Win Happy Podcast

On todays podcast I chat with Richard Stafford , founder of Fettle , a new online mental health support service in Ireland. Richard , a victim of sexual abuse when he was just 12 found solace in alcohol to escape the demons from this experience. Three years ago he attempted to take his own life and he has since come back from "rock bottom" through therapy from the Rape Crisis Centre and the help o...

On todays podcast I chat with Richard Stafford , founder of Fettle , a new online mental health support service in Ireland. Richard , a victim of sexual abuse when he was just 12 found solace in alcohol to escape the demons from this experience. Three years ago he attempted to take his own life and he has since come back from "rock bottom" through therapy from the Rape Crisis Centre and the help o...

In this episode I chat with Paul Niland , an Irishman who sits in the eye of the potential storm in Kyiv, Ukraine . Paul has been in Kyiv for 19 years and has witnessed up close and personal two revolutions, including protesting with his fellow citizens for 93 days in Maidan against the police during the Revolution of Dignity . We chat about life in Kyiv today, why he and his fellow citizens will...

On this podcast I chat with Dr. Sarah Barry , Assistant Professor of Health Services Management at Trinity College Dublin . We chat about her unusual career path that took in Bolivia, Honduras and India before what she refers to as becoming an "accidental academic" at TCD. We chatted about the health system in Ireland, her role with Slainte Care , how the world coped with Covid and which is the be...

An idea becomes a reality when someone says "How about?" and someone else says "Why not!" In this episode I chat with Joleen Cronin ( follow on chat from episode 218 ) about the running of the Red Head Convention that ran for seven years, bringing redheads together from all around the globe. How a crazy idea for a birthday turned into an event that gave a sense of pride to people who may have felt...

Before we sat down to have a proper chat I met Joleen Cronin the founder of the Irish RedHead Convention outside at the scene of the crime in the square in Crosshaven, Co. Cork which was the epicentre for the most unusual festival which brought people from all over the globe. She chats about the picturesque town with oodles of character and the special sense of community between all red heads and...

On today's podcast I chat with coach and psychotherapist Noreen Coomey about getting from what I refer to as being in a " Happily Pissed Off " state to actually " Winning Happy " in your life. Maybe there are stresses that you need to address and maybe these warrant some changes in your life? We discuss anxiety, work stress, the effects of Covid on us all and why February could be the best time to...

This podcast is part two of a conversation I had with the very special, social entrepreneur and author, Paul Born who is the co-founder and co-CEO of the Tamarack Institute in Canada. Pauls sees hope and possibility where others see despair and I was very glad to get his perspective on Covid, poverty and other issues in the world as we begin anther year. He says that giving and receiving in commun...

On today's episode I chat with Paul Born , author and Co Founder and Co CEO of the Tamarack Institute in Canada. Paul, the child of war refugees from the Ukraine grew up as part of a very wounded Mennonite community in Canada. Living a simple frugal life, working on a farm, joining a seminary, forming a theatre group and working with life-term prisoners all led him on a path to solving deep commun...

I think my podcast with singer / songwriter Jen Hajj is the perfect way to close off the very strange year that was 2021. Jen lives in a beautiful small town in the San Jacinto mountains in California , called Idyllwild , and you can hear it's influence in her music. In true Win Happy fashion Jen has taken a while to follow her passion with a path that included choir singing, a jazz band, Zookeepi...

On the podcast I chat with Dr. Gerry Waldron , Assistant Director of Public Health in Northern Ireland on literally his last working day before he retires. Instead of being a nice, soft, gentle end to his career the last two years have been chaotic for him and his team as they played a pivotal role in managing the pandemic in the north. We chatted about his career, moving to the north at the heigh...

Ironically the man who grew up in a pub and hating every minute of it is now the biggest owner of pubs ( Cork Heritage Pubs ) as well as a micro brewery in Cork city. Benny McCabe loves pubs and pub life, he loves the atmosphere and the patrons, the special sense of community, the history and the unique role they play in our lives. He talks about attention to detail, being a custodian of special p...

On this episode I chat with super talented and super nice, singer/songwriter Grainne Hunt . Her unusual story is that she put her obvious talent to one side for many years and settled into a "normal life" and then realised that she was cheating herself. We chatted about her music, the business of being a self employed musician, creativity during lockdown and the many collaborations and other proje...

