IRISH TATLER WOMEN OF THE YEAR 2009

IRISH TATLER WOMEN OF THE YEAR 2009

ORLA TINSLEY, THE WOMAN OF THE YEAR AWARD 2009

Orla Tinsley is a twenty two year old part time journalist and healthcare activist from Newbridge in Co Kildare. In 2005, this driven young woman began campaigning to bring about better services for cystic fibrosis sufferers, an issue close to her heart as she herself suffers from the condition.

As a result of her strongly worded and highly emotive articles which exposed the reality of healthcare facilities that exist for those who live with cystic fibrosis, Tinsley quickly became a national spokesperson on cystic fibrosis, putting a youthful and determined face to the fight for better services.

In 2008 Orla launched a highly publicised attack on the healthcare system via articles published in The Irish Times which focussed on reversing a government decision to postpone funding for a dedicated adult cystic fibrosis unit in Dublin. Her passionate rhetoric led to the government re-instigating plans to build unit, with hopes for completion set in early 2010.

Along with work as an activist, Orla Tinsley has managed to carve out a successful career as a journalist. She writes primarily for The Irish Times, and has contributed to Mum’s The Word: Tales of Motherhood, published in 2007. In January 2008 she received the President’s Award for Excellence in Extra Curricular Activities at UCD where she studied English and Ancient Greek and Roman Civilisation. In September 2008 she received the Rehab Young Person of the Year Award for her campaign work and in November of the same year she was awarded a special accolade from Youth Work Ireland for her work as an advocate for people with cystic fibrosis. Orla is currently writing a book about her experiences set to be released in autumn of 2010.

The panel chose Orla as the Irish Tatler Woman of the Year 2009 in recognition of her unwavering commitment to improving services for cystic fibrosis patients in Ireland; bringing their cause to the public eye with admirable elegance and passion.

The Irish Tatler woman of the year SPECIAL ACHIEVEMENT

award 2009 Sharon Commins

On July 3rd of this year, 33-year-old Sharon Commins, an aid worker for GOAL, was abducted from the Darfur compound of the Irish aid agency. For one hundred and seven days, Sharon and her Ugandan colleague Hilda Kawaki were held in an outdoor encampment near the boarder of Chad. They were given little food or water and were subject to mock executions during their imprisonment.

The women were released on October 18th after Sudanese officials negotiated with their kidnappers, who are believed to have been members of a nomadic tribe from northern Darfur.

Sharon had been working with GOAL for just over four years, having started out as a press officer based in the company’s Dun Laoghaire headquarters before moving into field work. She had been based in Darfur for a number of months at the time of her abduction.

Despite her terrifying experience, Sharon believes that aid work is a fullfilling experience, saying, “I would strongly recommend people to volunteer for aid work for a one-year period. In that way you are putting your skills to very good use for the benefit of those in greatest need.”

Irish Tatler seeks to recognise Sharon’s strength and tenacity in the face of her ordeal, and to celebrate the humanitarian work that she has contributed during her time working with GOAL.

The Irish Tatler Woman of the Year PUBLIC LIFE award 2009

Catherine Day

Born in Dublin, Catherine Day has been working in Brussels for almost thirty years and is the first and only woman to be appointed to the post of Secretary General of the EU. In 1974, upon graduating from UCD with an MA in International Trade and Economic Integration, Day’s first job was as a loan officer at the Investment Bank of Ireland. The following year, she became the

EC Information Officer at the Confederation of Irish Industry – the body which would go on to merge with The Federation of Irish Employers to form IBEC.

In 1979 she embarked upon her first role in Brussels as an administrator in the Internal Market and Industrial Affairs Doctorate General. Since then she has served in the cabinets of esteemed politicians including Leon Brittain, Peter Sutherland and Richard Burke.

She has served in the Directorate Generals of Enlargement and External Relations and was responsible for relations with the Western Balkans, NIS (the new Independent states of the Former Soviet Union), the Middle East and the Mediterranean. Between 1996 and 2000 she worked on enlargement, preparing the accession of countries of central and eastern Europe to the EU.

In 2005 Day was appointed as Secretary General of the European Union, the highest ranking post in the commission, by President José Manuel Barroso.

Day is Ireland’s highest ranking public servant, the ‘head of the EU civil service.’ She was instrumental this year in the successful Yes vote in the Irish referendum on the Lisbon Treaty. Citing her vision of a Europe “to speak with one voice in helping to shape the new world order,” Day’s indefatigable spirit makes her a international force to be reckoned with.

