Outstanding Women Share Their Business Experience at Griffith College Cork

The event featured eight speakers, including five Griffith alumni.

On Wednesday, 8 May, Griffith College Cork hosted its first “Outstanding Women in Business” event, in partnership with Network Cork. The event invited eight speakers, including Griffith College alumni and staff, to share their insight on two topics, ‘Managing Pressure in Your Role,’ and ‘Future-Proofing Your Career.’ 

The event, attended by 150 people, was held in Griffith College Cork’s deconsecrated chapel venue and included time for networking before and after the panel discussions.  

Griffith College Alumni Officer Suzanna Doyle, one of the event’s main organisers, said of the evening, “It’s hard to put into words how wonderful last Wednesday’s event was. It was a fantastic opportunity to hear the personal success stories of five dynamic alumni and three other exceptional panellists. The venue looked superb and the place was buzzing with excitement.” 

All the panellists shared hard-earned wisdom they’ve gained during their successful careers, but the evening’s takeaways were perhaps best summed up by Helen Raftery, CEO of Junior Achievement Ireland, who provided the ABC(DE)s of future-proofing any career: 

• Accept that change is inevitable 
• Be tech savvy 
• Curate your soft skills 
• Detail your achievements 
• Expand your network. 

The full line-up of speakers was as follows: 

“Managing Stress in Your Role” 

• Zara King (alumna) - News Reporter on Virgin Media 
• Alison McSweeney – VP Senior Incident Response at BNY Mellon 
• Linda Mellerick (alumna) - CEO and Director of Operations at SELC Ltd. 
• Alpa Agrawal (alumna) - CEO/Founder of Alimin Resources 

“Future-Proofing Your Career” 

• Áine McManus – Head of Griffith’s Graduate Business School 
• Dr. Helen Raftery – CEO of Junior Achievement Ireland 
• Remi Kolawole (alumna) - Senior Software Quality Analyst at Snap-on Diagnostics 
• Cllr. Susan McCarthy (alumna) - Fine Gael County Counsellor 

Thanks to all our panellists to and to everyone who attended!  

Photo, from left: Alpa Agrawal, Griffith Alumni Officer Suzanna Doyle, Alison McSweeney, Áine McManus, Network Cork President Gillian Kennedy, Zara King, Remi Kolawole, Sinead O'Dea, Linda Mellerick, Sian Horn.