24 Stories Podcast

We're rolling out the red carpet for this week's guest who you'll definitely recognise from your TV screens as actor, writer & podcaster Hilary Rose joins Stephen to give an insight to entertainment industry, the necessities to pursue an acting career & life behind the big screens.

Hilary's career in the entertainment industry kick started at 17 which saw her DJ'ing in Cork's infamous Sir Henry's, touring across the country & securing slots on radio. This helped fund her acting career on the side, but she eventually left to pursue acting fully.

She started off honing her improvisational skills on The Republic of Telly & hidden camera show The Fear. However it was The Young Offenders which gave her first break with the film & later TV series.

Since the success of The Young Offenders, Hilary landed roles in various TV series & it has opened many avenues in the entertainment industry. She has launched her own brand Live Wild which consists of lifestyle blog & podcast which features many people in the industry.

She provides great insight & knowledge into the world of entertainment, but also the importance of building a self brand as an actor, the characteristics needed to succeed in acting & how networking & self-promotion is vital to be seen.

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The rental market & an insight to the intricacies of insurance are the talking points with HomeHak founder Pat Drinan who founded the business in 2018. HomeHak is an innovative platform designed to connect Letting agents, DIY landlords and homeowners through online profiles when applying for a rental property.

However Pat's career began in the financial services which spanned for over 26 years & gained him the titles as Ireland's first financial lines under writer. During his career he worked across Europe, the US & UK with a number of insurance companies taking on roles at Chubb Insurance, Ace European Group, Royal Sun Alliance Insurance Group. A move back to Cork eventually led to a weekly commute from Cork to London but he ultimately made a decision to leave the insurance industry & in 2016 took on a new research role years with an Ireland based SME, researching ways to improve sustainability through increasing water and crop productivity.

HomeHak was born on the back of the difficulties in the housing market due to the shortage of housing supply & abundance of applications per property. The idea stemmed from his owns son's difficulties in securing adequate accommodation for college. To build the business in a new sector from his former experience, he took the opportunity to build new skills studying Digital Marketing Strategy at MTU. From there he has been building HomeHak with the idea was to connect Letting agents, DIY landlords and homeowners through an online profile where tenants can showcase their credentials for landlords with the aim for both parties to secure long-term tenancies.

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We look into the world of non-profit organisations in this episode with Sanctuary Runners founder Graham Clifford who is also kept busy with Translate Ireland & One Town One Voice where the vision of integration of communities is at its core. His passion for integration, diversity & inclusion stems from his lengthy career in journalism where he spent time working abroad reporting on different cultures & communities.

Graham's career in journalism started unintentionally when he landed himself a job as a reporter for Radio Kerry. A move to Australia saw him covering cultural projects & meeting different communities & cultures. A return to Europe saw him working for the BBC in the UK & freelancing for The Irish Times, The Independent & Radio 1 here in Ireland where he would report from across Europe & Africa. He recounts some of the interesting interviews he conducted over the years.

His journalism career eventually took the back seat so he could pursue his idea of Sanctuary Runners which uses running, jogging & walking to bring together asylum seekers, refugees, migrants and all Irish residents. The idea came following a trip to a refugee camp while working abroad, it was during a marathon he thought to use running as a bridge to build to bring people together. It proved a huge success & led to an expansion across Ireland with over 30 Sanctuary Runners up & running with plans for more in sight.

The success doesn't stop there, the runners have branched out to Sanctuary Swimmers & inspired a creative approach to integration through One Town One Voice national initiative which helps build community singing groups in towns across Ireland with a special emphasis on community integration, diversity and respect. The future is looking good for Graham & we're excited to see the future holds for his many ventures.

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This week is a deep dive into the world of marketing & it’s safe to say Stephen is in his element as he’s joined by Seamus Leahy of Invite Resorts, who has an extensive career in marketing & the hospitality industry. Seamus's colourful career saw him working for an array big companies throughout.

We get an insight to the operations & marketing strategies he’s executed for companies like Dairygold, golf retailer Cutter & Buck Europe as well as Scottish & Newcastle where he was responsible for chains such as Trabolgan, Pontins & Centre Parcs all the while lecturing at UCC. On a more local level Seamus was one of the masterminds behind Christmas at Fota Island Resort, leading a successful marketing campaign & providing the highly anticipated event in Cork. Here he spent 14 years as Director of Marketing at a role that seen him do a rebrand & host an Irish Open amongst other exciting events.

Today he is a cofounder of Invite Resorts with hotels in Killaloe & another in Sligo where he hopes to reignite his love of events. Suffice to say these two could’ve spoken about marketing for hours. There’s huge learning for anyone looking to improve their knowledge on the ins & outs of marketing. 

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Brand design & strategy are on the drawing board of this weeks episode as Stephen is joined by Deirdre Corcoran, founder of Chapter. They dive deep into the important role creativity plays in the corporate world & how it intertwines with marketing, branding & creating a clear vision in conveying the ethos, vision & mission of brands.

While art & creativity is often undervalued, Stephen & Deirdre discuss its necessity & vitality in business & the need for creativity to be appreciated on a wider scale. Deirdre's love of art & design ignited at a young age after a visit to Cork's famous St.Finbarr's Cathedral. It was the architecture, art, sculptors & design of the cathedral that left her fascinated & from there, it inspired her to tap into her creative talents.

