Speakers

Damien is a Counselling Psychologist working with the Central Remedial Clinic and An Post. He completed his doctorate in 2018; his research examined the relationship between Body Image and Social Media use in teenagers. In 2016 he founded Zeminar with the aim of bringing all those invested in the development and well-being of young people in Ireland to one place. Starting in 2016, Zeminar hosts the largest and most inclusive youth gathering in Ireland and in just 3 outings have already welcomed more than 45,000 attendees, including 3,000 teachers.

Aoife Dooley is a freelance illustrator, graphic designer, author and comedian from Dublin. Aoife is best known for her 'Your One Nikita' ( formally known as Dublin Hun ) Illustrations which chronicle the life of a 22 year old woman called Nikita, best friend Tanya and boyfriend Anto. She published her first book 'How to be massive' October 2016 and her second in 2017 'How to deal with poxes on a daily basis' with Gill books. In 2018 she released the Your One Nikita animated tv series on the RTE Player with season 2 coming soon. She is also featured in Counter Prints book - Icon and released her first Children’s book early 2019 123 Ireland. Aoife gigs regularly in clubs and at festivals such as the Vodafone Comedy Festival, Body & Soul, and Electric Picnic. She has gigged along side PJ Gallagher, David O’Doherty, Alison Spittle, Al Lubel and Chris Redd to name a few. She won U Magazines 30 under 30 award for best comedian in 2017. Aoife openly shares her experiences of being diagnosed as Autistic at the age of 27, neurodiversity and how a diagnosis helped her to truly understand herself. Aoife has helped dozens of men and women to seek and receive a diagnosis over the last year. She was shortlisted in two categories for U magazines 30 under 30 awards 2018 for social contribution and Activism.

Mayo footballer & Chartered Engineer and expert in leading teams in successful project delivery since 2012, Tom has held lead roles in delivered major infrastructure projects in the UK and Ireland and is passionate about working with high performance teams. Tom moved into the area of people and culture following completion of a Master’s degree in professional leadership in 2018.

Unbroken by blindness in 1998, Mark became an adventure athlete competing in ultra-endurance races across deserts, mountains, and the polar ice caps including being the first blind person to race to the South Pole. In 2010 a fall from a second story window nearly killed him. Mark broke his back and the damage to his spinal cord left him paralysed. Now he is on a new expedition, this time to cure paralysis in our lifetime by exploring the intersection where humans and technology collide.

Meghann is the author of Broken Love: My Journey Through Loss and Grief which documents how she dealt with grief having lost her brother, Marcus, when she was 15 and her father, Maxie, when she was 16. She also presents and produces her own show for the Limerick Post and is a radio presenter on Classic Hits every Sunday night.

Joe has a Masters in Health Psychology, and is the founder of Head First (IG: Headfirst0), where he spreads information about mental health. His specialist interests are in nutrition, social media, sleep and drugs, and how they impact our mental health. Joe’s talk is about his experience of difficulty and how it guided him to where he wanted to be. He now runs an Instagram page, a podcast and works full time in mental health.

Dr. Rebecca Housel is a 28-year survivor of high grade brain cancer and a New York Times bestselling author and editor. She also authors, “Survive Anything,” for Psychology Today and is an author and editor in the Mental Health for Millennials series. Dr. Housel is a poet and young adult author; “Not Your Grandma’s Poetry” comes out in 2019 and her next middle grade novel, I Am Garbo Hawke comes out in 2020.

Daragh Jordan is an 18 year old from Galway. He started his YouTube Channel in May of 2018 with the message of inspiring people to get out of their comfort zone through action. Daragh started his podcast Calculated Chaos last year, where he speaks with people who have paved their own way, not following the crowd. He started Grafton Digital, his Digital Marketing Agency, in February of 2019.

David Pollard holds a Masters in Learning and Teaching and is a Lecturer of Technology and Learning in the National College of Ireland; Contributor to Tangent, Trinity College Dublin’s Idea Workspace; and Innovation Project Manager at Rehab Group. David is the founder of Learning Tech Labs and his initiatives include Startup Week Dublin, Digital Citizenship Summit Ireland, national accessibility hackathons at Google, and over 10 Startup Weekends in the areas of educational technologies, sustainability, and smart cities. He is now a global facilitator for Techstars. David advises on a number of European Commission projects including European Maker Week and the EPALE adult learning platform. He is the winner of the global positive platforms hackathon with the Institute of the Future and has traveled around the world to provide workshops including the International Conference for Disability and Rehabilitation in Saudi Arabia.

