24 Stories Podcast

A lifelong love of perfume, blended with passion & perseverance paved the way for Nora Irwin to create ARONA in 2017 after following in the footsteps of her cousin who worked in the fragrance industry in the US. This passion for perfume began over 40 years when her cousin would send home bottles of perfume from the US. Amazed by the bottle designs & endless scents, these fragrances had a long lasting impact on Nora who says she developed the skill to name almost any perfume by the scent alone.

But plans for a perfumery were on hold all those years while she ran Irwin's shop with her husband providing electrical goods to people in Youghal for over 40 years & going. Throughout the years, the business has experienced the evolution of technology, seeing the introduction of VCR's to mobile phones & advancements in gaming devices - they continued to keep up with the market & continue to do so today. continued to evolve alongside it, selling the some of the first VCR's, mobile phones & gaming devices at the time. All the while Nora's love for fragrance lingered in the background.

This episode focuses on the importance of following your dreams while gaining lifelong lessons on keeping up with the growing markets & maintaining a steady business.

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Minister for Reform & Public Expenditure Michael McGrath joins us this week to look at his early life growing up in Cork & what eventually led him to take a seat at Dáil Éireann.

Micheal grew up in Passage West & shares fond memories with his family, reminiscing on his working days as a caddy on the golf course alongside his brothers & father. His interest in finance prompted him to study Commerce in UCC, where he qualified as a chartered accountant.

He spoke of his early career at KPMG to his role as financial controller at RedFM from its inception before returning to his alma matter UCC with a role in finance. However, his love of politics had a strong hold on him & he eventually took the leap to become a Cork City Councillor in 2005. With a strong desire & determination to pursue politics even further, he became a TD with Fianna Fáil in 2007.

During his time in the Dáil, he has seen the financial crash, his party lose their power in Government, the unexpected coalition with Fine Gael & The Green Party where he gained his first ministerial role. He discusses how the parties worked together through the pandemic & continue to do so during challenging times of the cost of living crisis. Tune in to hear how he & the party had to rebuild its credibility following the financial crash, how social media trolls can bring challenges for TD's & his hopes to become Minister for Finance in the coming party reshuffle on the 17th December.

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For over 50 years, Tony O'Connell has been capturing people across Cork & beyond through the lens of his camera from creating memories at weddings, to up close & personal portraits of Lord Mayor's & Taoiseach's & even the Royal Family on their visit to Cork in 2011. Tony set up his photography shop on Kyle street in 1972 with his wife, the very same month they married.

Prior to this, he served in the brotherhood with the Franciscans whom he credits for his values in business today, which is 'to look after one another & help people whenever you can'. His business saw two recessions & a brief closure before reopening & relocating to North Main Street. These stumbling blocks failed to stop him & he has huge gratitude for the sense of community amongst businesses in Cork for helping each other through difficult times.

On top of running his business, he has spent over 60 years with Cork City Sports where he started working at from the age of 13 handing out leaflets before becoming Chairman today, fundraising for the event which celebrates its 70th anniversary next year. Now a the age of 76, he has no intentions of slowing down, he continues to photograph businesses & charities helping whenever, while also photographing his love of the Irish landscape.

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If Cork people are known for anything, it's the instant desire to declare 'I'm from Cork' on first meeting someone & secondly to state you how great Cork is. Our guest is no stranger to this, as Stephen is joined by the Head of Visit Cork Seamus Heaney who has over 30 years experience in the hospitality industry.

He oversees both leisure & business tourism for Visit Cork, where he has been promoting the city & county in all its glory since 2016. He first began training in hospitality sector at locations around the country before settling back home where he worked as a hotel manager for over 20 years.

In 2000 he set up a catering company providing for greyhound stadia across the country & in 2007 set up Cork Convention Bureau. He has no desire to leave the tourism industry & continues to strive to put Cork on the international map as a prime attraction for business or pleasure...or both!

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Sales management, skills training, the importance of customer engagement & writing are the focal point of this weeks episode with founder of Golden Apple Training & author Eleanor O'Kelly-Lynch. A career in sales was never on Eleanor's agenda, initially teaching & writing were her goals.

Eleanor began teaching at the RTC in skills training (now MTU) but her passion for radio led her to taking on a role in marketing & customer service at the pirate radio station ERI seeing the station evolve into Radio South before becoming what we now it as today - 96FM. During her time in radio Eleanor was responsible for maintaining strong connections with customers, creating campaigns, promotions & competitions, ultimately intertwining the station & customers with the listeners.

Her career changed as her passion for teaching & writing inevitably resurfaced which led her to establish Gold Apple Training where she trains customer service to stations across Ireland. On the side, she finally got to write & publish her first book 'The Girl With Special Knees' which she is proudly launching this week. You can buy 'The Girl With Special Knees' online & in select bookstores.

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We're back with a brand new series & to kick start the series we're joined with the CEO of The Kilkenny Group Evelyn Moynihan. The Kilkenny Group in over 50 years in operation, it has become an emporium for the finest of Irish craft and design building a strong ethos in supporting local Irish artists, craftspeople, jewellers & designers.

Evelyn took over as CEO of the company in 2021 after holding executive roles in the marketing & branding department. She has an extensive background in business from 15 years in Musgrave Group and roles for Guinness with Diageo. We get an insight into understanding the customer pshyche, the importance of developing strong customer communication & building brands over time.

Hear how The Kilkenny Group managed to build it's expand during the recession & persevere through telesales & e-commerce during the pandemic as well future plans for global expansion in the US & UK. It's not one to be missed!

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Problem solving, team building & creating a proactive business are the topics of this week as Stephen is joined by occupational psychologist Martin Brennan of Proactive Management. Martin has over 40 years experience in HR & training and started his business in 1987 & from the get go targeted big global corporations from Pepsi Cola, to Telus & Pfizer.

He has developed, delivered & validated training interventions for national & international clients, in areas such as Management Development, Coaching, Personal Development, Team building, Training and Change Management.

Coming from a family of 14, he took great inspiration from his mother, who in her own right became CEO of the family following the passing of his father at a young age. Martin credits his mother for instilling the skills in him today, which he uses everyday in his own business & that's team management, understanding different dynamics of individuals of the team & coming together in conflict resolution.

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