Gillian leads Ronan Daly Jermyn Corporate department.  She is a highly regarded deal lawyer known for her work in the healthcare and technology markets.  

Gillian is an Adjunct Professor in the College of Business and Law at University College Cork (UCC) and in 2017 received an Alumni Achievement Award from UCC for her work with I Wish. 

Gillian is a co-founder of the multi-award winning I WISH  

Gillian is passionate about empowering the next generation of female leaders and innovators and ensuring our society enables these young women to participate fully in the economy of the future. 

Gillian has held and continues to hold non-executive board and audit committee positions in the private and public sector.  

Mary Robinson served as the seventh president of Ireland from December 1990 to September 1997, becoming the first woman to hold this office. She also served as United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights from 1997 to 2002, a Senator for the University of Dublin  from 1969 to 1989 and as a local councillor o Dublin Corporation from 1979 to 1983. She first rose to prominence as an academic, barrister and campaigner. She defeated the Fianna Fail party’ s and Fine Gael party’s in the 1990 presidential election becoming the first Independent candidate nominated by the Labour Party, the Workers Party and Independent Senators.  

She is widely regarded as a transformative figure for Ireland, and for the Irish presidency, revitalising and liberalising a previously conservative, low-profile political office. She resigned the presidency two months ahead of the end of her term of office to take up her post in the United Nations. During her UN tenure she visited Tibet Tibet (1998), the first High Commissioner to do so; she criticised Ireland’s immigrant policy; and criticised the use of capital punishment in the United States. She extended her intended single four-year term as High Commissioner by a year to preside over the World Conference against Racism 2001 in Durban, South Africa; the conference proved controversial. Under continuing pressure from the United States, Robinson resigned her post in September 2002.

After leaving the United Nations in 2002, Robinson formed Realizing Rights: the Ethical Globalization Initiative,^[4] which came to a planned end at the end of 2010. Its core activities were 1) fostering equitable trade and decent work, 2) promoting the right to health and more humane migration policies, and 3) working to strengthen women’s leadership and encourage corporate social responsibility. The organisation also supported capacity building and good governance in developing countries. She returned to live in Ireland at the end of 2010, and has set up The Mary Robinson Foundation – Climate Justice,^[5] which aims to be ‘a centre for thought leadership, education and advocacy on the struggle to secure global justice for those many victims of climate change who are usually forgotten – the poor, the disempowered and the marginalised across the world.’

Robinson was the founding Chair of the Institute for Human Rights and Business^[6] from 2009-2012, a human rights think tank focused on the adverse impacts of companies on people, and continues to serve as its Patron. She served as Chancellor of the University of Dublin from 1998 until 2019. She also visits other colleges and universities where she lectures on human rights. She sits on the board of the Mo Ibrahim Foundation, an organisation which supports good governance and great leadership in Africa, and is a member of the Foundation’s Ibrahim Prize Committee. She is also a B Team Leader, alongside Richard Branson, Jochen Zeitz and a group of leaders from business and civil society as part of The B Team.^[7] She is an Extraordinary Professor in the Centre for Human Rights and the Centre for Sexualities, AIDS and Gender at the University of Pretoria.^[8] Robinson served as Oxfam’s honorary president from 2002 until she stepped down in 2012 and is honorary president of the European Inter-University Centre for Human Rights and Democratisation EIUC since 2005. She is a former Chair of the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) and is also a founding member and chair of the Council of Women World Leaders. She was a member of the European members of the Trilateral Commission.

In 2004, she received Amnesty International‘s Ambassador of Conscience Award for her work in promoting human rights.

Caroline is the Corporate and international tax partner with Deloitte Ireland focused on the technology sector. Caroline is a member of Deloitte’s European Diversity and Inclusion Council for the Technology Sector and a member of Deloitte Irelands Diversity and Inclusion Council.

Caroline is a member of the gender balance advisory group for the Department of Education to achieve better gender balance in STEM education at post-primary level.

Caroline is a board director of ReThink Ireland, Irelands Social Innovation Fund. And Chair of the finance committee and is also the immediate past chairperson of it@cork(2017-2019)

Caroline is Co-Founder of I Wish. Caroline says she looks to the girls who attend I Wish as they really inspire her to keep going on what has been a mad but amazing journey. She feels a huge sense of responsibility to enable every girl to live their brightest lives.

Caroline embarked on the I Wish journey with fellow co-founders because she could see the opportunity in STEM, but with less than 25% of the STEM workforce in Ireland being women she realised that there was a risk that her own daughter would not participate in the jobs of tomorrow, all she wants for her is equal opportunity of choice.

In conjunction with Cork City Council, I Wish won the 2015 Chambers Ireland Award for excellence in local government in the “promoting economic development” category, and a LAMA award in Best Education category.

2015 winner of the WMB Boots Empowering Women Award for work in promoting STEM.

Awarded one of the Top 10 outstanding young people (TOYP) of Cork in 2016 by Junior Chamber International and progressed to be named as one of the Top 10 outstanding people of Ireland in the national finals in 2016.

Along with fellow I Wish co-founders, awarded Cork Persons of the Month in March 2017,

UCC Achievement Award 2017, one of the highest honours that the university can bestow on a graduate.

American Chamber Cairdeas Award 2019

IT@Cork Chairperson Community Award 2019

“Hi, my name is Sarah Bryant and I’m an award-winning Irish environmentalist! I’m passionate about a plethora of sustainability issues in particular sustainable food systems, circular initiatives, sustainable fashion supply chains and environmental/climate justice!

Originally from Cork, I studied a BSc in International Development and Food Policy at University College Cork. Here, I received the 2021 Global Citizen Award and the Graduate of the Year Award for my efforts to drive environmentalism and my academic distinctions. I then went on to graduate from the University of Edinburgh with a MSc in Environment and Development. 

