Best Of Belfast: Northern Ireland's #1 Interview Podcast Matthew Thompson

Gemma Austin is the Owner of A Peculiar Tea in Belfast and a Great British Menu contestant who has represented Northern Ireland three times.

In today's episode we talk about:


How “losing everything” set her on the path to success
Battling anxiety and depression
The ONE conversation that led to her becoming a chef
Creating a value-based business that makes the world a better place
Transforming the hospitality industry into one where people want to work again
And the power of family and community

Check it out!

https://bestofbelfast.org/stories/gemma-austin

Martina Tierney is the founder of Seating Matters and author of “The Stairway of My Life.”

In today’s episode, we talk about:


Why the stairs in her house are so special
Growing up as one of fourteen siblings
How a farming background prepared her for entrepreneurship
Becoming an Occupational Therapist
Why regular 9-5 hours didn’t suit her
The courage provided by her husband to “do her own thing”
How a garden shed turned into an international business
And the kindest thing someone’s ever done for her

Check it out!

https://bestofbelfast.org/stories/martina-tierney

Links:


Martina’s book: https://amzn.to/45hgIzp
Seating Matters Website: https://seatingmatters.com/

Jonathan, Ryan and Martin Tierney are brothers with heads for business, hearts for people and souls that long to the leave the world better than they found it.

They're all directors at Seating Matters, a family business started by their mum that employs 60+ people and manufactures life-changing medical chairs for patients around the world.

In this episode we talk about:


Why they rarely sit at the same table
Seeing Santa’s sleigh while laying concrete
Cutting turf for pocket money
The series of mad events that led to them meeting Bob Proctor
Dropping out of school and quitting their jobs to work at Seating Matters
The family values that set them up for success
Losing their father at a young age
The unique superpower of each brother
Bringing head, heart & soul into business
How they protect their brotherhood
And advice they'd give to 18-year-old versions of themselves

Check it out!

https://bestofbelfast.org/stories/-jonathan-ryan-martin-tierney

Colin Gibson is an ex-soldier, military contractor, scuba-diver, and owner of Talon: a security training company based in Northern Ireland. He’s served in Iraq and Afghanistan, lived in Belize for 6+ years and has been on a rollercoaster journey of dealing with combat-induced PTSD and childhood trauma.

In part one of this epic four-part special we talk about:


The effects of growing up with an abusive father
How violence dominated his early years
Getting in trouble with the police
The moment his life changed and all the anger disappeared
Walking through fields barefoot in the rain
The one positive male influence on his life
Moving to Belize
Scuba diving stories: manta-rays, blackness and pica-pica jellyfish
Finding happiness for the first time
And a few teasers to what you’ll hear in part two.

In this part two we talk about:


Getting his feet washed by an Iraqi driver
Being challenged to a fist-fight by his girlfriend’s dad
Getting thrown into a Belize prison cell with 20+ other people
What led him away from Belize
Why he ended up joining the military
And a few stories from his deployment…

In part three we talk about:


The specific combat-event that “sent him down the rabbit-hole”
Dealing with survivors guilt
And battling with suicide.

In part four we talk about:


How his experiences affect his life today
Why he’s thrown himself into serving others through his new teaching business
(Talon Security Training)
What he’s focused on
Why he started opening up about his experiences
And advice he’d give to an 18-year-old version of himself

Check it out.

https://bestofbelfast.org/stories/colin-gibson-talon-security

(Recorded September 2023). Kevin Roland is a Managing Director in New York-based global CEO advisory firm Teneo. He was a member of the Foreign Service of the U.S. State Department, serving in front-line diplomatic roles in Northern Ireland (from 2009-2012), as well as Iraq, Egypt, Tunisia, South Africa, Jordan, and the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs in Washington, D.C.

Despite working around the world, Kevin and his family reside at their home in New Quay, County Clare, Ireland.

In today’s episode we talk about:


Why his family decided to call Ireland home
Watching his dad loading planes as a kid
Colin Powell racing around in a supercar with the King of Jordan
Being mentored by the current head of the CIA
Playing basketball in the Middle East
Becoming fluent in arabic
How he got into the private sector (and why it matters)
And his advice to 18-year-olds…. “don’t hug the shore!”

Check it out.

https://bestofbelfast.org/stories/kevin-roland-teneo

Brendan McGurgan is the co-founder of Simple Scaling: an organisation that helps ambitious business leaders to 10x their business through accelerator programs, best-selling books, acclaimed podcasts, and the upcoming ScaleX Summit.

He’s also a certified Wim Hof Instructor and self-confessed sauna-junkie.

In today's episode we talk about:

- His first job picking apples as a boy in Armagh
- Why he quit his retail gig over a coke
- (And got hired elsewhere an hour later)
- What led him to go from feeling “bulletproof” to being humbled
- The number one thing that holds business owners back from scaling
- How parenting prepares you for entrepreneurship
- Why scaling could be Northern Ireland’s superpower
- His personal scorecard for life
- And how “simple” and “easy” are not the same thing

Check it out!
https://bestofbelfast.org/stories/brendan-mcgurgan

P.S. Click here to get tickets for the ScaleX Summit: https://www.scalexsummit.com/event-details/scalex-summit-2023