Win Happy Podcast

The Bostonian, Laura Edgerton on a 5 star luxury hotel break in Switzerland with her then husband decided enough was enough! A chat with a waitress in Portland sealed the deal and she divorced, sold her dream home, turned her back on a successful marketing career in financial services and moved lock, stock and barrel to Cork to pursue a new life and a passion for food. In this episode, Laura aka '...

I was thrilled to be able to talk my friend, Brendan Murphy of the wonderful THE4OFUS into starting his own podcast and helping him along the way. Music fans will love this.. Brendan chats with Nashville Hall of Fame songwriter and good friend, Sharon Vaughn. She has been writing international hits since the early 1970's for artists as diverse Willy Nelson, Randy Travis, Kenny Rodgers , Boyzone an...

I caught up recently with the fantastic, deep thinking singer songwriter Mark Geary who is the middle of writing a new album and a big medical procedure on his hand to enable him to resume his playing. One of 10 kids, the son of a brick layer in Dublin, he has enjoyed huge success, boasts a brilliant catalog and has had a fascinating career which started by learning the ropes the hard way in New Y...

Chris Johns , Financial and Economic Consultant and Irish Times Economic columnist talks about his extensive career working "with money" and the huge changes he witnessed through the decades working with the Treasury Department , various financial roles in the City of London , senior roles with Bank of Ireland, AIB , State Street and more. We discuss the role of money, the banking crash, the dange...

I chat with our social media "gurus", Alma Brosnan and Michelle Harrison (on her podcast debut!) about some of the latest changes and trends including: - Instagram trying to "reel" in TikTok with new functionality - Shopping being introduced to Facebook and Instagram "live" - Twitter trying desperately to curb the rising anger  with some functionality and finally  - Many experiencing success on Li...

On this episode I am joined by two leading economists, Chris Johns and Jim Power to discuss Chris's latest thought provoking article for the Irish Times "The Triple Whammy of Covid, Brexit and the U.S. Election ". We discuss the status of Ireland and the UK, the shifting economic climate, the erosion of confidence in the last month, the long term damage to our large cities from Covid and the crise...

" WTF America " is my attempt to get some natives to help explain to me some of the madness that we see but just don't fully understand. Marketing and podcast legend Christopher Lochhead and songwriting goddess Sharon Vaughn explain to me how it really is over there.  It turns out that politics in the United States is more tribal than following your football team and even when your side is clearly...

A secondary school teacher and a professor in UCC turned the attention of this hurling fanatic from Ballyhea in North Cork towards a career in the arts. I chat with Executive Director of the Everyman Theatre , Sean Kelly about his life and career that included roles in Cork Opera House, Cork Film Festival and his current role, which he took in 2014. He calls this his " dream job " and we chat abou...

I could never imagine asking a black person " if they ever wished they weren't black ", but on this very open and honest podcast I asked this question and much more. Omar Bakari from Somalia, who finally emerged from Direct Provision in Ireland with his wife and two children after 9 years and Nadine Hughes Campbell from Montreal who has just had a baby ( Noah! ) with her Cork partner, could not ha...

Success Mentor and RTT Hypnotherapist , founder of Just Pause Pauline Rohdich is about to embark on the huge task of writing a book in 26 days with the guidance of ' The Author Marathon ', Paggy McColl . The book called " There is another way " will be based on Pauline's life and a special moment of realisation when she was just six years of age as she knelt at home saying the rosary with the fami...

" The devil is in the detail " when it comes to insurance says Richard O'Dwyer and Paddy Mettler , Managing Director and Head of Sales and Distribution at Hiscox Ireland respectively. Are we paying for things we don't need and not paying for things we do need and how do we make sure we get this right? The role of the broker, is the insurance company a friend or foe, with people working from home h...

In part two of this two part episode, Brendan Murphy of THE 4 OF US talks about the first gigs, riding the wave of success and realising quickly that you are better off driving the bus rather than being a passenger on the bus and doing all of this at a time when the music industry was experiencing huge change. We also talk about perfect moments and the magical ingredients needed for a perfect birt...