To compliment my academic learnings, I’ve gained a deeper understanding of environmental issues and policymaking through real-world experience. I’ve represented Ireland as Country Coordinator with the 16th United Nations Climate Change Conference of Youth and as Climate Ambassador with An Taisce. I’ve also worked with a wide range of stakeholders such as the Scottish Government and fashion industry experts in Europe and North America to conduct research into sustainable food policy and sustainable fashion supply chains. 

I am now completing an internship at Sustainable Scotland Network in Edinburgh. Here, I am working to support Scotland’s public sector bodies in accelerating actions on climate change and sustainability in order to reach Scotland’s national target of net zero emissions by 2045.

Heidi Hopper Duffy holds a Masters Degree in Environmental Protection through IT Sligo and has worked for the past 16 years in Iarnród Éireann as an Environmental Officer. Her main focus has been on building the company’s Environmental Management Systems that have now achieved accreditation in international standards. She is also part of the CIE/Iarnród Éireann Sustainability Group that addresses social and economic as well as environmental responsiblities. Passionate about a circular economy, Heidi has developed processes for reuse and upcycling of waste materials within the company. She also started a “waste not, want not” campaign on WorkVivo in 2021 that, to date, has successfully re-homed thousands of pieces of office furniture, equipment and supplies that were destined for the bin. 

India is the co-founder and CEO of Xelda. She achieved 625/625 in the 2014 Leaving Certificate. This placed her in the 99.99th percentile of all leaving cert students and demonstrates commitment, ambition and tenacity. She is fluent in French and Spanish having lived in Switzerland for a year and completed the DELF exams up to B2 level. India was awarded First Class Honours in Economics from Trinity College Dublin and the Bastable Prize for the best Economics degree in the whole graduation year. She was awarded the gold medal for exceptional results. Given Xelda is built for SMEs and enables them to automate their finances and operations, India’s background in Economics is extremely important. She moved to London and worked in investment banking in Goldman Sachs. She was an analyst on the Interest Rate Hedge Fund Sales desk and was shortly promoted to associate. India’s experience in Goldman Sachs was integral to teaching her how to work under pressure, to be analytical, to pay attention to detail and to manage client relationships.

Amy Myers graduated from University College Cork with a BSc in Biochemistry in 2016. Soon after her final exams, Amy joined Merck Group as part of the Operations Leadership Development Program (OLDP). This is a 3-year program to develop highly motivated graduates by giving them experience in key areas across the Integrated Supply Chain Organization. Between 2016 and 2019, Amy completed rotations in Environmental, Health and Safety, Process Engineering, Quality Control and Global Supply Chain – spending time in both Merck Cork and Merck Arklow. On leaving the OLDP, Amy worked as a Global Project Manager in the API Technology Cluster – working primarily on the Digitalization and Automation strategy of a number of key manufacturing sites. In 2020, Amy took on the role of Site Lead for the implementation of both SAP and LIMs in the Arklow site – including the first interface in Merck of the two systems. It was within this project that Amy secured Black Belt Certification. On the completion of this implementation in 2022, Amy moved back to Cork to take on the role of Laboratory Lead for the construction of Merck’s new €150m facility in Blarney, Cork.

Portia is the co-founder and CSO of Xelda and India’s sister. She achieved 625/625 in the 2016 Leaving Certificate. This demonstrates tenacity, a relentless ambition to be the best and a desire to push one’s boundaries. Portia is fluent in Spanish having lived in Madrid for a year and completed the DELE exams up to B2 level. She achieved the highest result in the country in the Spanish Leaving Certificate. Portia was awarded First Class Honours in Management Science and Information Systems from Trinity College Dublin. She was awarded a gold medal for exceptional results. Xelda helps SMEs analyse their business data and make critical decisions based on this information, so Portia’s ability to analyse and summarise data sets is essential to the quality of the product. She is also a Trinity College Scholar having achieved top marks in the scholarship exams. Portia also moved to London and worked in investment banking in Goldman Sachs. She was a trader on the EUR Swaps Trading Desk, where she enhanced her technical skills by building highly profitable automated trading strategies. She also managed a very profitable multi-million-euro swap portfolio.

Mary Hurley is a Civil Engineer based in Arup’s Galway office. She graduated from University College Cork in 2002 with a degree in Civil and Environmental Engineering. Mary began her career as a structural engineer, before transitioning to civil engineering and infrastructure projects.

In recent years, Mary has focused on the planning of large infrastructure projects, including engagement with project stakeholders and the management of environmental assessment. She embraces new technologies and brings this expertise to all her projects. Striving to make people’s lives better, Mary is passionate about building transport networks that will benefit future generations.

In 2022, Mary was awarded Engineer of the Year by Engineers Ireland.

Amy Jane is the host and creator of “Go Do You” a podcast series which inspires people to put themselves back on their own priority list, to follow their dreams and not give up on the life they have envisioned for themselves.

Amy Jane loves presenting and had the great honour of M.C’ing IWish 2019 alongside Sinead Kennedy.

“IWish is the most powerful, moving and inspiring event I have ever been a part of. Listening to the ladies speak almost always brings tears to my eyes, no girl gets left behind”

Eoin runs a unique, family-owned company, supplying Ireland with Architectural and Natural Stone. Eoin is passionate about offering an inspirational collection of the finest exterior stones available today in the most sustainable way.

Eoin has a teenage daughter currently looking at various career options and so I Wish is especially personal to him right now. 

My name is Amanda Goma I am 21 years old and a third-year undergraduate student studying Business Information Systems in University College Cork. I am currently working as the chairperson of the UCC Christian Union society and a choir leader for my local church.

