Posts Tagged ‘Win Happy podcast’

« Older Entries

Octopus on a Treadmill: Insights from Gifty Enright

September 25, 2025

When Gifty Enright connected with me on LinkedIn I was immediately intrigued!

The unusual first name combined with the Irish surname was the first thing that grabbed my attention and then it was her short description of herself:

Keynote Speaker | Women’s Leadership & Workplace Wellbeing Expert | Author of Octopus on a Treadmill | Coach | NED | TEDx | Mother

Octopus on a Treadmill I thought!!

Assuming this woman had a lot of interesting things to say of course I invited her onto my podcast.

I really didn’t know what and who to expect and when she appeared on the Zoom call, as well as the formidable woman I was expecting I discovered a very warm, funny person.

We had a really great chat about her life and career and how she came about writing her book, ‘Octopus on a Treadmill’.

She told me that as a young woman growing up in Ghana she dreamt of having lots of shoes, big cupboards, and the trappings of success, so she moved to London to fulfil her dream. The Ghana she described to me sounds like a fantastic fun place and I did wonder why she never returned to live there permanently.

She quickly discovered that she missed that strong sense of community that she enjoyed in Ghana, but she dug deep and carved out a very successful career and life for herself in London complete with a family.

After a number of years with lots of hard work and career success this career mum hit a “Burnout” wall that she knew could not be solved with the medication that was being prescribed to her. While she was talking specifically about mums I think this happens to so many of us, and between a mix of the enticing corporate ladder and too much ambition, it can end up squeezing the life out of you.

As an avid reader who was determined to get better, she did lots of deep research to try to find a sustainable solution to her life situation and she found this through a mix of Western Science, Indian Philosophy and African Wisdom. She started to apply what she learnt and after just three months she was on the road to recovery and hasn’t looked back since.

She wrote the book to share what she learned so that other busy career mums (I think we should all read it) who are constantly juggling don’t hit the same burnout wall that she did.

As well as being an author, she became a public speaker and a coach and she doesn’t care so much about those shoes anymore!

I also learnt that her husband is from Kiskeam in County Cork and she loves to holiday in Ballyheigue in Kerry.

We also had a big chat about working from home and the huge difference that this flexibility can make in people’s lives.

You can listen to my chat with Gifty on the WinHappy podcast here (or on any of the podcast platforms).

Greg

Greg Canty is the Managing Partner of Fuzion, a Brand Communications Agency in Ireland with offices in Dublin and Cork.

Tags:, , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Equality, Personal development, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »

A 12 Day War and the War on Truth

July 17, 2025

Early in the morning on the 13th June 2025 the air raid sirens and the phone alerts came and you had to move to a communal centre with your partner and your two children.

What thoughts go through your head when you hear the bombs overhead?

What conversations do you have with other people sheltering?

What do you tell your children?

Does it make people think about what it must be like for people in Gaza as the bombs rain down on them and they have no shelters?

How do you do this day after day when those sirens alert you once again to take cover?

Now that the war with Iran “is over” how do you feel?

What is the position with Gaza and has this changed the standing of Netanyahu?

Very recently I chatted with Paul Kearns, an urban planner, author and journalist about his experience living in Tel Aviv with his young family for the last 8 years, and wondered what is he still doing there?

Paul is a fascinating character who is very vocal about the war in Gaza, that is being very carefully censored and sanitised by the media in Israel. He writes prolifically about the war and is not shy about calling it as it is and enlightening readers about the “real” truth.

I captured this revealing conversation with Paul on my podcast

A huge thanks to Paul Kearns for his time and honesty.

Greg

Greg Canty is the Managing Partner of Fuzion, a Brand Communications Agency in Ireland with offices in Dublin and Cork.

Tags:, , ,
Posted in Politics, War | 1 Comment »

Christy – A Love Letter to Cork

June 21, 2025

The speeches were made to open the festival and finally the lights went down and the film began.

I wasn’t fully sure what to expect of the movie, and within minutes I found myself emotionally gripped by the story and throughout I laughed and I cried, I cheered on the main characters and hoped that things would work out for them, and at the very end, and I really don’t want to give anything away of the story, I wept and had to take a few moments to dry my eyes and gather myself.

The movie was brilliant and moving, all of the talented actors and everyone involved waved the Irish and Knocknaheeney, Cork flag proudly and yes, my son did good, beyond good, brilliant.

After the movie had finished and I dried my eyes, I chatted with Daithi O’Dronai who did the music score, to see how he enjoyed it, and how he went about creating such a beautiful sound backdrop throughout the film to match the story. 