" I want to be like him " were the thoughts of the young Brendan Murphy when he first saw Elvis Presley on TV. In part one of a two part podcast we chat about the early days, loving the experience of singing " I can fly when I sing ", seven years in college, taking his 15 year old brother busking in France which raised enough money for a four track recorder, which allowed ' THE 4 OF US ' to make t...

Kathleen O'Meara , the only triplet I have ever met was brought up to believe that " there were no limits to what you can do " by a mother who had to quit work as a teacher when she married and the nuns who taught her in Roscrea. Kathleen became a journalist with RTE, took a job in politics and then joined the Labour Party , ran for the Dail unsuccessfully three times and served as a Senator for 1...

Four months on from our conversation at the beginning of lockdown, I have a follow up chat with Dr. Gerard Waldron, Assistant Director of Public Health in Northern Ireland to see what has changed, what have we learnt, is this what he expected and what is needed to get control of Covid-19. We also chat about the danger of fear mongering, mandatory mask wearing and the risk of this becoming an awful...

Susan HayesCulleton , " The Positive Economist " of the Hayes Culleton Group comes from a small country town in County Cork and as we've heard before on this podcast, that can have it's opportunities for women. With Susan it is all about seizing those opportunities when they come along - a travel agent for teddies, school, debating, UCG, sticking your neck out and asking the question, which led to...

When your first job is clearing glasses at the age of 10 in the family pub in Cobh, it's not hard to see how hospitality could be in your blood. Aaron Mansworth , MD of Trigon Hotels chats about his international hospitality career that has taken many twists and turns including a long spell in the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York and looking after some very special long term guests, Tom Hanks and...

Elizabeth Cope's energy and drive at the age of 68 is infectious and inspiring. The very lovely, straight talking, renowned Irish artist chats about her colourful (literally!) life that had her painting since she was just nine years of age when she was " seduced by the smell of paint ". From the early days of drawing nuns in bikinis her work is often a diary of her life that like the rest of us ha...

From his days growing up in the northside of Cork city playing with St Vincents , John Goulding the CEO and co-founder of Workvivo, thrives at being the underdog, taking on the big guns and winning! John chats about summers painting with his dad, working as a shoe salesman, studying at UCC and then successful, long serving roles with EMC and CoreHR before his latest move. Over two years ago this u...

The wonderful architect, environmentalist and TV personality, Duncan Stewart has dedicated his life to protecting the environment. Full of passion and never one to sit back and watch damage to our environment, Duncan has always taken a lead - he protests, he produces TV shows such as ECO-EYE, Our House and About The House . In this fascinating, lively discussion we talk about the early "hillbilly"...

This episode is a gem for any startups out there.. We have a big chat with Eamon Curtin , Programme Director, Michelle Dorgan , Programme Manager and four of the participants of the 2020 UCC IGNITE Business Incubation Programme for startups. We discuss "ugly babies", the process as ideas become businesses, the changes of direction, the benefits and learnings of the group dynamic, creating the righ...

Gina Murphy's passion for the hospitality industry and for her customers is infectious. Here she chats about the trauma of the sudden shutdown of her wonderful and very well known restaurant, Hugo's , on Merrion Row in Dublin and the very careful preparation for the re-opening. We also discover where the passion for this life comes from and we learn about her fantastic mum, Pat who had her own spe...

In this episode Greg chats with the very lovely and passionate Corkonian, Paula Cogan who is the President of Cork Chamber in it's 200th year and is Head of Sales of The Doyle Collection . Paula chats about her role in Chamber, her love of Cork, that place that "pleasantly surprises" people and her busy role within the hospitality industry. She describes herself as someone who loves getting stuck...

In this fascinating chat with Robert Bourke , Partner in Charge of Solicitors firm, HOMS Assist we discuss the subtle differences between practising law in Dublin, Limerick and Cork where they have offices and the many legal issues that are and will arise from the Covid19 crisis. These include issues regarding family law, nursing homes, health care workers, duty of care with employees, missing lif...

In the middle of the Covid19 lockdown I had a big chat with the 11 year old rapper, Darren Stewart aka MC Tiny from Knocknaheeney in Cork. He spoke about the magical moment he first entered The Kabin run by Gary, GMC Beats , the latest hit track from the Kabin Crew that he featured on, " Ya Boy ", appearing in The Young Offenders and Christy and making a special appearance on The Late Late Toy Sho...