Anne-Marie has 21 years’ experience in the global investment environment with IDA Ireland, working across a number of key roles in Ireland and abroad.  

Anne-Marie took up her current position as Department Manager, Enterprise Technology in October 2021. Prior to this role, she held positions as Department Manager, Regional Development, Director of Europe, based in Paris and Project Manager in the Technology Division.  Anne-Marie is a Law graduate and holds an MSc in International Marketing, as well as being an Associate Practitioner of the European Chartered Institute of Marketing. Anne-Marie is a Board member of CeADAR, Ireland’s National Centre for Applied AI.

Olivia is a project developer of onshore wind and solar farms for Ørsted based in Cork.

Olivia did her undergraduate degree in physics and applied maths at UCC, followed by a DPhil (PhD) in Physics at Oxford University. Olivia worked in physics publishing (academic journals) for five years following her DPhil and picked up lots of transferrable skills. Looking for a way to move into the renewable energy sector, she did a masters in renewable energy systems technology at Loughborough University. She returned to Ireland following her masters and worked with a solar developer in a technical role for almost five years. Wanting to broaden her experience into the wind sector, Olivia started as a project developer two years ago. Olivia is passionate about tackling climate change and is delighted to work for a company that aligns with her values.

My name is Jayne Ryan, and I am an Ecologist within the Chief Civil Engineering (CCE) Department of Iarnród Éireann. I joined the company under the Graduate Program in 2020 whereby I was introduced to my new colleagues through screens due to covid which was quite the challenge. Two years on and I have been introduced to some incredible people who have taken the time to get to know me and answer any questions that I have. There are so many knowledgeable, passionate people working for the company who are delighted to share this knowledge with new colleagues.

I attended Athlone Community College for secondary school before heading off to Galway to pursue a science degree and on completion of my course I gained a Bachelor’s in Marine Science. I decided to work and consider my options before applying for a master’s and chose Queen’s University in Belfast with my course focused on Environmental Management and Conservation Biology.

Many of the subjects I studied in this course have helped me throughout my role in Iarnród Éireann with the focus of my job being to ensure the environment is protected during the maintenance of assets or structures such as bridges. This entails conducting protected species surveys to identify if any are located on-site for example Otter or Bat and applying mitigations to ensure minimal disturbance.

Olga was born and raised in Kyiv, Ukraine. She received her BSc with Honours in Food Science and Technology at National University of Food Technologies, and few years later her MSc in Quality Systems at University of Environmental Sciences. Immediately after her BSc graduation – Olga started her first job with Carlsberg Ukraine, where she took a role of factory-based technologist, and in few years worked her way up to a Product Developer, where she successfully launched number of great products. In 2013, Olga moved to another Multinational Beer producer AB InBev, where she broadened her experience within Eastern Europe, working on innovation pipeline of 10+ manufacturing locations, led numerous plant trials and product launches. In 2015 in search for new opportunities, Olga moved to Ireland with her family to work for Kerry Group in Naas, as Senior Beverages Scientist. In early 2017, Olga accepted an offer to join PepsiCo newly formed Research and Development organization in Cork, and between 2017 and 2021 she held roles in R&D and Global Beverages Commercialization. Finally in 2021 Olga joined Global R&D Strategy team, where she is looking after Science and Technology Strategy and Portfolio management for Global Beverages.

Suzy Loftus is the Global Head of Risk and Response Operations for Tik Tok where she manages Trust and Safety teams working in the United States and in Ireland. Prior to this she served as District Attorney and President of the Police Commission in San Francisco and as General Counsel to California’s Attorney General Kamala D. Harris.  Loftus currently serves as an elected member of the Democratic Central Committee in San Francisco, where she and her husband Tom are raising their three teenagers.

Krissel Alcaraz is a Senior Transport Planner based in Arup’s Dublin office. She started her journey in the built environment when she studied and obtained a degree in Bachelor of Built Environment (Urban and Regional Planning) in Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane, Australia. She has over 15 years’ international experience in the industry, having worked on a variety of transportation projects in Australia, Hong Kong, the UK and now, Ireland.

One of her most recent and favourite projects is ‘Ten Minute Towns’, which is a framework that helps map out how areas can provide high-quality, sustainable links to local services and facilities. The project is resonating across the transport sector and Krissel hopes it will be part of shaping Ireland’s uptake of sustainable transport modes.

Jamie is the Irish Growth Lead for Stripe, a financial infrastructure platform. He helps companies of all sizes use Stripe to launch new business models, enter new markets, and accelerate their growth. Jamie is a former Ireland rugby captain and start-up investor and mentor. He holds an MBA and a degree in Medical Engineering,

Jessica works as a Senior Automation Engineer and a Certified Machine Safety Expert (CMSE®) at Johnson & Johnson Vision. Her main responsibilities include software automation and controls improvement, qualification of new equipment controls, and performing vendor and site acceptance testing (SAT) to meet appropriate and applicable engineering/government standards. Concurrently, she is working towards becoming an SME in machine vision onsite.

Jessica studied at the University of Limerick where she received her BEng in Electronic and Computer Engineering. She is also currently studying Science Communications at the University of Cambridge.

She is an advocate for Women in STEM having been involved in initiatives at university, work, and external engagements. Her passion outside of work is leading analog astronaut missions, building model rockets, astrophotography, and contributing to lunar exploration work groups. She also spends her free time aerial dancing and creating short films and STEM-themed social media content.

Terri’s passion is people leadership and she loves working collaboratively to help make a difference to the lives of patients. She is a WiSTEM2D Ambassador and she was awarded the “Women in AI Person of the Year” in 2022 by AI Ireland.  She is a member of the Janssen Sciences Ireland Senior Leadership Team and an advocate of the growth mindset.