I then managed to catch Brendan Canty (my son!) , the man of the moment for a couple of words before chatting with some of the very talented cast; Diarmuid Noyse, Sophia McNamara, Emma Willis and Ciaran Bermingham, a mix of established and brand new actors about their experience of working in the movie and some other projects they are involved in.

At the after party I finally caught up with the extremely humble and down to earth, Daniel Power who played the main character Christy in the movie. This superstar in the making explained his journey from rapping to acting, and how easy that transition was for him and once again it shows the huge role that initiatives like the Kabin Studio can play in young people’s lives.  

A few drinks later and it was time to get to bed – this wasn’t your typical Valentine’s Day, but it was the day when an international audience fell in love with Christy, with Knocknaheeny and this special love letter to Cork city.

In an effort to capture this special night I hit the record button on my phone and have compiled this in an episode of the Win Happy podcast – I hope you enjoy it!

Christy will be showing in cinemas this summer – you are in for a very special treat.

Greg

Greg Canty is the Managing Partner of Fuzion, a Brand Communications Agency in Ireland with offices in Dublin and Cork.

Tags:, , , , ,
Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »

The difficulties successful women have finding true love (really?!)

February 4, 2025

Relationship Headquarters with Bob Grant

My podcast, a real passion of mine, has been a really brilliant vehicle that helps me to meet some very unusual people.

I often get asked, where do you find such unusual guests?

Sometimes it might be someone that I meet somewhere, sometimes it will be someone that I end up interacting with online and the very odd it will be a podcast booking agent who wants you to have their client on the show.

With me, the main criteria is that I find them really interesting, and I get a sense that they are choosing to Win Happy or they might be helping others to do just that.

On my most recent podcast I chatted to a really nice guy, Bob Grant, a clinically trained relationship expert and founder of Relationship Headquarters. He had reached out to me directly via email because the theme of the podcast resonated with him.

I love that and when I saw what he did I thought brilliant, you are definitely a perfect Win Happy guest!

For over 20 years Bob from Atlanta, Georgia, has been helping successful women to find lasting relationships with men through his very unusual programmes.

What a perfect job to have I thought, and then I wondered how difficult could that be?!!

It turns out it is quite the challenge…

Bob chats about the unique challenges that these successful women have, and how his programmes help them to overcome these challenges and fulfil their dreams.

Men and women are very different, and a woman’s “success” can cause a particular set of circumstances because of the roles we are normally programmed to have in our relationships.

I loved our conversation and I did my best with Bob to try and imagine being that woman !

You might enjoy our chat …

Win Happy with me and relationship expert, Bob Grant.

Greg

The Win Happy podcast is available on all podcast Apps and on Spotify.

Greg Canty is the Managing Partner of  Fuzion, a Marketing, PR, Graphic Design and Digital Marketing Agency in Ireland with offices in Dublin and Cork.

Tags:, , , , ,
Posted in Personal development, Podcast | Leave a Comment »

When ‘East Meets West’ and the many twists and turns of life..

September 24, 2023

When we were in the process of buying our little West Cork retreat I found myself driving through the beautiful town of Schull in search of a gift for a friend that we were about to visit.

The display of beautifully lit mosaic lamps in the window caught my attention and within minutes I had the perfect gift (one of those lamps) being wrapped while I chatted to the sales assistant. The shop, ‘East Meets West‘ had an eclectic range of beautiful stock, everything from rugs, lamps, clothing, jewellery, furniture children’s toys and much more, all sourced directly from small manufacturers in India.

On another visit to the store a few months later I met the owner, Amanda Connell originally from Norfolk in England, and in no time at all I started to hear abut her colourful story, which was just as fascinating as her very special shop.

Life is full of personal and career choices and there are times when the ones we make aren’t the most obvious and some might say, a little bit crazy!

Amanda agreed to sit down with me at her gorgeous new home near Schull and share her story for the Win Happy podcast – I hope you enjoy getting to know Amanda as much as I did.

Greg

The Win Happy podcast is available on all podcast Apps and on Spotify.

This show has been produced by Fuzion Communications, a Marketing, PR, Graphic Design and Digital Marketing Agency in Ireland with offices in Dublin and Cork.

Podcast Production by Greg Canty

Tags:, , , ,
Posted in Inspiration, Personal development, Podcast | Leave a Comment »

The voices of some special women

March 8, 2022

On this, International Women’s Day 2022 I would like to put a spotlight of some of the fantastic women that have been wonderful guests on my Win Happy podcast over the last six months.

I have chosen twenty one different women for this post, all very diverse in terms of what they do and their stories, all interesting in their own right.

A huge thank you to each of them for their time and their passion.