Deirdre's original plans was to pursue a career in rowing having spent her school years competing professionally with Ireland with dreams to compete in the Olympics, however an injury in Leaving Cert year meant an early retirement. With her dreams shattered, she decided to study design at MTU which brought a new direction eventually led to a career in design working for likes of The Irish Examiner, The Irish Independent, the RTE guide, & the Supervalu brand.

The idea for Chapter came following the birth of her son, it was a new chapter in her life, becoming a full-time mum & self-employed meant she could juggle both. While it wasn't easy initially, she developed clients over the years helping them understand who they are & to execute their mission & vision through multimedia.

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Get a behind the scenes look into life on & behind the screen with videographer, presenter & founder of the Vidacademy Judie Russell who has worked in the industry in over 10 countries & how businesses can benefit from creating simple yet effective video content.

While on a worldwide trip, it was a move to Hollywood to work with a friend in video production which kick-started her pursuit in videography - which took her back to her hobby as a young girl, shooting on her cam-corder. While job hunting for sometime luck struck when a job in Costa Rica opened up, where Judy presented online videos & produced over 100 minutes of YouTube content weekly from live shows to industry news stories.

After 5 years abroad broadening her skills, Judy returned to Ireland directing, producing, presenting & editing for SKY & familiar Irish TV shows such as “The Fear” & The Young Offenders. In 2015 she decided it was time to start her own company & that's when the Vidacademy was established helping businesses to create their own video content.

From listening to the podcast - you'll realise she never seems to stop with ideas & that's when she co-founded The Story Of - an innovative idea in embedding QR codes in gravestones to tell people’s life stories through pictures and videos. Anyone looking to create online content through video - this is a must!

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Growing up in a family with a renowned business in Cork meant one thing for Andrew Whitaker - it was inevitable he would join the family business of Johnson & Perrott. The family business has been in operation for over 230 years in multiple industries from hatchery, iron works & the motor industry & passed down through generations. Andrew started in the motor side of the business working in sales & spent time in the sister company of Avis which saw him move to Australia to gain a greater insight to the industry.

Coming from a family business led him to take a leap of faith to build his own business & make a difficult decision of leaving Johnson & Perrott. He created Culture Co-Working - a co-working space in Cork’s Marina, but with great success in growth, a new hub opened in the city.

He talks about growing up in an establish family business, the difficulties of leaving it to build his own & the challenges brought by Covid-19 & it’s impact on his business which was starting up at the time. We also hear how he got through those challenging times as well as the great support in the Cork business community in helping others when needed.

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We've a magical episode up our sleeve with magician & mentalist Liam Sheehan who is renowned in Ireland & across the globe for his tricks in the trade. It's not everyday you can say you've entertained Michael Jackson, but Liam can. He is famed for entertaining the king of pop during his stay in Cork which is what propelled his career in the industry of magic where today he performs in Ireland & around the world doing corporate & private events.

But his career in magic didn't start till later in life. He left school having failed his intercert, but despite having no qualifications he started a job in a factory, where he developed skills in sales & business. After years of working in business, he opened Cork's first BMX shop 'Super Bikes BMX'. After 12 years in business, he sold up & retuned to his former employer working back in sales.

But all the while during his business career, he knew he wanted to be an entertainer, something that resonated with him at a young age. On the side, he was learning the tricks of magic from notes from the masters in magic like Houdini & practising at home on fammily. Once he got his first corporate gig, he knew it was time to persevere & pursue magic full time. From there it escalated quickly to working at corporate events, earning a reputation for himself. The rest is history! Liam was kind enough to do some tricks in studio & we were simply amazed visit our Instagram account to see it live!

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Cork sustainable leisurewear OceanR is making waves across the globe creating sustainable products & clothing from ocean waste. The brand founded by Tom Cotter, formerly known as Rashr has been been in the making for 5 years but has grown exponentially on a global basis.

From what started initially as active wear, OceanR has become a sustainable clothing brand ambassador for luxury leisure resorts around the world, most notably for Necker Island, owned by businessman Richard Branson. Tom left school not knowing what he wanted to do while dealing with the loss of his best friend, but he eventually found himself working in water sports as an instructor - something his father had always been active in.

The economic crash of 2008 saw him move to Australia where he worked in a sailing school. There he learned the ins & outs of business through the friendly mentorship of his Aussie workmates. After a number of years, a return to Ireland was inevitable but met with hardships when his mother passed away soon after his return. She was highly supportive of his dreams to set up his business which over the years grew to what it is today.

OceanR is paving the way for sustainability sourcing ocean plastics which are reused as fabric materials, once the clothing has reached an end of life, its returned & the fabric is shredded & reused as stuffing for car seat interiors amongst other things. Ocean R is way ahead of its time when it

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This week on the podcast, Stephen is joined by popular Cork based content creator Shauna Doyle who joins us to give an insightful look into the world of online content creation. Shauna originally got into content creation while working as a makeup artist at MAC Cosmetics at Brown Thomas where she began uploading make-up tutorials. Through this she began to gain a following online and it wasn't long before she took the leap of faith to pursue online content creation full-time. 

But everything wasn't smooth sailing to begin with, as she found herself studying in a course she didn't enjoy. This led her to change direction to pursue something different after getting her degree. As she began to get more in content creation she decided to do a Masters in PR & New Media at Munster Technological University where she learned many of the skills she uses in her content creator role.

Shauna operates solely by herself, working around the clock as her own personal assistant, doing her own PR, marketing & content creation for clients. This episode is a great insight into the hard work behind the scenes of content creators and the growth of influencer marketing.

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