Terri holds a Bachelor’s degree in Biochemistry and a Master’s degree in Applied Biotechnology from University College Cork. She has over 14 years-experience in Janssen Sciences Ireland, during this time she has had roles of increasing responsibilities across R&D, Operations and Make Asset Management.

While in R&D, she was the Upstream Lead for the first technology transfers into the R&D Lab, Clinical Suite and finally to 15K scale in an external CMO. In Operations, she worked as a Technician, a Cell Culture Team Lead, a Purification and Buffer Operations Manager.

From 2016 to 2021, she had a critical role during the expansion project at Janssen Sciences Ireland, supporting the design and start up phases. She was appointed as the first Digital & Technology Site Lead in 2021, and through this role she is getting the opportunity to pioneer across the organisation.

Ambassador Byrne Nason was born in Drogheda in 1959, and attended Our Lady’s College, Greenhills. She has a BA and MA in Literature from St Patrick’s College, Maynooth

Ambassador Nason joined the Department of Foreign Affairs in 1981. She was Director for Governance at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development in Paris in the 1990s. She has served at the UN in New York, Vienna, Geneva, and Helsinki.

Nason served as Second Secretary General of the Department of the Taoiseach from 2011 until 2014, making her the highest ranking female civil servant in the country. In summer 2014, she produced a report of issues that might affect Ireland if the United Kingdom left the European Union.

In August 2014, Nason was appointed Ireland’s Ambassador to France and Monaco. Alongside her Swedish counterpart, she started an informal network of women ambassadors and journalists in Paris.

In August 2017, Nason was appointed as Ireland’s permanent representative to the UN in New York by Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, replacing David Donoghue. She was tasked with trying to secure Ireland a seat on the UN Security Council in 2020 and this effort was successful.

In 2018 and 2019 Nason chaired the 62nd and 63rd sessions of the UN Commission on the Status of Women. From January 2021 she held the Irish seat at the U.N. Security Council for its two-year tenure, being President of the council for the month of September 2021.

In 2022 she was appointed Ambassador of Ireland to the United States of America.

My name is Aisling, and I’m a proud member of the I WISH alumni, after first attending when I was in Transition Year in 2015/16. As a direct result of that I WISH conference, I chose to study Applied Maths for the Leaving Cert, which immediately became my favourite subject, and led me to the Math and Computing degree I just finished in UL.

Throughout college I threw myself into any initiative I could, from winning a STEM scholarship with Johnson and Johnson, to my work experience with Analog Devices, to a mentorship program with Deloitte. 

Having just graduated in August, I am now a Data Engineer with Carelon Global Solutions Ireland, an Irish subsidiary of a US IT and Business consulting organisation, that specializes in utilizing digital tools to simplify healthcare. Day-to-day, I work on a wide variety of topics; from optimising SQL code to make it run as quickly as possible, to writing Python scripts to automate some of our work, to creating documentation on the U.S. healthcare system to help us have a better understanding of our clients, to helping compile onboarding documents for future graduates.

Outside of work, I make sure to keep busy with a bunch of extracurriculars. Throughout college, I was a member of loads of different clubs and societies, such as Musical Theatre, Women in STEM, Dance, and Yoga. My big passion in life is musical theatre; be it a school show, stage school, or a musical society, I have always loved performing.

I can’t wait to share my I WISH story with you, see you in February!

I am an IT manager at Colgate Palmolive. I am based in our Dublin office, and am currently
responsible for the implementation of IT(SAP) systems to support customer development teams
across the Europe and Africa Eurasia region. I have been with Colgate for 18 years, and have
delivered IT projects to support multiple processes in that region.
I love working with global teams, and learning about how different countries manage their
customers and product portfolios. I can then apply system knowledge to their processes to
support them to be able to do their jobs faster, and spend more time with our customers. Every
project I work on is different, so I am constantly learning new things. Global teamwork is a
Colgate core value and something we put into practice everyday. Getting to travel to different
countries and getting to meet various colleagues is one of the highlights of my job.
I lead a team of three very clever professionals, and work with a variety of colleagues across
Colgate as well as external consultants.
In school I loved math’s, economics and English. I studied for a B.Comm, specialising in
accounting and economics in the University of Galway, and followed that with a diploma in
software design.

With over 20 years of experience in sales, technology, payments and media, and now at Stripe in Dublin as Head of EMEA Startups, Mark leads Stripe’s go-to-market strategy across new business, existing business and partnerships. Specifically focusing on startups and small businesses, his role is to ensure the best possible experience for users to get started and grow their businesses online using Stripe.

“My name is Marieme Dior Nafy Ba, I am 24 years old, and I am currently working as a CAD Automation Engineer for Qualcomm Cork.

 After graduating from high school in Senegal, I went to Morocco where I studied Mathematics and Physics for 2 years, before joining a 3-year engineering program in Computer Engineering. During my last year, I joined Siemens (formerly Mentor Graphics) for a 6-month internship during which we applied Machine Learning to Physical Design. This internship sparked my interest for microelectronics, which led me to join Qualcomm in June 2022.

As a former alumni of Maison d’Education Mariama Ba, an all-girls excellence school in Senegal, I recognize the importance of empowering young women and investing in girls’ education. This only acts as a motivation to participate in this conference and take the opportunity to encourage more women into science and technology. “

Sophie Vaughan is a Sustainability Consultant based in Arup’s Dublin office. In her role, Sophie develops decarbonisation strategies for clients, advising on energy efficient and low carbon technologies for both new buildings and retrofits. Sophie’s responsibilities also include the development of sustainability strategies, circular economy advisory, carbon life cycle assessments and building energy audits.