To these, my special female colleagues in Fuzion Communications and all of my fantastic female friends, my daughter, my mum and of course Dee, have a great day ….I salute you!

I hope you click and enjoy some of these special conversations.

Greg

1. Michelle the vintage shop owner in New Jersey who I ended up getting a very rare book that was written by a special friend of ours called Jane Maas, the author of the book ‘Mad Women’

The note in the 2nd hand book from the Bad Reputation Boutique!

2. Jude Sherry who has worked tirelessly in Cork with her partner Frank O’Connor to put a spotlight on all of the derelict properties that could be rescued and put to great use

Solving city dereliction and creating homes, creative spaces, startup hubs and removing eyesores in the process – a Win Win discussed with Frank O’Connor and Jude Sherry of Anois

3. Saoirse Trought is a very clever, special young woman who chatted to me about the tough Covid student years and much more

Perspectives of our bright, young generation with 3rd year college student, Saoirse Trought

4. Joanne Hession a friend and Dublin Chamber colleague believes we can all be a leader in our own right and make this world of ours a better place.

Everyone can be a leader regardless of their role says Joanne Hession of LIFT

5. Maria Walsh MEP and former Rose of Tralee and my Fuzion colleague, Ciara Jordan joined me to chat about PRIDE.

PRIDE – All you need is love with Jack O’Rourke, Maria Walsh and Ciara Jordan

6. Elizabeth Adeyemo shared her courageous young story about what it was like living in Direct provision for 7 years and how it nearly crushed her

Elizabeth Adeyemo – Exhausted in the limbo of uncertainty

7. The very lovely Heritage Officer from Monaghan, Shirley Clerkin shares her passion about nature and our heritage.

Less screen time and more green time says Shirley Clerkin

8. Aideen Quirke, CEO of Cork Printmakers explains exactly what they do!

Making art accessible with Aideen Quirke of Cork Printmakers

9. The passionate artist Elizabeth Cope unveiled her exhibition about the horror that was the Magdalene Laundries

The “9,000 babies?” exhibition with renowned Irish artist Elizabeth Cope 

10. Why not start a new festival that celebrates design and creativity – meet architect Amy McKeogh!

Design Pop Festival 2021 with Founder and Creative Force, Amy McKeogh

11. I just adore Sinead Cabot, the winemaker and her attitude towards life

Riding the waves and trusting where they take you with winemaker and lover of life, Sinead Cabot

12. Jacqui Taaffe helps to empower people who have suffered an awful personal experience in their lives

Inspire, Heal, Empower – How to take back control with author Jacqui Taaffe

13. The rough and tumble about the music business with Suzanne Rhatigan – hits or misses?

“What do they say” about singer, songwriter Suzanne Rhatigan – Hits or Misses?

14. Fiona Descoteaux of Innovate Communities believes in solving deep problems in society and doesn’t walk away.

“I don’t walk away” says CEO of Innovate Communities, Fiona Descoteaux

15. All the way from the USA, Washington based Mary Jane King incredibly witnessed both 9/11 and January 6th.

Witnessing both 9/11 and the Capitol Riots – life and business in Washington DC with architect Mary Jane King

16. Author and journalist Mary Ann Sieghart wants to close “The Authority Gap” one man at a time!

“Changing the world one man at a time” with author of best seller The Authority, Mary Ann Sieghart 

17. Singer and songwriter Grainne Hunt finally gets to have the career she wants

From Tax Returns to Lilacs – the life of a singer songwriter with Grainne Hunt 

18. All the way from California, Jen Hajj took a while to get to her music career.

There are lots of paths to happiness says singer / songwriter Jen Hajj

19. Noreen Coomey guides us to making those small and big changes in our lives

From “Happily Pissed Off” to Winning Happy with coach and psychotherapist Noreen Coomey

20.. Who else could have pulled off a “Red Head Festival” and made it a huge success other than Joleen Cronin!

When a quirky idea becomes a crazy reality

21. Dr. Sarah Barry of Trinity college has a big conversation about our health system and which country is the best to get sick in

The accidental academic, Dr.Sarah Barry on the health system in Ireland and much more 

Tags:, , ,
Posted in Gender equality, Personal development | Leave a Comment »

Taking a job with an unknown company called Microsoft and the many digital enterprises since with serial entrepreneur, Anthony Quigley

August 16, 2021
Anthony Quigley , Code Institute, Corporate Governance Institute

When Anthony Quigley took a job with an unknown company in 1992 called Microsoft, did he have any idea the career path ahead?

