Fuzion Win Happy Podcast

In this episode of the Fuzion Win Happy podcast Greg chats with the softly spoken and quietly competitive CEO of Temple Street Foundation, Denise Fitzgerald. Denise shares her story about growing up in the North of Ireland during the troubles, taking a job with Bank of Ireland in Dublin and a cup of coffee with a friend that resulted in a colossal, totally unexpected change of career. 13 years later Denise shares her story including the success of the Foundation and the huge progress at the hospital due to her vision, focus and fundraising work with her team. Enjoy the show

In this episode Greg chats with Deirdre Garvey, CEO of The Wheel, the support organisation for the vast non-profit sector in Ireland. She chats about her early days having a ball and working in Germany as an Electronic Engineer, her return to Ireland and taking up the role of Fundraising Manager with the Paul Newman charity, Barretstown. Five years later she became the first employee and CEO of The Wheel, the organisation founded by the inspirational Dr. Mary Redmond. Deirdre is passionate about what she does and the role the non-profit sector has in achieving social change in Ireland. Enjoy the show!

In this episode Greg chats with Margot Slattery the Country President of Sodexo Ireland, a giant of company with a team of over 4,000 on these shores alone. Margot chats about her idyllic life growing up on a farm in Bruff, Co.Limerick and some early inspiration including her widowed grandmother, Annie Keane who managed her own farm. She also chats about her career path, challenges along the way and being a role model as a successful woman in business and a champion for the LGBT community n Ireland And....Never forget where you came from Enjoy the show  

Greg chats with young successful businessman, Ernest Cantillon who shares his personal story, which includes a brother with special needs and an early decision to give up alcohol. He talks about the early, fun and often naive days of opening his own businesses, including Sober Lane and Electric. He talks about other ventures that were not successful and how this impacted him and there is also a core philosophy of "It's nice to be nice" and how this works in a competitive business world. Ernest gives back and does voluntary work including Cork Simon, with a goal of solving the homeless crisis. Enjoy the show! 

In this episode Greg has a huge chat with fellow Dublin Chamber Council member and Head of Business Banking with AIB, Catherine Moroney. The chat explores her early days growing up in Dublin, part time work in a hospital for patients with long term illness, switching from Archaeology to banking and a successful career with AIB. She talks about the crash and the impact of this on her and colleagues, the challenge of diversity, the impact of technology and preparing customers for Brexit. Finally she shares a very personal story about being told that you just have six weeks to live. Enjoy the show..

In this episode Greg takes a deep trip into the darkness of mental illness with Jim Breen, founder of PulseLearning, star of the TV show Secret Millionaire and founder of Cycle Against Suicide. In this very open and honest chat, Jim shares his successful and inspirational story as well as his personal struggles with his own darkness, how he copes with this everyday and how he has turned this darkness into a unique strength. A sincere thank you to Jim for giving us this insight into what it is like to live with Mental Illness. It's ok not to be ok, and it's absolutely ok to ask for help Enjoy the show  

In this episode Greg chats with Aodan Enright, the founder and CEO of leading coaching and training company Smarter Egg. We chat about an interesting career, which led to senior training and change management roles with the American multinational company, EMC and ditching all of this for self employment just as the wheels fell off the economy in Ireland. Was this a totally crazy time to start a new, quite original training business? Listen to the show and hear Aodan's story!  

In this episode Greg chats with newly appointed Director of the Crawford Art Gallery, Mary McCarthy. We chat about her life and career, working in a gallery in New York, director of National Sculpture Factory, Programme Director of Cork, 2005 City of Culture, Cultural Manager of Dublin Docklands Development Authority and a second term at the National Sculpture Factory. We chat about the current and future changes at The Crawford Art Gallery and the huge role that art and culture plays in society. Enjoy the show!  

In this episode Greg chats with Professor Barry O'Sullivan, Director of the Insight Centre for Data Analytics and Computer Science at UCC. Barry who originally wanted to be a professional musician is now an award-winning academic working in the field of artificial intelligence, data analytics, AI and data ethics, constraint programming, and operations research, for more than two decades. In his fascinating role, he is at the epicentre of this powerful AI technology, which can be harnessed to solve some of societies biggest challenges but in the wrong hands it can be equally dangerous. Barry shares his hopes and his concerns for AI and explains how the industry attempts to steer itself towards best outcomes. Enjoy the show..    

In this episode Greg chats with Eleanor O'Kelly Lynch of Golden Apple Training about the most interesting career and a very challenging life. Eleanor who specialises in customer service training started her career lecturing in CIT, she realised her "vision" when she convinced a new radio station (which became 96FM) to employ her and she quickly rose through the ranks to Sales Manager and then started her own training company. What most people don't know is that Eleanor's daughter, Lauren who is now in her twenties has a rare and very cruel condition called CdLS, which is hugely challenging. How does she cope each day and stay bright? Eleanor has the secret...