Irish Award Winning Entrepreneur and Media Personality. Martin Eastwood is CEO of Wide Variety Events & Media, a vlogger, public speaker and a familiar face from many well known TV shows such as The X Factor, First Dates & The Late Late Show. Martin shares his experiences of entrepreneurship & overcoming failure in his videos & public talks. He has spoken to audiences in excess of 9,000 people at a time and his work has been viewed collectively more than 4,000,000 times from people all around the world.

Liz has been actively involved in community education for over twenty-five years providing community-based adult education, educational childcare and enterprise to the community of Tallaght West. Liz managed An Cosán’s community education centre, and was appointed CEO in 2001. Liz’s particular area of expertise is in leadership studies, community development and community counselling.

I’ve always been a firm believer that we all have the potential to be incredible people, doing what we love and living a life true to ourselves and to who we really are. In 2016, after years of working with nightclubs throughout the country and feeling lost, stuck and frustrated, I decided I needed to find something that I really believed in to live a life that I was fully content with. This decision brought me to Life Coaching and has opened my eyes to a whole new world, a world that lines up with my own values and beliefs as well as my strengths and abilities. A coach is someone who can help you figure out the best answers for you in areas of your life you might be struggling in without judgement or bias. Through the Irish Lifecoach Institute I’ve gained qualifications in Life & Business Coaching, Advanced Career Coaching and Advanced Relationship Coaching. Coaching is something that falls in line with who I really am as a person and I am happy to devote my time to something that I believe can help people on a regular basis

Dr Jolanta Burke is a chartered psychologist specialising in positive psychology of education. After graduating with a PhD from Trinity College Dublin she worked as a senior lecturer and a programme leader of Masters in Applied Positive Psychology and Coaching Psychology at the University of East London.

Rob is one half of the inspirational couple RobandYvonne , Together 20 years, married 12, and parents of two young boys Liam and Tommy. Like so many couples and families out there, we fell into the trap of convenient food, takeaways and eating out, thinking we were far too busy to cook! After our first holiday alone without the boys, we returned feeling tired, overweight and depressed. Our weight had increased and our energy levels had decreased, therefore we knew something had to change. We set ourselves goals, supported each other and committed to losing weight together. Over the course of two years, we went on to lose a whopping 13 stone. And the best thing is we’ve kept it off !!!

Mary-Kate Slattery, known as ‘MK’ is a final year law student at trinity college, an amateur boxer holding 4 titles, a mental health advocate who has overcome anorexia nervosa she battled for 4 years and is passionate about sharing her healing process in order to encourage others to do the same.

Paddy “The Hooligan” Holohan is a former UFC fighter who now owns and coaches full time in his Martial Arts Academy in Tallaght. Paddy is a business owner and a local councilor for South Dublin County Council. Paddy puts a huge part of his success down to his positive mindset and his ‘never give up’ attitude. Paddy explains his ‘lightbulb moment’ when reading Prof. Steve Peters ‘Chimp Paradox’ and how he applies it in relation to everyday life situations.

Rory O' Connor, better known as Rory's Stories started a blog back in 2013 and has since turned it into a full time career due to his ever growing social media presence. Rory has brought his comedy all around the world to places such as Australia, America, Qatar, Abu Dhabi and London. He is also a best selling author and speaks about believing in yourself, taking the risk, seeing an opportunity and above all being happy and content with who you are.

2019 Coca-Cola Thank You Fund ambassador Doireann Garrihy will join Cool FM’s Pete Snodden on the main stage on Wednesday 9th October, to reveal the winners of the €100,000 Coca-Cola Thank You Fund. Developed to empower and support young people across the island of Ireland, the 2019 Coca-Cola Thank You Fund will this year celebrate the donation of over €1,000,000 to local non-profit organisations since 2011

James Kavanagh is an Irish online media personality, entrepreneur and television presenter. Having found his following initially on Snapchat, he recently co-hosted the television series Ireland’s Got Mór Talent. He has also released a cook-book “The Currabinny Cookbook with his partner William Murray.