The Irish Tatler Woman of the Year MEDIA award 2009

Terry Prone

Media guru Terry Prone wrote her first book at the age of twenty five. That book led on to twenty-five others, several of the novels becoming bestsellers reprinted in five languages. She was a script-writer for the Gay Byrne Hour, has written numerous TV and radio plays and has written more than 8,000 major speeches for political and business clients.

Prone was a Director of Carr Communications before she was thirty and succeeded Bunny Carr as Managing Director, expanding the company and building its reputation and profile. Terry has written for every national paper, is a columnist with the Irish Examiner and a regular commentator for The Sunday Tribune. She has also appeared on nearly every current affairs programme in the nation, (and several in the USA) and is a regular on Today with Pat Kenny.

She was seconded to the Department of Environment as the Chief Communications Advisor to the Minister, and has advised nearly every Taoiseach since Jack Lynch. Her services have been retained by all of the major parties in the Dáil.

Terry has served on the Boards of the Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin Zoo and The Arts Council. She was on the first Board of the Independent Radio and Television Commission (later the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland).

She is a founder director of The Communications Clinic and is a key part of the development of its training and public relations services. Something she’s got quite a lot of experience in, given that she has trained in eleven countries, provided consultancy to hundreds of the top companies in the country, designed training programmes in every aspect of communications and was one of the first people to develop media training in Ireland.

T

erry Prone’s stellar CV sees her join an incredible line up of past winners, as we present her with the Irish Tatler Women of the Year Media Award 2009.

The Irish Tatler Woman of the Year INTERNATIONAL award 2009

Rosaleen Blair

Over the last thirteen years Rosaleen Blair has transformed the recruitment industry, building a global business that delivers strategic resourcing services to forty blue-chip clients. She has transformed the way in which major companies manage recruitment, and in the process has built a £300stg million global business that employs close to 1,000 people across three continents.

Born in Dublin, Blair began her career by teaching Montessori, going on to found a small agency placing nannies and nurses in Ireland, Italy and France. Looking for a new challenge, at the age of twenty nine she emigrated to London to join the Alexander Mann Group as Business Development Director under entrepreneur James Caan.

During her time in the role Blair developed a new approach to recruiting staff – Recruitment Process Outsourcing – a concept which works to meet a company’s recruitment and resourcing needs by outsourcing the HR function to an expert provider.

In 1996 Blair convinced her employer to set up a joint venture, Alexander Mann Solutions, with the idea of bringing her concept directly to the market. Today AMS is the largest independent provider of RPO to blue-chip companies worldwide.

One of Blair’s greatest achievements has been the staff loyalty that she fosters. AMS attracts and retains women and mature workers by offering them flexible working arrangements. The average age of AMS employees is higher than the industry average and staff turnover is significantly lower.

In 2007, Rosaleen led her business through a £100m management buyout, swiftly followed by a significant acquisition. Rosaleen balances her work with active involvement in charities such as Tomorrow’s People and mentoring fellow entrepreneurs in five SME start-ups. Rosaleen has been awarded Ernst & Young’s London Business Products & Services Entrepreneur of the Year 2006 and Veuve Clicquot Business Woman of the Year 2007.

The Irish Tatler Woman of the Year FASHION DESIGN award 2009

Joanne Hynes

The last Irish Tatler Woman of the Year fashion design award 2009. The last twelve months have seen Irish fashion designer Joanne Hynes mark out her position as a leading force in the native fashion industry. The Tuam-born designer studied for her MA at London’s Central St Martins, going on to lecture on fashion in third level institutions throughout the UK before returning to launch her eponymous

label in with ‘Rue de la Tristesse’, a collection of sixty five pieces in 2003. Since her first collection, the Joanne Hynes look has been picked up by stores in Paris, London, L.A., Hong Kong and Tokyo.

In Ireland, she has been named Brown Thomas Irish Designer of the Season, who praised her “amazing attention to detail and contemporary elegance” and is currently the only Irish fashion designer to operate an independent concession at the store, on Level 2 at Grafton Street, and at pop-up shops in the Limerick and Galway stores.

Joanne dresses celebrities including PJ Harvey, Sinead O’Connor and Daphne Guinness, and has created Joanne Hynes For Topshop collection which sold out at both the Oxford Circus and Dublin Topshop stores. Spending half of the year travelling around the world sourcing fabric and inspiration for her collections, Joanne puts no boundaries on her design vision, and each collection showcases a fresh insight into the Joanne Hynes look.

