Inspirational Talks

Katriona’s talk was extremely powerful, authentic and engaging. She bridged between her own personal story and broader relevant mental health themes excellently. We regularly invite guests’ speakers to our office to talk on a wide range of topics, and many of our people felt that she was one of the best speakers we have had when it comes to speaking around mental health -she came across so genuinely in the key messages she left us with. It was a really insightful talk, extremely valuable for all to hear such a different perspective and reflect on the inherent advantages that privilege can bring for us all. Made all of us think and stayed with us.

My company hosted a conversation with Dr. Katriona O’Sullivan as part of our Global Women in Technology and Operations day. We had featured her book “Poor” as our read of the summer with our book club and were very keen to have her come into the bank and speak with us on the themes that the book highlight, particularly around education and opportunity. To say that she was incredible is an understatement – her storytelling was engaging and touched on themes of poverty, education, opportunity and the importance of creating opportunities for those in disadvantage. It was all the more engaging as her drew on her own lived experience of growing up in abject poverty. One of the most compelling aspects of her talk was her candidness around the challenged faced by disadvantaged communities and what changes we need to drive in order to support those who are often marginalized. We are proud to take part in her incredible STEM Passport for Inclusion and the passionate way she spoke about the way this program is making meaningful changes in the lives of disadvantaged girls has resulted in a surge of volunteers at the bank signing up for the program.

This morning went amazingly! Katriona was absolutely fantastic, as we knew she would be. She blew everyone away with her resilience and positivity. She kept the attention of the room for the full hour and no one was ready for it to end. Everyone was raving about her at the lunch break and those who haven’t read her book yet are planning to do it now.

It was a fantastic talk, the feedback has been really positive, and we hit the highest attendance of all our talks. Katriona is a powerful and motivational speaker, she encourages people to be there authentic self and many people have told me they are going to start describing themselves as “deadly”.

A sincere thank you to Kaitriona for speaking at the Department’s Gender Equity Network event to mark International Women’s Day 2024. This year’s International Women’s Day theme is ‘Inspire Inclusion’ and Kaitriona’s story was compelling and her message powerful in this context. Her speech was insightful in terms of her lived experience of the impact of Government policies which was so important for us to hear in our role as both employees and policy makers. Kaitriona’s achievements send a powerful message that while our opportunities can be different, everyone has equal potential.

We were delighted, here at AIB, to celebrate #InternationalWomensDay with the inspiring Dr Katriona O’Sullivan along with over 500 colleagues where we talked about the importance of inclusion. It was super, Katriona is such an inspiration!

Katriona spoke at our National Centre for Family Hubs conference in April. The theme of the conference was on the unheard and unseen voices of babies, and of families living in poverty. Katriona gave an invaluable insight into growing up in poverty, and spoke with passion about that one teacher who put a light in her, when no-one else did. She reminded us all of the positive impact our work with children and their families can have.

Dr. O’Sullivan’s talk was a powerful and moving testimony of her journey from poverty and homelessness to becoming a successful engineer, psychologist, and author. She shared her challenges and achievements with honesty, vulnerability, and courage. She also highlighted the importance of activating the light in others. I encourage you to continue this important conversation on your respective teams. This topic is very well aligned with our global WIN strategy