This is a really interesting conversation on the Win Happy podcast with Anthony about the evolution of digital, entrepreneurship, seizing opportunities, taking risks and some insights into his ventures including the (DMI) Digital Marketing Institute, the Code Institute and his latest venture the Corporate Governance Institute.

He was involved in the huge launch of ‘Windows 95‘, the first big attempt to make PCs more user friendly and from there was involved in many startups, experiencing the usual rollercoaster ride that many of us have experienced.

Anthony saw the early opportunities and provided simple solutions to help companies get on the internet (can you imagine!) with products such as “internet in a box”, providing them with the hardware and software to help people to get online for the first time complete with email addresses!

He ran a successful company that offered the earliest version of “digital agency” services and responding to a shortage of qualified people to do the actual work, he started a training company with the objective of finding talent for their own business – the very successful training business, Digital Marketing Institute emerged this shortage of staff!

Anthony says “everyone has to be a salesman”, he talks about risk and cash flow challenges with startups, he discusses the shortage of IT talent and the very practical role of the Code Institute to address skill shortages that our universities can’t satisfy, and he discusses his changed approach when starting a new business – think of the end goal first he says.

I hope you enjoy this chat with Anthony!

Click here to listen to the podcast (also available on all podcast apps and on Spotify – just search for Win Happy)

Enjoy the show!

Greg Canty 

Greg Canty is a Partner of Fuzion Communications who offer Marketing, PR, Graphic Design and Digital Marketing services from our offices in Dublin and Cork, Ireland

Tags:, , , , , ,
Posted in Business Start Ups, entrepreneurship, Motivation, Podcast, Positivity, Technology, Training | Leave a Comment »

Dave Moloney, CEO of Bothar – How do I know if you are lying to me?

August 3, 2021

When I read the headlines about Bothar CEO, Dave Moloney and the misappropriated funds I was shocked like so many of you, but it struck an extra chord with me as back in 2018 I had sat down with Dave at our offices and recorded an early episode of the Win Happy podcast.

One thought was it’s awful in any way to be associated with such an awful scenario, bit another one was that I had a record of a “liar” in full flight and wondered could I learn anything by listening back to the recording?

While I was shocked to hear about the level of misappropriation and the length of time it was going on for, I had to reflect back on that conversation with him and something that was nagging me at the time about our chat.

It’s really easy to say now that I felt there was something that wasn’t quite right about our conversation, but quite genuinely there was something at the back of my mind that just wasn’t right, but nothing terribly obvious. I remember sending a link to the podcast when it was published to a friend of mine to ask him what did he think – he felt the same and agreed there was something that wasn’t just right about it.

Ironically it was that person who alerted me to the news about Dave Moloney.

During that session I remember feeling that Dave seemed very tired and possibly jaded from his work and I asked him that during the course of our conversation – I was thinking that maybe I caught him on a bad day and maybe this unusual small charity was choking under immense “over the top” governance in the sector as a result of the high profile bad behaviour of others?

You might have seen a hint of my thoughts at the time this in the blogpost I wrote about the podcast episode:

Blogpost about Dave Moloney podcast

Maybe that was why he was off?

I asked him a bunch of questions that day to learn about his life and career, his route to becoming involved with Bothar as well as a number of things that I normally ask to get a sense of the person. He was asked to join the charity by his old boss, the farm manager Peter Ireton (who was also part of the misappropriation at Bothan).

Very specifically I asked him how the well publicised scandals in the charity sector had affected Bothar – he waxed lyrical about how terrible those actions were and how devastating they were to Bothar and all of the other hard working charities.

He painted a strong picture about how little some people had in the world when we were all “cosy in our beds” and these were the very people his charity were trying to help.

Furthermore, he also painted a vivid picture about where every euro went in the charity and this was one of the reasons why they could be trusted.

Dave Moloney was a very convincing cheat and not the only one in that organisation and he was well able to tell a convincing story, to convince so many people to part with their hard earned money.

A troubling question I have is how can we be lied to so easily and how do we know that this is happening to us?

I interviewed him for over an hour face to face, we chatted beforehand and we chatted after and I had been introduced to him by a good friend of mine who was also working for the charity.

Should I have known that he was lying, should I have picked it up in the body language or in the words? – As I said I did feel there was something “off” but not enough to doubt him.

To protect yourself should you obey that “instinct” about someone even if it is just a hint that something isn’t quite right?

You might listen for yourself and tell me if you could smell the lies?

The challenges of getting 430 goats off a plane and running a charity with CEO of Bothar, Dave Moloney

The saddest thing of all is the damage to the charity and the people it could have helped – they are celebrating 30 years and the very ironic headline on their website reads:

“Celebrating 30 years of helping people to help themselves“

Can you spot a liar?