In this episode Greg chats with the super nice, super talented and soon to be superstar, singer songwriter, Lilla Vargen from Ballymena in Northern Ireland. Lilla shares her unique story of being obsessed with music from the age of three and some "accidents" that have brought her to today's successful career. She shares stories of open mic nights, first gigs, chance recording sessions and opening for James Bay in London. She tells us some of the stories behind her popular songs including a very special song that is soon to be written. Lilla thinks that her career is accidental, Greg reckons it is fulfilling her destiny. Listen for yourself to see what you think!  

In this episode Greg chats with the founder of Fuzion Communications, Deirdre Waldron. From the early days of working in the family business in Kerry, reinventing herself in boarding school, moving to London and working in fashion and IT during the troubles and finally moving back to Ireland to work in various roles including Marketing Director of the famous, Rose of Tralee festival. Deirdre talks about starting Fuzion and explains her business philosophy, which has led to continuous growth and success even during a bitter recession. The chat took place in Portugal, while Dee was on leave and even though on leave she was still "on duty", including taking time to chat to the BBC about the Belfast rugby case. Finally she chats about what Win Happy means to her and she tells a special story about Chicken Maryland! Enjoy the show!  

In this episode we tell the story of the 2018 IBYE (Ireland's Best Young Entrepreneur) Final, which is run by the Local Enterprise Office Network (LEO) and funded by Enterprise Ireland. In the podcast Greg chats with Sheelagh Daly (Project Coordinator and Manager of LEO Wicklow), some of the finalists including Brendan Boland (Loci Orthapedics), Jessica Kavanagh (Olann), Conor Leyden (Trustap), Nicola Reddy (Celtic Adventures), Alan Hickey and Sean Murray (We Bringg), Kate Dempsey (Irish Mussel Seed Company), Conor O'Loughlin (Glofox) and Sean O'Sullivan, manager of the LEO South Cork office. We hear all about the journey the finalists have taken, their very varied stories, the supports and mentoring they have enjoyed and of course we need to hear who is crowned Ireland's Best Young Entrepreneur 2018!! The Entrepreneurship bug is catching....be careful         Enjoy the show!

In this episode Greg chats to Eamon Curtin, Director of the UCC IGNITE Graduate Entrepreneurship Programme about everything from character forming summer jobs, working next to an Amish Community in the United States, the difference between work cultures in different countries and the characteristics of an entrepreneur. We chat in detail about the IGNITE programme, some of the many successful stories and the process of starting a new business. Do you need the perfect product before you launch or do you need to have a concept that allows you to talk to potential customers to learn how you can really help them and then develop the product? Enjoy the show!    

In this episode Greg from Fuzion Communications chats with Dan Mackey the co-founder of the global successful tech company, Teamwork.com. We chat about the hardworking journey, the different mistakes along the way, the challenges of building a global success from Cork city and the secret ingredients that have led to this success, including a powerful partnership with the other co-founder Peter Coppinger. And as always we chat about what it takes to WinHappy! Enjoy listening..    

In this episode Greg chats with Gillian Keating, Partner of RDJ Solicitors, former President of Cork Chamber (the first female President) and co-founder of the I Wish diversity programme. We chat about the value of hard work, coping with disappointments, pushing yourself outside your comfort zone, gender equality, diversity and "Cracking the Cork Code" Thanks for listening! #WinHappy  

In this episode of the Fuzion Win Happy podcast, Greg chats with legendary Irish DJ, and passionate Corkman Stevie G about the important role of music to your identity and to our culture. We learn how important it is to be proactive about the things you want in your life, about running a large venue during the recession and coping with its closure, why you should work and support young people and Stevie also tells us all about what it was like to be a resident DJ at the iconic Sir Henry's in Cork. Thanks for listening!

In this Social Media Series episode of the Fuzion Win Happy Podcast, Greg chats with Alma Brosnan, one of the social media team about the phenomenon of "Tweetdecking" and how Twitter will no longer permit syndicated posting to more than one Twitter account. We discuss Tweetdeck and Hootsuite, two popular platforms that heavy duty social media users are often using to syndicate and schedule posts, to track mentions of their brand/business and to perform searches. The podcast isn't for everyone but anyone who is using social media for their business may be interested. Thanks for reading!  

In this episode of the Fuzion Win Happy podcast, Greg chats with one of Ireland's most experienced HR specialists, Frank Scott-Lennon. Frank has had a colourful life and career with many twists and turns including the early passing of his father, working in the family pub, studying to nearly become a priest, having a wonderful family and then becoming one of Ireland's most respected HR experts.  There are a few other twists and turns - tune in to hear more! Frank is the Managing Director of HR for SMEs and Well Being For Work  helping to create and advocate for great work environments, but there to advise if issues do need resolving.

In this podcast Greg chats to legendary menswear retailer, Louis Copeland about the family business, succession, marketing, customer service and surviving a recession. We also chat about celebrity customers and yes, Greg did get Dan Aykroyd and Bill Murray totally mixed up!