim’s early career, including helping out in his mum’s art shop as a boy, interviewing the top 100 CEOs in Northern Ireland as a student and working for the Ministry of Defence. We also discover what it takes for a startup to succeed and how to keep the main thing the main thing with a busy, demanding schedule.
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Eleanor McEvoy: Energy Entrepreneur, CEO, Dragoness
Serial entrepreneur Eleanor McEvoy is the CEO of Next-Gen Power — a green energy business focused on bringing renewable electricity to the masses through affordable solar panel and battery technology. A two-time EY Entrepreneur of the Year finalist, Eleanor broke new ground by becoming the first private supplier of electricity in the Northern Ireland market and ROI with Budget Energy. She’s also the Northern Ireland's Ambassador for Entrepreneurship. Before that, Eleanor successfully built and sold two companies: Pembroke Distributors and Phonecard Warehouse. Plus as a dragoness on two seasons of RTE’s Dragons Den, Eleanor has made substantial investments in a number of young businesses.
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The Priests: Singers, World-Record Holders, Priests
After 30 years of singing together, brothers, Fr Eugene and Fr Martin O’Hagan, along with their friend and colleague Fr David Delargy, came together and recorded their debut album — ‘The Priests’ — with Sony Music. The album sold 3 million copies worldwide securing them a spot in the Guinness Book of World Records as the fastest-selling classical of all time. Ten years later, their career has led to three further albums and tours and across the world including performances for the Irish President, the Royal Family. They even shared a stage with Pope Benedict XIV in London’s Hyde Park to a live audience of 80,000 and to a global audience of millions on TV.
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Mark Todd: Architect, Artist, Conversationalist
Mark Todd is a local architect who designs buildings that become a meaningful part of people’s lives and the places they inhabit. He’s also a coffee-lover, music-fanatic, a fellow resident in Ormeau Baths. Over the last year or so, Mark and I have had the weirdest and most wonderful spontaneous conversations in corridors, kitchens and cafes. The more I’ve gotten to know him, the more I find him to be a kindred spirit and one of the most interesting conversationalists I know.
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Peter Dixon: The Man Who Brought Natural Gas To Northern Ireland
Peter Dixon grew up in an Irish Catholic family in Liverpool. After leaving school at 16 without any professional qualifications, he worked as a gas fitter, a plumber and a welder. But through a lot of hard work and volunteering for jobs nobody else wanted, Peter began to rise through the ranks of management. Against all the odds, Peter landed a huge opportunity with British Gas and ended up spearheading the colossal task of bringing natural gas to Northern Ireland for the first time in the 90s.
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Claire Leese: Fashion Stylist, Game Of Thrones, Archive 12
Claire Leese is a fashion stylist from Belfast, Northern Ireland. After spending the early days of her career in London working in the music industry with artists like The Darkness and Lilly Allen, Claire returned to NI just in time to work on the pilot of Game Of Thrones. She then went on to have a very successful and fast-paced career working on Thrones for five seasons.
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Max Mackin, Polio-Survivor, Entrepreneur, Movie-Buff.
Max Mackin is an entrepreneur and movie buff from Belfast, Northern Ireland. As probably the last person in the UK to contact Polio, Max had a very short-lived school career. But at 18-years-old — with no real experience or qualifications — Max moved to London to seek his fortune. After stumbling into a career in recruitment, he painstakingly worked his way up through the company and left as the Head of UK Operations.
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Norman Surplus, First Man to Circumnavigate the World in an Autogyro
Norman Surplus is a pioneer from Larne, Northern Ireland. He’s also a video game designer, wind-farmer, lifeboat captain, log-cabin builder, cancer survivor and most recently the first man to circumnavigate the world in an autogyro. Known as a gyrocraft or gyrocopter, these nifty flying machines are a cross between a helicopter and a motorbike. In 2010, Norman set out from his hometown Larne on a journey that would take him all around the world — and in a bizarre turn of events — nine years to complete.
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