Katja Mia will be our MC for I Wish 2026!  Katja’s story — from her family’s journey to Ireland, to graduating in international finance and economics, to becoming a trailblazer in TV, radio, and modelling — is a powerful reminder that every path is possible. She works seven days a week across Virgin Media and RTÉ 2FM, inspires young women nationwide, and champions representation everywhere she goes. We’re honoured to have her lead this year’s celebration of possibility and potential.

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.  

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

Katelyn Cummins, the 2025 International Rose of Tralee, hails from Ballyouskill on the Laois-Kilkenny border, where she grew up on a dairy farm and developed a love for the outdoors. Currently in her third phase of an electrical apprenticeship with Alpha Drives Ltd., she hopes to pursue an engineering degree. An outgoing and adventurous individual who loves to travel, Katelyn has won two county camogie finals and serves as chairperson of North Kilkenny Macra club. She was announced as the 2025 International Rose of Tralee in August, and has been championing the alternative career route of apprenticeships at events ever since, while carrying out her extensive duties as a Rose.

Anne-Marie has 22 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 Senior VP, 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. Prior to IDA Ireland, Anne-Marie worked for the Consultancy business of PricewaterhouseCoopers in London in the retail and CPG global industry sectors.    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 and a Board Member of Cyber Ireland.

Bethany Carson is the Women in Sport Manager at Sport Ireland, tasked with promoting women and girls’ involvement in sport from participation to leadership to high performance. Bethany is passionate about providing equal opportunities to women and girls in sport to achieve their full potential, while enjoying a lifelong involvement in sport! Bethany is a former Irish International Swimmer, former Irish record holder and finalist at multiple European Championships, World University Games and the Commonwealth Games. Bethany was also Assistant Swim Coach at the National Centre, Dublin from 2017 to 2021, contributing to the national performance system at events like the 2019 European SC Championships. Prior to becoming Women in Sport Manager at Sport Ireland, Bethany spent six years working at Swim Ireland as Women in Sport Lead, leading out on all WIS programmes, initiatives and events from grass roots up to performance level.

Weronika is a Quality Assurance Engineer at Dell Technologies. She works in the Material Science Lab, where she specializes in qualification and failure analysis. She holds a master's degree in electronic engineering, with research focused on nanotechnology and quantum computing. In her role, Weronika works hands-on with advanced technologies to ensure reliability and performance across cutting-edge products. Her career combines technical expertise with a passion for continuous learning and problem-solving. Committed to fostering interest in STEM, Weronika regularly hosts lab tours for students, sharing her insights and encouraging the next generation of innovators to explore the exciting possibilities of science and technology.

Mary attended the I Wish Event in Cork back in 2017 with her secondary school, Loreto Fermoy. At that time, she wasn’t sure what career path to take, and had always considered a route in business. However, seeing the amazing opportunities available to those pursuing STEM and hearing about the lives of the fantastic speakers began planting seeds in her mind. From that event, she chose higher level Maths, Physics, Chemistry and Applied Maths for her Leaving Cert. Then a summer spent working with NASA on the United Space School program changed the trajectory of what Mary O’Donnell thought was possible as a career. Through her Masters in Aeronautical Engineering at the University of Limerick, Mary discovered many avenues of what Aerospace can do - Chairperson of the Astronomy Society, Flight Deck Engineer at Boeing, Seattle - and landed firmly on the ground, with bicycles, as the youngest, and only Irish engineer on the US Bike Company - TREK Bicycles, where she is an aerodynamics engineer on the TREK Performance Research Team. Mary uses her platform to leverage her niche interests and passions, as a female engineer and national champion long distance triathlete, to promote the advocacy of women in these spaces through WiSTEM and WiSport advocacy. She is determined and ambitious in the eye of a very male dominated sport and career, but has never let that stop her in achieving enormous goals, all while encouraging and supporting those looking to take the same leap.

Rachel is a Dublin-based Site Reliability Engineer at Google. She's passionate about keeping systems running and championing women in tech.