Sophie completed her Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering and holds a Master’s degree in Engineering with Business from University College Dublin, where she received the Engineering Graduates Associate (EGA) medal for achieving the highest GPA in her class. As part of her Master’s, Sophie completed a 7-month internship at Arup, returning on the Graduate Programme as a Mechanical Design Engineer. While on the Mechanical team, Sophie designed efficient and low carbon systems for buildings across the commercial, healthcare and education sectors.

Nicci Daly is a Tokyo 2020 Olympian and Hockey World Cup silver medallist. She is part of a select group of Irish athletes in any sport to have represented Ireland over 200 times. But she is not only an outstanding Hockey player; she is also a Mechanical engineer who has a Masters in Motor Sport Engineering. In recent times she has established her own female racing team called Formula Female which aims to increase awareness and participation of females in motorsport. 

Nicci speaks passionately not just about sport but how STEM subjects can ultimately lay a path for turning a passion into a career.

Leticia started her career as an Oceanographer, before transitioning to become a Software Engineer several years ago. Since the switch, she has been dedicated to helping people learn. She is the co-founder and one of the hosts of Pizza de Dados, the first data science podcast in Brazil, and she teaches on the LinkedIn Learning platform, where her courses have helped thousands of students.

She also recently published a book, “A friendly guide to software development”, which covers software development for people that don’t have a background in computer science.

Marie Moynihan is Senior Vice President of Global Human Resources Services. She leads a team of  @800 HR professionals globally who provide full life cycle services to our team members, from on-boarding, to payroll, to employee relations, to site based engagement and inclusion activities, ensuring our team members experience Dell as a great place to work in every country in which we operate.

In addition she is responsible for our global HR approach and infrastructure to support Mergers and Acquisition, Managed Services deals, Contingent Labor and Privacy & Compliance.

Marie report’s to the CHRO and influences all key HR decisions for the company.

Marie has been with Dell for 20 years holding a range of HR roles from Business Partner, HR leader for Dell EMEA, to Talent Management and Chief Diversity officer, to Global Talent Acquisition.

Before joining Dell, Marie worked for Intel Corporation, leading HR in their European manufacturing facility for eight years. She has also spent six years consulting in Industrial Relations with the Irish Business and Employers Confederation.  She is married with one child and lives in Co Wicklow, Ireland.

My experience is in cyber risk management based on legal, regulatory and industry requirements alongside hands-on experience in Security Operations, Incident Response, Digital Forensics and Data Analytics. I also have experience with leveraging information risk / control assessment frameworks such as ISO27001/2, NIST CSF, COBIT and CIS Critical Security Controls to support a risk-based approach to address cyber risk in a business context. I have worked with clients across a variety of sectors including big tech, government bodies, telecoms, financial services and retail.

Prior to joining Deloitte, I graduated with a first-class honours MSc in Computer Science from University College Dublin (UCD) along with a BEng degree in Computer Engineering from the Gujarat Technological University (GTU). I currently hold professional certifications such as the Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP), Certified Hacking Forensic Investigator (CHFI), Systems Security Certified Practitioner (SSCP) and AWS Certified Solutions Architect, among others.

Arushi was also one of the I Wish mentors last year and was also chosen as the Deloitte delegate for One Young World earlier this year.

Arushi recently spoke to an audience of primary school aged girls at the STEM event we hosted on behalf of The European Commission and the European Innovation and SMEs Executive Agency and she was fantastic!

Unable to decide between her two favourite science subjects, Jessica chose Chemical Physics for her undergraduate degree in University College Cork – to get the best of both worlds. After graduating in 2014, Jessica stayed in UCC to complete her PhD with the Materials Chemistry and Analysis Group, where she grew and characterised germanium tin nanowires. Towards the end of her research, she began lecturing Physics and Maths in an international college based in Cork. After graduating with her PhD in 2019, and inspired by her students, Jessica decided to take a break to travel the world – which came to a crashing halt in March 2020! Since January 2021, Jessica has worked with Stryker in Cork as an engineer in new product development.

Janet launched her career on completion of her degree in Civil Engineering from the South East Technological University.  It was while completing this degree, and in between her sporting activities, that her interest in figures was sparked.

On graduation Janet worked within the Civil QS department of Davis Landon PKS. While working with this firm she followed her passion and successfully completed a postgraduate diploma in Quantity Surveying with the TU Dublin. Securing the diploma opened the doorway to become a chartered surveyor.

Janet pursued this goal and became one of the first four people globally to hold an MIRCS Infra chartership from the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors. In 2022 she was a recipient of an IM100 award, recognising her work in driving sustainability in the digital infrastructure industry.

Her special interest in civils (infrastructure) allows her to work globally on impressive projects. Janet has been able to travel internationally for site visits and relocated to the Middle East for 5 years before returning to Ireland, and working with Linesight.

Janet’s focus is on mentoring and training the younger members of her team. Working within the Data Centre world can be challenging, however the team embrace the complexities to deliver a top class service for our clients.

Claire O’Sullivan has a BSc in Computer Systems from the University of Limerick and has been working in the data centre industry for 16 years. She undertook her first 24/7 operational role with Thomson Reuters after college before moving into technical sales, supporting IT multinationals in the Irish market. In 2012, she joined the Logistics team in Amazon Web Services (AWS) and since then, has worked in four different roles supporting various functions of the data centre lifecycle. Claire’s current role is a Cluster Operations Leader and she and her team ensure their customers are provided with a safe, secure and reliable cloud computing service. Claire lives in Kildare and is a busy mom to two girls, Saoirse (3) and Maisie (6).