Greg

Greg Canty 

Greg Canty is a Partner of Fuzion Communications who offer Marketing, PR, Graphic Design and Digital Marketing services from our offices in Dublin and Cork, Ireland

Tags:, , ,
Posted in Charities, Crisis PR, Ethics | Leave a Comment »

Saying “let’s do it” when most of us just wouldn’t dare!

February 18, 2021

Ciara O'Toole - Going Solo on Lake Como

I’m sure we have all been away on holidays in a special place and you pass an auctioneers window and gaze at the houses for sale and think “what if“?

While it’s a nice dream, quickly after 60 seconds you rationalise and the dream is gone.

For me that place would definitely be Siena in Italy, and while I have had this idea for a while I can think quickly for a bunch of very logical and rational reasons why it just couldn’t work …maybe when I retire (isn’t that the easy way of dodging the thought? )

If Covid has taught us anything, it is that you can get your work done from anywhere, hasn’t it? Of course, there are other reasons why I can’t and it doesn’t take me long to list them in my head.

Ciara O’Toole, our very special friend and her husband gazed at that window in Lake Como and decided “lets do it“!!

She was just married, without a word of Italian, a house in Dublin with a big mortgage and a great career as a marketer…crazy idea Ciara!

What I love about her is her adventurous spirit, that ability to “go for it” without a strong safety net and hey, let’s see what happens!

In Ciara’s case lots happened, including a few nasty bumps and wonderful experiences but it has been and continues to be a great adventure!

Did I tell you she learnt how to fly a sea plane and wrote a book about the experience?

If you get a chance at all you might read her book “Going Solo on Lake Como” and maybe tune into the episode of the Win Happy podcast with this intelligent, funny, adventurer, marketeer, entrepreneur, author and pilot who tells her incredible story that is full of many twists and turns!

Let’s celebrate those who say “Let’s do it”, and maybe think about that being you next time you look at that window. 

Check out Ciara’s website by clicking on this link

Greg Canty 

Greg Canty is a Partner of Fuzion Communications who offer Marketing, PR, Graphic Design and Digital Marketing services from our offices in Dublin and Cork, Ireland

Tags:, , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Creativity, Friendship, Holidays, Inspiration, Motivation, Personal development, Positivity, Publishing, Travel | Leave a Comment »

Art and the things we are missing..

January 30, 2021

White Horse Ballincollig

I was chatting to Brendan, my son who is in the middle of his 14 day “luxury” stay at the ‘Holiday Inn’ in Auckland in New Zealand as part of their two week mandatory quarantine period.

The one thing that really struck me from that conversation was him describing the very surprising sense of overwhelming relief of being away from Ireland, from being away from restrictions, from being away from constant thoughts about hand sanitising, keeping our distance, mask wearing, not hugging, walking past our favourite establishments which are all closed, inevitably chatting about it with everyone and listening to the incessant dark news feed, and living each day under a very dark Covid cloud. 

He thought he was managing the whole thing fine, getting on with things as we all do BUT … it has been non stop and it has been creeping into all of us incrementally in a way that we I’m not sure that we will fully appreciate until it’s all well and truly behind us.

(You can hear this conversation on the Win Happy Podcast by clicking this link).

In tandem with this conversation, I was reading a very interesting piece in the New York Times by Melissa Kirsch about the huge role that art plays in our lives.

She wrote about “how we are all waiting for things to open up so we can resume what we think of as normal life” and the fact that this simple idea suddenly feels daunting.

She wrote about “the promise of going to a play, hearing live music or standing awed before a painting that much more exciting to anticipate“

We have been missing so much, it is hurting in ways that we haven’t been able to fully process and the sooner we get back to all of those simple pleasures we can start to heal and living again.

I’m imagining a fantastic meal with friends in The White Horse in Ballincollig, before heading upstairs to their beautiful, intimate and very special venue to watch a gig. Maybe it’s THE 4 Of US, Mark Geary, John Spillane,  Jack O’Rourke, David Syme, the White Horse Guitar Club or Allman Brown. Whoever it is I’m imagining being back there, standing at the bar chatting to the barman and waiting for another feast of music to top up my soul.

I miss it.. 

Greg Canty 

Greg Canty is a Partner of Fuzion Communications who offer Marketing, PR, Graphic Design and Digital Marketing services from our offices in Dublin and Cork, Ireland

 

 

Tags:, , ,
Posted in Air travel, Caring, Creativity, entrepreneurship, Events, Inspiration, Motivation, Positivity | Leave a Comment »

« Older Entries