Joanne is renowned for her attention to detail, and love of intricate embellishment, but it is her singularity of vision that marks her out as a designer of great importance on both the Irish and international stage.

The Irish Tatler Woman of the Year ENTERTAINMENT Award 2009

Rachel Allen

Rachel Allen began her career at the age of eighteen by training at Ballymaloe Cookery School. After graduating she went on to cook at the Ballymaloe House Hotel, but before long returned to the cookery school, first to test recipes and then to teach. In September 2004 RTE broadcast Allen’s first series. Rachel’s Favourite Food was a huge success, and went on to be broadcast in Australia and Italy. A

book by the same name followed, published by Gill & Macmillan. Two further series and accompanying books followed, Rachel’s Favourite Food for Friends and Rachel’s Favourite Food At Home and these were followed up by two more books and Bake, an RTÉ show that aired in summer of this year.

A television natural, Rachel has been responsible for putting Irish cooking on the map in recent years, her easygoing presenting style earning her titles like “the Irish cooking queen.” Her signature cooking style is practical, showing viewers how to produce simple but delicious food that is ideal for family and friends. Her popularity continues to rise, and to date Rachel has sold in excess of 500,000 copies of her books.

2009 was a busy year for Rachel, as she juggled her newborn baby daughter Scarlett with a world tour, taking in America and Australia before returning home a few months ago to begin work on her new show, Rachel Allen: Home Cooking and launch her book of the same name.

As one of the best known faces in Irish television, Rachel Allen has succeeded in forging an international career, and bringing Irish food, and the wealth of produce Ireland has to offer to the international stage. As one of our greatest exports, Rachel has charm and grace, and is a worthy winner of the Irish Tatler Women of the Year Entertainment award 2009.

The Irish Tatler Woman of the Year SPECIAL RECOGNITION award 2009

Linda Keating

On February 2nd, 1998 Linda Keating’s life changed forever when she lost her mother Marie to cancer. Along with her family Linda set up the Marie Keating Foundation, with the initial dream of providing a mobile unit staffed with a registered nurse to travel to all areas of the country, to support those suffering with cancer and boost awareness that early detection is the best chance of survival.

In May 2001 the charity put three mobile units on the road, rolling out a nationwide support service to those suffering from breast cancer. Following the success of their mobile units, the foundation began to look into other ways in which they could help those suffering from the disease.

Marie Keating sat on a plastic chair in a corridor for up to four hours at a time before being administered her chemotherapy, and this was something that the charity felt they could rectify. The foundation now has oncology waiting rooms repainted, provides comfortable chairs, televisions, stereos, magazines, coffee machines and whatever else is needed to make the space more comfortable for those waiting to receive treatment.

To date the foundation has refurbished the oncology waiting room in St Vincent’s Hospital, and has transformed the garden waiting area of the Breast Care Unit in St James’s Hospital and the oncology waiting room of Sligo General Hospital.

The Comfort Fund is a recent initiative launched by the foundation, offering support for cancer patients who cannot afford treatment. The organisation also offers a wig programme for those requiring them, free of charge.

Linda Keating has been instrumental in instigating the work of the Marie Keating Foundation. Under her guidance, the organisation works to increase the public’s awareness of cancer, and to show that this disease need not be a death sentence.

The Irish Tatler Woman of the Year DRAMA award 2009

Charlene McKenna

Originally from Co Monaghan, Charlene McKenna made her stage debut aged eleven in the Monaghan Youth Theatre’s production of Oklahoma! While studying music and theology at UCD, she won a part playing opposite Cillian Murphy in Breakfast on Pluto, a role which led to her being cast as Jennifer, the lead in RTÉ’s Pure Mule, now in its second season. From Pure

Mule, Charlene was cast as in the ensemble cast of RTE’s hugely popular Raw. Her film credits include A Tiger’s Tail, directed by John Boorman, Brian Kirk’s Middletown and Danger High Voltage, a short film made at the Electric Picnic, which went on to win awards at both the Galway Film Fleadh and the Cork Film Festival.

In 2008 Charlene starred in The Whistleblower, a two part true-life drama aired on RTÉ. In recognition of her performance, Charlene won a highly prestigious Golden Nymph award at the Monte Carlo Television Festival. In August of this year, Charlene appeared in the leading role of Eilish in Single Handed, Stolen Child, which aired to almost four million viewers on ITV1. She assumed the leading role of Annie in the independent Irish feature Porcelain, directed by Gavin Cleland and due for release at the end of the year.