During the first year of Engineering at UCD students are given opportunities to explore all different streams, including Mechanical, Electrical, Chemical and Biomedical. Orna had a keen interest in buildings and architecture and chose to pursue Civil Engineering. As part of a Masters programme in Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering, Orna spent 8 months in an internship working in the Roads team. She gained insight into the world of Highways Engineering, exploring the existing Public Transport and Road Network, and helped colleagues identify issues and problems within the existing infrastructure. I learnt about the office environment and how to communicate professionally. Once graduating, she spent a year in a Civil/Structural Engineer Role, working on many smaller scale projects across Ireland. This included the structural design of residential properties, large warehouses and DCU’s Future Tech Building. This role was very interesting and hands on, seeing what had been calculated and designed back in the office be constructed in real life.

Currently, as a Highways Engineer with Jacobs, Orna is involved in many Transportation Projects across Ireland. Working closely with senior colleagues we collaborate with other teams to deliver the design of Highways and Transportation Projects, particularly pedestrian and cycle infrastructure. I find that working on projects in my surrounding area, such as developing the design of new cycle lanes around Dublin that I can use to commute, to be extremely rewarding. It is fulfilling to know that the work you do has a positive impact on people’s daily lives.

Prachi is a software engineer at Stripe. She graduated with a Bachelors in Computer Engineering and spent 3+ years at Microsoft working on productivity tools before joining Stripe. She is extremely passionate about women in tech and leads Systers, the world’s largest mailing list for women in tech. Prachi has been recognised by organisations like Google and AnitaB for her work to empower girls in STEM. In her spare time, she enjoys reading and running.

“I have always been passionate about STEM subjects and had a love of Maths and Physics at school. I graduated from the University of Warwick in 2020 with first class honours in Masters of Mathematics, Operation Research, Statistics and Economics specialising in Actuarial and Financial Mathematics. 

Following this, I joined Susquehanna International Group through the Quantitative Trading Graduate Programme, where I now focus on equity options. I have always been fascinated by problem solving and thinking about strategy and I am very fortunate that I get to apply these skills to real-world puzzles in financial markets every day. 

Outside of this, I am an avid sports fan following everything from Gaelic football to darts! I was awarded the ‘GoldMark Award of Excellence’ for volunteering at my local sports club through various charity events and coaching junior teams. 

I am enthusiastic about improving diversity within STEM subjects and the world of finance and trading, in particular. In SIG we have started a Women’s Trading Committee, which regularly meets to discuss these goals.”

Isabel Kelly joined Arup’s lighting team in Dublin after completing a Master’s degree in Architectural Lighting Design at the Bartlett at University College London following a Bachelor’s degree in Landscape Architecture at University College Dublin.

Isabel applies the skills and expertise gained in her studies, research and work to combine both daylight and architectural lighting in public realm and building settings. Isabel blends creativity and imagination to drive beautiful and sustainable lighting solutions that shape how we experience the built environment.

Dr. Claire Conneely is a Programme Manager in the Education for Social Impact team at Google, where she has worked since 2014. In her role, Claire works to prepare young people for the future workforce by getting them excited about where computer science and the field of technology can take them. Claire is part of a global team that develops programmes, supports partners and collaborates with policy-makers to reach thousands of students and teachers every year, with a focus on girls and others who are underrepresented in the tech field today. Claire’s early career was as a secondary school teacher, followed by 8 years developing and leading education outreach programmes in the charity and university sector. Claire holds a Ph.D. in Technology and Education, M.Sc. in Technology & Learning and Bachelor of Music Education from Trinity College Dublin. Claire is a proud member of the Board of iScoil, a non-profit online learning service that offers 13-16 year olds a pathway to learning, accreditation and education progression.

Roslyn McCarthy graduated in 2004 with an Honours Degree in Civil and Environmental Engineering from University College Cork. She worked for 13 years in a multi-disciplinary Engineering Consultancy before joining Cork City Council in 2017. Over the course of her career to date, she has worked on a wide variety of projects from concept-stage designs through to construction completion. She developed skills in computer modelling of watercourses and drainage systems and has contributed to the design of road and bridge design projects, sewerage systems and water supply projects. Roslyn’s major responsibilities over the past 12 years include multiple large flood relief schemes, public realm improvement projects and taking a lead role in the Flood Assessment Team and the Severe Weather Assessment Team for Cork City. Her current role in the Local Authority involves progressing multi-million-euro capital works projects and managing Active Travel schemes. Roslyn truly enjoys working in a Local Authority, particularly working with multi-disciplinary teams to progress public works projects.

 I am currently in my final year of an undergraduate degree studying geology in University College Cork. From a young age I was always interested in nature and the outdoors and knew I would want a job that wouldn’t involve me being indoors all the time. My favourite subject in school was geography, especially because my teacher was so inspiring and enthusiastic which led me towards a keen interest in the geosciences. In transition year I attended the I Wish conference where I met some amazing women and from there I got an opportunity to get some experience with Arup. This gave me a great insight into the engineering fields. I also attended a week-long Ty course run by the BEES school in UCC where I got a great introduction to the degree and ended up choosing it for my undergrad.

Borbala is a BIM (Building Information Management) Coordination Lead with Dornan Engineering Ltd. She has a BA in Architecture and Construction Management but works on coordination of electrical, mechanical, and piping services for Data Centres.

Amruta is an experienced SAP and Agile coach professional working with Deloitte Ireland. She completed her bachelors in Electronics and Telecommunication Engineering and has completed her certification Supply chain management. She originally hails from India and currently resides in Dublin, Ireland since 5 years.

Amruta has been keenly involved in mentoring programmes aimed at young children in education and women in leadership. She has been previously associated with eVidyaloka (India), J&J STEM programme (Ireland) and J&J WLI (Women in Leadership & Inclusion).

With I Wish, she is glad to have been able to continue with her purpose of mentoring young women who are passionate to enter the IT/ digital world and would love to share her experience and related available useful resources to prepare them for their new roles and responsibilities.