Mick is the founder of State of Mind Rugby Union. A charity that works to improve the mental health and wellbeing of Rugby Union players, their familes and the community. He currently works in Mental Health Peer Support within the NHS and is a National Advisor at the Royal College of Psychiatrists in London. Previously Mick worked within homeless services in Dublin, London and Belfast providing support, advice and guidance to long term entrenched rough sleepers and IV drug users. He also appeared on the popular television series School of Hard Knocks on Sky Sports and was coached and mentored by Rugby World Cup winner Will Greenwood and Welsh Rugby Legend Scott Quinnell. In the past Mick has worked as a Community Rugby Coach with London Irish and was a Social Inclusion coach at Saracens. He also worked as a Rugby Development Coach for the Dallaglio Foundation working with young people who have been excluded from mainstream education while supporting their families while using the ethos of rugby to make a difference in the community. He briefly spent some time in Brazil working on behalf of Premiership Rugby developing the sport at grassroots. He recently was accepted to study at Trinity College Dublin.

David O'Caoimh is a 25 year old Professional Wakeboarder from Dublin. He is a three time European Champion as well as achieving multiple podium positions on the world stage. His passion for the sport combined with videography has helped him grow one of the largest YouTube followings in the industry. Going to a French speaking primary school, David speaks the language fluently which has greatly helped his career when competing and coaching abroad. It has also proved to be very useful with his recent role as a live reporter for RedBull where he has been able to chat to some of the Cliff Diving athletes in French before and after interviews. David is passionate about sports, particularly any sports that involve a board being attached to his feet, be it wakeboarding, skateboarding or snowboarding and having a foreign language has benefited him greatly in passion for boarding.

Niamh Ní Chróinín is the manager of Irish language chart-music station Raidió Rí-Rá. She also presents on Saturday mornings on Spin1038 and co-presents a weekday show on RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta.

2019 Coca-Cola Thank You Fund ambassador Pete Snodden will join 2fm’s Doireann Garrihy on the main stage on Wednesday 9th October, to reveal the winners of the €100,000 Coca-Cola Thank You Fund. Developed to empower and support young people across the island of Ireland, the 2019 Coca-Cola Thank You Fund will this year celebrate the donation of over €1,000,000 to local non-profit organisations since 2011.

Ola Majekodunmi is a 22 year-old broadcaster with Raidió na Life, contributor to the Motherfoclóir podcast, researcher with Dublin City FM and reporter with Raidió na Gaeltachta and a public speaker.

Sinead is 19 and from Kilkenny. She is currently studying music and Irish in Maynooth University. She is one of the winners of the amazing Rory's Stories competition and we can't wait to hear "Sinead's Story".

Harry Lee is a filmmaker and comedian from Dublin, as well as being the founder of Irish production company Sancta Entertainment. Harry has spent a number of years making award winning short films and music videos. His films have gone to play across Ireland, the UK and America. When not on set Harry is on a stage trying to make people laugh an enjoy their lives as much as possible

Shanna Ní Rabhartaigh is an Irish-language translator who spent time translating in Tithe an Oireachtais but now works with the European Union as a translator in the European Commision.

Shauna is 22 and from Ballymun in Dublin. She has a big interest in Gaelic Football and plays for Na Fianna Senior Ladies. She loves working with children and is currently training to be an SNA. Her talk is about recovery and reaching out to friends sooner rather than later.

New Rules, formed in early 2019, are made up of three songwriters and musicians - Nathan (21, London), Ryan (19, Dublin) and Alec (18, London). The dynamic pop trio have amassed over 2 million streams and views since their debut self-penned release ‘Call It’ in May, with various successes along the way, including their second release ‘Fix Somebody’ being featured on ITV’s prime time hit ‘Love Island’. Their debut UK & Ireland tour in the autumn of 2019 has sold over 3,000 tickets, with sold out shows requiring a need for additional dates to be announced in both London and Manchester. The band are supporting Julia Michaels and Little Mix on their 2019 UK & Ireland tours, and go in to these shows with their next release ’24 Hours’, out 20th September. New Rules’ debut EP will be out in November, ahead of some further domestic and international touring, as the band continues to grow both at home and abroad.

