As a veteran traveler and tour leader, Francesca Winch can promise you a personalized travel experience, laughter, learning, and a plethora of new found friends on both sides of the Atlantic! Her love for Ireland has coursed through her spirit from birth. A dual Irish and American citizen with roots in Counties Mayo and Roscommon, she grew up in northern New Jersey and began summer visits to cousins in Ireland once she was old enough to earn money for my airfare. In the 1980s, when this was still the thing to do, she spent summers hitchhiking all over Ireland and, in 1992, she led her first tour of high school students. She’s always loved both literature and history, and, having majored in the former and minored in the latter, she designed the tour as a fun learning experience. 

Having retired after 36 years as a high school English teacher in Arlington, Virginia, and as the wife of a professional Irish musician, she spends the school year immersed in the Irish music and culture that is the heartbeat of her home, and summer vacations visiting family and friends throughout Ireland. Eire-Go Tours is a progeny of those earlier tours, expanded to appeal to all ages and interests. 

As a veteran traveler and tour leader, Francesca Winch can promise you a personalized travel experience, laughter, learning, and a plethora of new found friends on both sides of the Atlantic! Her love for Ireland has coursed through her spirit from birth. A dual Irish and American citizen with roots in Counties Mayo and Roscommon, she grew up in northern New Jersey and began summer visits to cousins in Ireland once she was old enough to earn money for my airfare. In the 1980s, when this was still the thing to do, she spent summers hitchhiking all over Ireland and, in 1992, she led her first tour of high school students.  She’s always loved both literature and history, and, having majored in the former and minored in the latter, she designed the tour as a fun learning experience. 

Having retired after 36 years as a high school English teacher in Arlington, Virginia, and as the wife of a professional Irish musician, she spends the school year immersed in the Irish music and culture that is the heartbeat of her home, and summer vacations visiting family and friends throughout Ireland. Eire-Go Tours is a progeny of those earlier tours, expanded to appeal to all ages and interests. 

Part 2: Lauren Echausse has been working on strengthening her gift as a lightworker for the past 8 years, and really just wants to bring more light into people's lives. In a time where there is so much darkness, she feels lucky that she was given this gift to help relieve people of some of the darkness they may feel is stuck inside them, and replace it with fresh, new light from the earth. Sound crazy?? She promises it isn't. All of this work is rooted in ancient Hindu meditation. As a lightworker, Lauren goes through the chakras in the body to basically fine-tune and realign them so that they are at the right frequency to have the energy flow evenly. An easy meditation for you, and fun, freeing work for her.

Part 2: Melanie Guerrero is a Silver Spring Latina native, whose parents immigrated from Paraguay. She's a lover of food; food justice, gardening, and baby carrots! She loves working out and doesn't mind being bruised, like a banana. You can find her taking naps at Brookside Garden, watching a scary movie, or getting excited about new Trader Joe's products. 

Part 2: Noah Kieserman is an NYC-based actor, composer, and lyricist. He began his training in Olney, MD, enrolling in classes at Musical Theater Center and Levine School of Music. It was there that he developed a passion for acting. After attending the University of Michigan and graduating with a BFA degree, he landed the role of ‘Connor Murphy’ in the first national tour of Dear Evan Hansen. In the summer of 2022, Noah took over the role on Broadway as part of the show’s closing cast.

In addition to a growing list of stage credits, Noah has also begun exploring the medium of TV/Film, co-starring on shows like Law and Order (NBC), FBI: Most Wanted (CBS), Lady In The Lake (Apple TV+), and The White House Plumbers (HBO).

A dedicated writer as well, Noah has composed full-length musicals and performed solo shows at acclaimed venues like Feinstein’s/54 Below. Notable works include: Solomon’s Pen, Parade In Fool’s Paradise (with Peter Scattini), and Until It’s Gold. Most recently, he penned the jingle for Stephanie J. Block and Marylee Fairbanks’ podcast, STAGES. This love for creating original content has earned him prizes like the Lawrence Kasdan Scholarship and Alan Eisenberg Award.

Alicia Campbell is a songwriter, actor, and COO of a small business who seeks to create beauty, ignite new ideas, and live with deep appreciation for all that lights up her path. She is currently working on an album & has developed this project at two different arts residencies: one in Maine and one in upstate New York. She has designed sound for a show in the NY fringe festival and wrote the music & lyrics for a children’s musical that ran at an Equity regional theatre in 2016. Her acting and modeling work has included brands such as Brita & Lancome. In addition to her artistic pursuits, she has spent four years running operations for a professional home organizing company based in NYC.

Mikayla Cramer is a current principal’s associate casting director and extra's casting director going on her fifth year working at Boston Casting. Although she always thought she would be a famous actor, Mikayla has fallen in love with the marriage of biz and creativity that casting brings. Along with casting, Mikayla also teaches acting.

The fifth solo episode with reflections from me, your host, Fiona Winch.

Jorrel Javier: Born in Manila, Philippines and raised in Torrance, California, the now Brooklyn resident lives his life with his emotions on his sleeve and chaos at the helm. From originating the role of Grover on Broadway in The Lightning Thief, to playing James Reynolds in the Angelica Touring Company of HAMILTON, Jorrel strives to inspire other queer Asian kids in taking their spotlight by living life as boldly and as deliberately as he can.

David Gaines is a Black writer, filmmaker and performer based in his hometown of Philadelphia. His work examines Blackness, masculinity, Christianity and mental health through an intersectional lens, and has been featured in the National Black Arts Festival, International Human Rights Art Festival, Write About Now, among many others. David has won numerous national slam poetry championships and placed 4th at the 2017 Individual World Poetry Slam. In 2020, he became the Poet Laureate of Montgomery County, PA and his poetry short film "Fine china." received international acclaim. Using written, visual and physical languages he hopes to make audiences laugh, think and reflect.