Tara is a Manager in Systems Engineering who joined Deloitte as a graduate in 2015 after studying Computer Science and Information Technology in NUIG. She is currently engaged as a functional lead for a large public sector client where she works with business and technical stakeholders to lead the analysis, design, test and integration of digital services for their customer facing website alongside a wider team of business analysts, software testers and developers.

Outside of work Tara likes to spend time baking, especially making novelty cakes for friends and family. She is a film lover and considers ‘awards season’ her favourite time of year

I am Brazilian, living in Ireland for one year and a half now. Back in Brazil, I graduated in Radiology and worked with Radiotherapy for almost nine years. From a young age, I had an ease with Maths and logical problems, but I couldn’t picture myself doing something restricted to it, so Radiotherapy suited me very well for a long time, as it involved physics, science and logical thinking, but applied in practice. At some point, I decided to change career and I looked with more attention to the IT field and developed a new passion for it. I discovered it has so much to offer, and people with very different sets of skills can find their way into it. Then, here in Ireland, I had the amazing opportunity to be part of the Women TechStart Programme 2022, which was essential to get me where I am, and today, I’m happy to say I am a Technical Support Engineer at VMware.

My name is Maya. I am 18 years old and attending St. Colman’s Community College in Midleton. I do Engineering, Physics, D. C. G., German, English Irish and Maths as subjects. I want to do sustainable energy engineering in College in MTU. I enjoy metalwork and I have been working in a machine workshop making parts for robots since I was 16. I want to continue working as an engineer and I want to help the environment with sustainable energy. 

Chandrika Durbha is a Principal Applications Engineer at Cadence Design Systems for past 7yrs. Specializing in Virtuoso tools (ADE), and Simulators (Spectre, AMS, Xcelium). 

Work Experience: Prior to Cadence, she worked as IC design Engineer for 15yrs at Sarnoff Corp, LSI Logic and Xilinx.

Education: She holds a Master’s Degree in Electrical and Electronics engineering from New Mexico State university, USA. She has authored IEEE papers during her Master’s under the guidance of her professor and mentor Dr. Jaime Ramirez Angulo.

Chandrika uses the engineering knowledge gained through her college degree and years of job experience to drive customer success and growth.

“The two aspects of my job that  gets me up every morning are problem solving and customer interaction. Problem solving keeps my technical skills sharper while customer interaction gives an opportunity to collaborate with people across geographies.” 

She strongly believes that a degree in STEM education opens up a lot of opportunities, as she has lived and worked in over 4 different countries. 

When not in the office she loves dancing. She is a student of Kuchipudi, an Indian classical dance art form, under her teacher Avijit Das. She loves to cook with her 11yr old son. She reads books and currently reading The Psychology of Money by Morgan Housel.

Hi I am Shauna. I am a Security Analyst on the Identity & Access Management team at Unum. I have been with Unum since I finished my internship with them in 2020 during my 3rd year of college, where I studied Cybercrime and IT Security in SETU. I have been working in Security for 2 years now and I am excited to move forward and implement new secure technologies that will help us evolve as a corporation and keep our employees and customers safe. I still have a lot to learn but I am taking everyday as a learning day.

Hi, my name is Celine and I’m studying environmental science at the University of Limerick. Science fascinates me and I’ always had a love for the environment and the outdoors. Studying environmental science has helped me to understand how our natural world works and how we humans interact with and impact the environment. I’m in third year in university and during this year we go on work placement, so I am currently working as an environmental, health and safety intern for Alexion Pharmaceuticals who develop drugs for ultra-rare diseases. When I was in TY, I came with my school to the conference. IWISH exposed me to multiple opportunities I hadn’t heard of before. Meeting and interacting with women working within STEM was empowering and inspiring. It encouraged me to pursue my interests in the STEM sector.

Maureen Larkin

Maureen is an MSc. qualified professional from Trinity College Dublin with 23 years’ experience in the biopharmaceutical/pharmaceutical industry. She is also an experienced ‘Qualified Person’. Maureen has worked across multiple pharmaceutical companies and held 15 different roles across 7 different functions.

Maureen has diverse and in-depth experience in Leadership, Management, Manufacturing Shift Operations, Quality Management, Regulatory Compliance, Quality Assurance, Compliance, Operations Technical Support, Inspection Management, Validation, Technical Services and Technical Transfer. This experience covers all aspects of start up from front end commissioning and qualification through to successful delivery of Process Validation and sustaining operations in areas of Bulk Drug Substance, API manufacture, sterile processing, finished product packaging and distribution, across commercial and clinical operations. 

In her current role she is responsible for all cGMP manufacturing activities at the Alexion Dublin Manufacturing Facility in Ireland. She leads the site’s Manufacturing

Operations team working collaborately with EHS, Quality Assurance, Quality Control, Engineering/Maintenance, Technical Services, and Supply Chain groups; partnering with New Product Introduction project teams and Technical Operations to introduce new products and process improvements. She ensures that both the Drug Substance and Packaging facilities are operated to the highest standards of safety and cGMP regulatory standards. She is responsible for the operational introduction of new products to the facility, ensuring all regulatory approvals are achieved to the

required schedule. She is also responsible for delivering key strategic initiatives for the site including multi-product production, future capacity in line with the long-term plan and process improvements that lead to improved performance in sustainability and cost.  She is a core member of the Site Leadership Team and responsible for ensuring that the site delivers on its production plan and KPI’s.

She is passionate about and strongly influences the development of a strong positive culture enabling each individual to thrive. Innovation and continuous improvement are key enablers of success. Maureen actively drives, promotes and enables a culture of innovation across the operations teams, ensuring the organisation continually advance in this area.