Charlene’s talent was further recognised at this year’s Irish Film and Television Awards, where she earned two nominations and won a best actress award for her role in Raw. A young actress set for further success, Irish Tatler is proud to mark her unique talent.

The Irish Tatler Woman of the Year LITERATURE award 2009

Cecelia Ahern

Since the publication of her first novel PS I Love You at the age of twenty one, Cecelia Ahern has become one of Ireland’s best known – and best loved – writers. Her work is recognised all over the world, with novels topping bestseller lists from Dublin to New York. A woman with raw talent, she has created a niche in the sometimes over-saturated women’s fiction market, weaving

tales that appeal to women across the globe.

Cecelia was nominated for Best Newcomer 2004/5 at the British Book Awards for her debut novel. Cecelia’s fourth novel, A Place Called Here was both a bestseller and has been optioned by Touchstone with Warren Littlefield for a TV Drama series.

Cecelia is the co-creater, along with Donald Todd, and producer of the television show, Samantha Who? which stars Christina Applegate.

She has also contributed short stories to the following anthologies for which all her royalties go to charity: Irish Girls are Back in Town, Short and Sweet, Moments, Ladies Night 4, Girls Night In 2 and she has written a novella titled Mrs Whippy.

Cecelia’s fifth novel Thanks for the Memories was published in April 2008 and was nominated for Most Popular Book in the British Book Awards. The Gift was published in October 2008 and was reached number one in the Irish book charts.

Cecelia Ahern’s consistent success and much loved writing style continues to delight fans the world over.

Irish Tatler Woman of the Year BUSINESS AWARD award 2009

Margaret Nelson

Born in Ennis, Co. Clare, Margaret Nelson has more the twenty years experience working in the radio industry. “I found from the beginning that I adored it,” she says. “It is twenty fours hours a day, seven days a week.” In 2008 Margaret assumed the role of chief executive officer at FM104, having previously held the role of sales director. She has been on the board of the

station since 2004. During her time as sales director at FM104 Margaret delivered aggressive revenue targets and positioned the company as the highest earning local radio station in the country. She was part of a management team that successfully sold the station on three occasions – firstly to Scottish Radio Holdings, then to Emap and most recently in December 2007 to its current owner UTV.

Under Margaret’s stewardship as a chief executive FM104 has maintained its lead as the number one music station in the Dublin marketplace with over 327,000 listeners tuning into the station each week. This year she led the station to winning the much sought after accolade of PPI Music station of the year 2009/2010.

A working mother, Margaret has managed to strike the work/life balance so many struggle with. It is not easy, she agrees: “I take my hat off to any working mother who does not have the help of a partner or someone to share the day to day duties.”

Margaret is a visionary businesswoman who has joined an elite group of female CEO’s who have managed to shatter the glass ceiling for women in the business place, and we are delighted to honour her with an Irish Tatler Women of the Year Business award in recognition of her many achievements.

Irish Tatler Woman of the Year NORTHERN IRELAND award 2009

Anna Lo

Anna Lo was born in Hong Kong and worked in London for a year before deciding to relocate to Northern Ireland in 1974. For several years she made regular contributions to the BBC Chinese Service on matters concerning the Chinese community

in Northern Ireland and Northern Irish affairs. In 1978, she started the first ever English evening class for Chinese people in Northern Ireland.

Following a career break to have her two sons, Anna joined the Chinese Welfare Association in 1987 as a community interpreter. Four years later she returned to full time education, qualifying as a social worker from the University of Ulster in 1993 and taking a posts both in the Health and Social Services Trust and Barnardos.

In 1997 she took on the role of Director of the Chinese Welfare Association. Anna was the first vice chair of the Northern Ireland Council for Ethnic Minorities and was a founding commissioner for the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland. She was also the first chair of the South Belfast Partnership Board.

Anna currently sits on various equality committees including the South Belfast Roundtable on Racism and the OFMDFM Racial Equality Forum.

She was awarded an MBE in 1999 for Services to Ethnic Minorities and in March 2007 she was elected to serve as the MLA for South Belfast for the Alliance Party, and consequently became the first ethnic Chinese person (born in Hong Kong) to be elected to a legislative parliament in Europe. Anna is also a member of the Assembly committees for Employment and Learning and Social Development.

Throughout her career, Anna has aided the integration of minority groups into society in a selfless manner, and is receiving an Irish Tatler Women of the Year award in recognition of this work.