"Outstanding" Cork Women in Business
14th October 2015
Two Cork women picked up “Outstanding” titles at the Junior Chamber International (JCI) National Awards in Letterkenny last weekend.
Mary-Kate Portley, JCI Cork President, and Éabha O’Leary FitzPatrick, JCI Cork Director of Community Impact, picked up the awards for their positive contribution to Cork city.
JCI is an organisation of Young Leaders and Entrepreneurs with a very good track record of creating the world leaders of the future. JFK, Bill Clinton, Al Gore, Kofi Anan, Prince Albert II of Monaco and Jaques Chirac are past members of the organisation. All those men who went on to become world leaders spent their 20’s and 30’s in training and gaining practical experience in JCI.
Now the gender tide is turning. We see people like Hillary Clinton leading the way in politics, Sheryl Sandberg and Marrisa Mayer leading in business. JCI too is starting to see its first wave of women leaders. While the JCI Membership base is almost a 50/50 balance, it is hard to ignore that of the 7 Chambers in Ireland, 6 of them are currently run by a female President.
Both Mary-Kate and Éabha have been advocates for Women in Business and were delighted to see their efforts acknowledged with the National titles.
Mary-Kate is a Management Consulting Analyst with Accenture in Dublin, currently working with clients in the Health and Public Services sector. She will graduate from UCC with a degree in Law and French later this month. Mary-Kate volunteers in several other organisations too - she is a Mentor at Slingshot Academy, encouraging third level students to explore entrepreneurship, technology and STEM careers and sits on the Youth Participation Panel of the Community Foundation of Ireland where she advises philanthropists how to best invest their donations in the Youth Sector.
She began her term as President of the JCI Cork Chamber in January this year and since then the Membership of the Cork branch has more than quadrupled. Mary-Kate was awarded the Most Outstanding Local President Award for her commitment to the organsiation this year. She represented Cork and Ireland in the World Public Speaking Championships in Istanbul, Turkey, was part of the Irish Debate team for the tripartite debate against the UK and Scotland and oversaw all operations of the branch in Cork, such as The Outstanding Young Person (TOYP) of Cork awards and the Friendly Business Awards. "I was delighted to recieve this award. JCI President is a very challenging role, but the organsiation has provided me with so many opportunities to learn, grow and develop. We have made a really positive impact on Cork city this year." said Mary-Kate," The highlight of the year for me was meeting United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki Moon to discuss Ireland’s role in the new Sustainable Development Goals." This opportunity was reflective of JCI’s strong partnership with the UN.
Éabha currently work for Cork entrepreneur Ernest Cantillon as Business Development Manager for Wotbox a digital marketing design agency. She has both a first-class honours degree in French and Irish from UL and an Msc in Innovation, Commercialisation and Entrepreneurship from UCC. As Director for Community Impact she oversees all of JCI Cork’s community work, from cleaning graffiti at the Loch, running campaigns on mental health awareness and positive attitudes to alcohol. "The best part of JCI is being able to develop yourself as a person while contributing to your community" said Éabha, "We are an organsiation that recognises the unsung heroes in the community, highlighting the great work done by the people of Cork." Her highlight was organizing Ireland’s largest TOYP award ceremony sponsored by AIB South Mall. The event had Emmy award winning CNN anchor Gina London as guest speaker, over 130 people in attendance, selected Joanne O’ Riordan as Corks’ TOYP, was extensively covered by local media and was trending on Twitter. Joanne went on to win at Worl level. Éabha is very active in the Cork business community, as a member of both Network Cork and co-founder of NOTwork Hub, which has enabled her to forge strong partnerships between JCI and local businesses, and led the JCI Cork team with fundraising and volunteering for Cork Mental Health and Age Action Ireland. She oversaw the running of the Friendly Business Awards where Perry Street Café went to win at Nationals for Shop Layout and Design.
Both Éabha and Mary Kate are alumni of the Undergraduate Awards – a pan discipline academic awards program that recognises the top 10% of student’s worldwide.
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