A star of Zeminar 2017, Niamh is a psychologist specialising in mental health and performance psychology, Niamh was the "Agony Aunt" on Today FM from 2011-2018 (with Ray D’Arcy, Anton Savage, Neil Delamere shows). Niamh works with individual clients on dealing with anxiety, depression, stress, grief, building self-confidence and resilience.

Gaelic footballer Shane Carthy has been public about his experiences with mental health. He hopes by doing this he can illuminate the path for others who may be going through difficulties in their own life.

Fiona Brennan is a Clinical Hypnotherapist, Mindfulness, and NLP practitioner, Mental Health expert on Today FM Ireland, TEDx speaker, and Blogger. She is the author of the best-selling book "The Positive Habit".

Boidu is a 23 year old from Monrovia Liberia and was adopted by his aunt and uncle when they moved him to Ireland on my 8th birthday in Feb 2004. He started school in 1st class in Rosemount NS and that is where his love for the GAA grew. Boidu went to secondary school in Moate community school, and furthered his education in Waterford studying business in recreation and sport management. He now plays corner back for the Westmeath Seniors.

Caroline is a psychologist with a passion for living, learning and the power of groups. Known for speaking out about trauma and social justice matters, Caroline is the Chief Psychologist with City of Dublin ETB and adjunct lecturer on the Doctorate in Educational Psychology in UCD

Joanne is a successful entrepreneur, speaker, author, trainer and coach. At the age of 27 she founded two businesses, and in 2017 she founded LIFT Ireland, to raise the level of leadership across Ireland.

Grace O’Rourke is a former Gaisce – Defence Forces Challenge participant, a Bronze Award Holder and entrepreneur. Grace describes herself as a resilient character who’s not afraid to push herself out of her depth, and she recently proved that point by becoming the only woman to complete RTE’s Special Forces: Ultimate Hellweek 2019.

Jess is a blogger, mental health advocate and ambassador with See Change Ireland. Im passionate about erasing stigma around mental illness and encouraging others to start talking about their mental health and to reach out if they’re struggling or think a friend may be. By talking about my own journey with mental illness and continued recovery from anorexia on my blog and Instagram i hope it inspires one person to seek the help they need, early.

It would be fair to say that Peter Ryan’s sporting dreams once revolved around playing hurling for Tipperary in Croke Park. However, back in early 2010 he noticed that a few things weren’t quite right, like missing balls he should have caught in training. What came next rocked his life to the core as he was diagnosed with a rare genetic disorder that left him with between five and ten percent peripheral vision in both eyes. Peter himself now says that, on getting his diagnosis, he went into denial, seeking relief and solace in alcohol and socialising. With work and sport now seemingly gone from him, he says it was inevitable that he would hit rock bottom at some point. After 2 years, Peter made the decision to start rebuilding his life. His journey back began with a trip to UCD for a Paralympics Open Day in 2012. He went on to take up tandem cycling and became an almost instant success. Dial the clock forward to today and Peter is the engine of a formidable two-man cycling team with Sean Hahessy as the pilot. The two have already made their mark on the Irish Cycling circuit having come 8th in the 2015 World Championships and competed in the Paralympics in Rio in 2016. In March the pair came 5th in this year’s World Championships and they are now aiming for the Tokyo Olympics 2020. In 2018 Peter and his teammate became the first ever tandem to complete the Race Around Ireland – a gruelling 2157 Km, completed in 122 hours and 33 minutes. Peter was the first legally blind person to complete the race and raised over €90,000 for two children affected by serious illnesses. In 2018 he was also named Tipperary Person of the Year.

Abigail McDonnell is a 22 year old mental health advocate from Dublin. Stemming from her own personal experience with her mental illness, Abigail has taken that experience and turned it into something positive, helping others by sharing her experience online and through her podcast “alittlegail asks”. Through her love for volunteer work Abigail is currently involved with See Change and Jigsaw Dublin City as an ambassador. Abigail’s passion and goal in life is to help break the stigma surrounding mental health and encourage others to reach out for help by sharing her own story in the hope that some can relate.