Women Episodes

Born in the Irish America hotbed of Buffalo, New York, Jennifer Petoff lives in Dublin now. Following a career that has taken unexpected twists. A holder of a Ph.D. in Chemistry from Stanford University, we talk about women in STEM and how Jennifer made her way to Dublin, where she works in the SRE (Site Reliability Engineering) field. Jennifer is also one of four editors of Site Reliability Engineering: How Google Runs Production Systems , a highly successful publication in the world of SRE. ...

Through her work on the award-winning The Coastal Atlas of Ireland and on harvesting the power of ocean winds, our guest Val Cummins is a compelling advocate for embracing the potential off Ireland’s shores. Just named the best Irish-published book of the year, and weighing in at a hefty 10 pounds/4.5 kilos, The Coastal Atlas of Ireland is an unprecedented exploration of Ireland’s coastline and a labor of love for this trained marine geographer with a PhD in coastal management. Simultaneously, s...

Clare McGee wears multiple hats, most notably as a principal of Innovate-NI , a management consulting company established 2016 in Derry, Northern Ireland. Along with cofounder Dr. Barney Toal , the company focuses on small business development, entrepreneurship, digital and social innovation projects. Clare is also a cofounder of AwakenHub , a social enterprise organization whose mission is to level up opportunity, access and connectivity for women founders throughout the Island of Ireland by re...

Natalie Nugent O’Shea takes us from St. Paul, Minnesota, around the world with Riverdance, to Dublin to start a family, and then back home to St. Paul where she’d co-found a home for Irish arts and culture in the Midwest, the Celtic Junction Arts Center. She tells us of her arm’s-length relationship to Ireland until moonlighting as a lighting designer for a touring production of Riverdance, falling in love not only with the music and dance, but also with one of the original Riverdancers, her eve...

Emer Rocke gives an insider’s perspective on the lives of those most global of Irish citizens, the people of Ireland’s diplomatic corps. The Deputy Ambassador of Ireland to the United States at time of the interview, now Director of U.S. and Canadian Relations, Emer discusses the rewards and challenges of the diplomatic life, how Ireland punches above its weight in the international arena, why other countries view Ireland as an “honest broker,” how convening is a key soft power, its current role...

Janet Behan carries on the family tradition of creativity in both her acting and writing. The London-born daughter of Dublin-born playwright Brian Behan & Celia Behan, great niece of the songwriter Peadar Kearney (author of Amhrán na bhFiann, the Irish National Anthem), and niece of the writers Dominic Behan and Brendan Behan. On this serving of The Stew, she tells of a deprived but happy childhood “that took a bit of recovering from” and how “playing the fool” to ease family tensions led her to...

Cauvery Madhavan adds Indian spices to this serving of Irish Stew as we trace her journey from Chennai, India to Sligo, Ireland, to County Kildare, and travel back with her to India to explore Irish stories there through her epic novel The Tainted. We talk of race and color in India and Ireland, the Anglo-Indians who were often more Irish than Anglo, the bonds Indian students forged with Irish revolutionaries, the dearth of spices in Sligo, the political scene in India today, how she and her fam...

A legal advocate for immigration in America, Irish-born, Chicago-based Fiona McEntee is a recognizable media-friendly face and voice in the U.S. immigration conversation through interviews by MSNBC, BBC, CNN, The New York Times, Politico, The Chicago Tribune…and now Irish Stew. She is the founding and managing attorney of McEntee Law Group which represents individuals, families, and some of the world’s leading musicians (including the Coronas), artists, athletes, and entrepreneurs. As a proud Ir...

Sorcha’s story takes us back and forth across the Irish Sea and Atlantic Ocean as she sets her course towards storytelling and journalism on radio and TV for RTE, Newstalk, BBC and CBS. With a step into the unknown she landed at the New York Film Academy earning a diploma in filmmaking and acquiring the skills she’d deploy most notably in “ Passing It On: Ballymun Kickhams ” for RTE 1, her telling of the improbable tale of a hardscrabble urban gaelic football team, described in the Irish Times ...

From when her mother gave her a book of James Thurber’s cartoons, Liza Donnelly has expressed her wit and rising political consciousness through pencils, pens, watercolors, and now through her live drawing on an iPad at the Oscars, the Democratic National Convention, other marquee events for CBS.

Shaunagh Connaire is an award winning journalist who has reported from some of the most challenging and troubled spots on the globe. In her most recent venture, a podcast called Media Tribe, she has shifted her focus towards highlighting the work of critically acclaimed journalists and media executives, providing a forum to tell the story behind the storyShaunagh will be Irish Stew's guest on the first episode of season 2. For more on Irish Stew, please visit: https://www.irishstewpodcast.com

Ruth Cannon BL is a Dublin based barrister specializing in property and probate law. Ruth acts as a guide in giving  an introduction to both the the esoterica and arcane that constitutes the Irish Legal profession and it's history on this episode.

Alison McKenna shares tales from acting on the stages of the Abbey, Gate, and Royal Shakespeare Company, traces her journey as a producer for the theatre and cultural programming such as New York’s centerpiece 1916 Centenary commemoration, and demonstrates why she’s an in-demand voiceover artist in the burgeoning field of audiobooks.Along the way she tells us why tap dancing’s loss was acting’s gain, how fitting into a particular costume was the opportunity she needed to win her first role at the Gate, the cheeky comment that helped her land a part at London’s National Theatre, how Hozier ended up performing at one of her events, and why Ireland needs to embrace its “culture makers,” now, more than ever. Learn more about Alison McKenna at http://alison-mckenna.comThanks for listening and we welcome your comments and reviews at: https://www.irishstewpodcast.com

Aisling MacRunnels came to America on an athletic scholarship in the 1980s. Hear Aisling's story detailing the windy route taken to the upper tiers of the Silicon Valley hierarchy. Learn how Aisling leveraged her Irish EQ to achieve success in America's tech land.

Canadian by birth, New Yorker by choice, Bridget Bray recounts her genealogical journey from avocation to profession as she blows the dust off the topic with her insights on internet and DNA research, how she followed leads and knocked on doors in Ireland, why dog licenses are one of her workarounds for information gaps, and her tips on how to break through the frustrating genealogical “brick walls.