The Authority Gap - Why women are still taken less seriously than men and what can be done about it. On this episode I chat with political and economic journalist, broadcaster, non-executive director and author of the best seller, The Authority Gap, Mary Ann Sieghart . Her life experiences and three years of extensive research brought her to writing this book and taking on the challenge of closing...

In this episode I chat with Maryjane King who runs a successful architecture firm in Washington DC, Atelier-MJK . We chat about business on both sides of the Atlantic, we compare and contrast our stories about developing a business, work practices, gender issues, remote working and city dereliction. Maryjane also speaks about incredibly witnessing both 9/11 and the Capitol riots in January. Enjoy...

In this episode I chat with up and coming Irish star, Cian Godfrey , singer songwriter of ' Somebody's Child ' . They are getting rave reviews, the music is raw, memorable and exciting and you can feel that Cian is on the brink of huge success. We chat about music in our different generations, the challenges of making it in a Spotify led industry and of course we talk about his music. Enjoy the sh...

I really loved this conversation with co-hosts of the Shark Pod podcast, Mark Baker and Luke Curry . They are in-laws, possibly more like brothers, peas in their own pod, but in truth they couldn't be more different! Mark is the joint owner of recruitment firm Darwin Hawkins as well as being a commercial artist and a writer about 'Best Man speeches' and Luke works with Hubspot . We chat about life...

While we talk about the housing crisis in Ireland, the biggest challenge is quite possibly finding the men to do this work. David Ward , MD of Ward Personnel describes the work that they do tirelessly to provide much needed workers to the construction sector to meet the challenge. He also explains in detail why people left the sector in droves and didn't return and why young people are not attract...

When you make a huge decision to pack your bags and leave everything behind, buy a van and hit the road, choosing a new life permanently on the move, it is huge. In this podcast I chat with German singer songwriter and self declared troubadour, Martin Praetorius who did exactly that many years ago. Ironically, he left his home and everything behind not to get away from it all but because he was se...

" Community Based Social Innovation" - These are terms that are very misunderstood and in this episode, CEO of Innovate Communities , Fiona Descoteaux explains in detail what it means and how the work in her organisation achieves long lasting and deep change in the communities that they serve. Fiona chats about her life and career, the work in Ballymun and the Liberties in Dublin, the community tr...

In this episode I chat with Neil McDonnell, CEO of ISME , the organisation that is dedicated to looking after SMEs in Ireland. Neil has had a fascinating life and career that brought him from the senior ranks of the Irish Defence Forces to leading an organisation that is critical to the Irish economy. We speak about his time in Lebanon, the terrible situation in Afghanistan, Covid, Brexit, and oth...

Singer, songwriter, producer, copywriter and voice over artist, Suzanne Rhatigan talks about her fascinating career as being a series of misses. Stock Aitken and Waterman, Phil Ramone, Kylie Minogue, Rick Astley, Jason Donovan, Kim Wilde, Shay Healy, MTUSA, Roger Waters of Pink Floyd, two albums, a record company and her own studio. What do you think? Let's hear from Suzanne and her 50 greatest mi...

When a doctor decided to do an internal examination and feel the breasts of a 15 year old girl who was in hospital for an eye procedure, it changed her life immediately. A chance meeting nearly 30 years later set Jacqui Taaffe finally on a path of healing an towards a career of coaching and she also wrote  book called " Inspire, Heal, Empower ". On the podcast Jacqui shares her experience, her rec...

It is fitting that episode 200 features Sinead Cabot of Cabot Wines as she epitomises the spirit of Win Happy and why I started this podcast in the first place. Sinead has lived a fascinating life, she has an incredible attitude and she keeps riding the waves trusting where they will bring her. From Newry to London, from Dublin to Westport and then to Kog in Slovenia. From accountancy to music PR...

In this big conversation with Greg Touhy and Paul Martin of the Cantec Group , we discuss their unlikely merger, but one that makes total sense when looked at through a different lens. When your customers want to do less of what you have been selling them for 27 years it is time to think about exiting or to embrace this change. We chat about family business, motivation, attitudes towards risk, ent...