Maureen is married to Paul and mum to their 3 children – Darragh (17), Éanna (12) and Ellie (9). All 3 children love sports so most of her free time is taken with supporting their activities!  She also loves to travel and read.

Niamh is an I Wish alumna; she attended I Wish in transition year in 2015/2016, which had a direct impact on her subject and career choices.

Niamh McGrath graduated from University College Cork with a BSc in Financial Mathematics and Actuarial Science in 2022. In 2022, Niamh joined Deloitte as an Actuarial Analyst as a part of their Actuarial, Rewards and Analytics graduate programme. She is continuing her studies with the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries.

Throughout her time in UCC, Niamh was an active member of the WiSTEM Society, holding various roles such as Public Relations Officer and Finance Officer. She was awarded the Johnson & Johnson WiSTEM2D scholarship in 2021 for her contribution to promoting and supporting Women in STEM at University College Cork.

 She also took part in “I Wish & Deloitte 180 Days to make a difference”, which is a six month mentorship programme that offers mentoring from a Deloitte professional, virtual workshops and networking opportunities.

Alison is a third year student, studying Software Development (Hons) at Munster Technological University. Her interests include website and mobile application design, and cyber security engineering.

Alison attended the I Wish event in Cork in 2018, and it fuelled her passion for STEM. She is heavily involved in the award-winning MTU Women in STEM society, growing the society to over 500 members as Chairperson last year.

My name is Ita Ryan. I work with Gas Networks Ireland as an Innovation Project Manager. I attended UL in the early 90s and qualified as a Mechanical Engineer. I was in the wonderful position of having a job before I graduated as a Design Engineer in an R&D facility in Japan. I stayed there for two years, then spent a year in Australia taking a few months out to earn money as a Variations Engineer. I came back to Ireland and worked in the gas industry ever since. I started as a consultant working on design and construction of gas stations. Then moved into GNI as an Operations Engineer. Did a couple of years in Strategy, then Emergency Dispatch before my current role in Innovation. My job is about keeping myself informed on what is happening in the gas industry in general and seeing how that can be applied to the Irish network. My day to day is keeping track of potential initiatives that would benefit the operation of the gas network, this involves a spreadsheet, reading articles and attending presentations. The current emphasis is renewable gas on the network. This entails designing a small network and working with other departments to ensure that this is built and operated so that different combinations of gases (i.e. biomethane, natural gas, Hydrogen) can be tested on network equipment.

My favourite part of the job is seeing something that starts as an idea becoming reality and solving all the problems to get it there. I have always been interested in how mechanical things work, a lot of the times to the detriment of the equipment as it didn’t always fit back together. It took research in secondary school to find a course that would help me learn to re assemble the things that I took apart. So yes, Mechanical Engineering was something I always wanted to do I just didn’t know what it was called. Before doing Mechanical Engineering in UL, I applied to the army to be a mechanic, even though I still do not know how to change the oil in my car.

I’ve joined the company in 2019. Previously worked as a designer in geotechnical consultancy – looking after ports & harbour, now working as an engineer in DART.

Division 1 (DART) is the busiest railway division in the country.

My duties include organising, managing, and executing track renewing jobs – panel relaying, rail replacements, drainage installation etc. We sometimes need to work night shifts or be on the track around the clock during bank holiday weekends.

The job is very demanding but brings a lot of satisfaction.  The result of our hard work is remarkable – improved infrastructure, better track quality, and fewer faults/train delays.

Stephanie originally joined Bus Éireann in 2000 as a Project Engineer, progressing to several other roles within the organisation including Broadstone Garage Maintenance Manager, Regional Engineer for Cork, Waterford & Wexford and ultimately Energy Senior Manager in 2021.

A qualified Mechanical Engineer and Member of Engineers Ireland, she also holds a Graduate Diploma in Safety, Health & Welfare at work, NEBOSH Environmental Management Certificate, is a Certified Energy Manager with Association of Energy Engineers, has completed ISO50001 advanced implementation course with Certification Europe and Women in Leadership Certificate Course with DCU. 

Stephanie’s current role includes developing policy, procedures & best practice relating to energy management & efficiency, achieving & maintaining ISO 50001 accreditation across Bus Éireann, implementing  the organisations Sustainability Strategy and achieving our 2030 and beyond targets.

Marie-Estelle Conchon is a Risk Pricing & Sophistication Manager at AXA Ireland. She obtained a Master’s in Actuarial Studies from the Euro Institute of Actuaries in the city of Brest in France. Since graduating, she has worked for over 12 years in the insurance industry. Most of that time has been spent with her current company AXA which has offices all over the world. Marie-Estelle has had the great opportunity to work across 3 countries while working at AXA, starting her career with AXA France, then moving to AXA Malaysia and currently with AXA in Ireland. This shows how a career as an actuary can also allow you to work all over the world.”

I was born and raised in South Africa. Obtained my bachelors degree in hospitality management from South African university DuUT. In 2022 after moving to Ireland I decide to do career change into IT. Currently studying software development with UCD professional academy and code institute.

Frances graduated from The National Film School in IADT with a BA in Film and Television production. She has worked in post-production houses and broadcaster Virgin Media Television. She is currently working freelance in the film and tv industry, tutoring in The National Film School and doing a MA in Screenwriting in IADT. 

I am currently in my 1^st phase, and I am serving my time in the bogie shop on the Inchicore Railway Works site. In the bogie shop we overhaul wheels sets on the frames on which the train sits in order to move along the tracks in service. When a bogie comes in it is completely stripped back to a bare frame and it is fully overhauled with new parts. New motors are fitted into the frames, along with new wheels. When the overhaul is completed, some bogies go to different locations for a change out and some come into the bogie shop such as the locomotives for two new sets of bogie frames. It’s very interesting work which I enjoy.