Sharing inspiring stories on International Women’s Day

JOIN Rebecca Kelly for a special live podcast event in celebration of International Women’s Day, where we bring together incredible women from across Ireland to share their inspiring stories.

This is not about the famous faces we often see in the media, but about ordinary women with extraordinary lives, courage, and wisdom.

Guests include Paula Johnson, who was on the original ‘Everywhere We Go’ podcast and spoke so honestly about growing up in Dublin’s inner city, navigating a complicated relationship with her children’s father, and the fierce, unconditional love she has for her family.

She shared her journey to finding God, her faith, and the strength that carried her through it all.

Suzanne Carroll’s story is one of strength, honesty, and pure heart.

Her story has touched so many, and having her share her journey live, in her own words, is something truly powerful.

Seanagh Rice-Carroll previously shared her incredibly powerful story with such honesty and strength.

She spoke about the heartbreaking loss of her mam and the life-altering moment she was diagnosed with breast cancer while 28 weeks pregnant.

This week, The Echo sat down for an interview with Rebecca, who is presenting the live podcast episode of ‘Everywhere We Go’ in the Civic on March 8 at 5pm.

What can you tell us about this particular episode of ‘Everywhere We Go’?

I’m going to be speaking to four different women, and it’s going to be, you know, extraordinary women telling their stories, but they’re ordinary women from all walks of life, telling stories that affect every single household up and down the country.

It’s like listening to your sister telling you her story, your mam telling you her story, or your nanny telling you her story.

So we’ve got multiple generations; we’ve got a girl in her 20s, we’ve got a girl in her 40s, and we’ve got a lady in her 60s, and they are just going to say what they’ve overcome in life, what they’ve gone through, and how some of them are still in it and how they’re just surviving.

Then Mary Byrne is going to be there, and Mary is going to close the show with a few songs but also tell us about what she’s been up to over the past week or so.

I think something very special is happening with Mary this weekend, so it’ll be red hot at the time of the show.

What can you tell us about the podcast? What inspired it?

The podcast, initially, for me, was because I wanted my daughters to know how I grew up because I had such a special upbringing.

We weren’t very well off, but my parents did absolutely everything for me to get me where I am today.

I’m actually from the north side of the city, from Moatview, which is a lovely place but not the best place to grow up.

But my parents did everything for me. I think that’s the thing that people don’t realise – just because we grew up in places like Tallaght, Darndale, or Coolock doesn’t mean that we didn’t have the most amazing childhood and the most brilliant, fantastic parents and then go on to do extraordinary things.

I wanted my girls to know about people’s lives around me in these areas and how they grew up.

Then I eventually did a story with a girl from the inner city who lost her mam; she was only 23 years of age, and she lost her mam, and her mam left her with four children, and she was pregnant with twins, and then all of a sudden, she finds herself being 20 odd years of age, raising six children by herself.

When I did that story, my audience came to me and said, ‘We want more and more of this story.’

That’s how the podcast happened, and that’s how it evolved.

Have there been any key differences in organising this episode compared to episodes you’ve done in the past?

The absolute key difference in this is when you come on my podcast, a recorded podcast, you come to my home, you get a cup of tea, and you meet my daughters.

My daughters say hello.

It’s very welcoming. It’s just as my listeners say; it’s like listening to two friends having a cup of tea at that kitchen table, and I’m sitting at the kitchen table with them.

The reason I like The Civic is that it’s more intimate.

I think the Civic is such a beautiful intimate space that I’m hoping to recreate that on the stage, but also in a live environment.

We do want people to get involved.

When they hear something, they give a “whoop”, or give a “go on”, or do whatever they want to do.

I really want people to get involved with so many women up and down the country, coming by themselves, driving by themselves, booking their night in a hotel and going home the next day.

They’re so proud of themselves that they’ve actually booked something solo to do. It’s just really inspiring.

What would you say has been your favourite part of working on this particular episode compared to other episodes you’ve done for the podcast?

There are a few things. It’s one of the girls I have, a girl called Suzanne Carroll, and she has a handle on Instagram called “morethanjustamama”, and Suzanne has never spoken her story, ever.

I think her story is going to resonate with so many women because she’s been through coercive domestic abuse.

She’s been through heart surgery.

She’s on her own now, with her daughter being left with a house that isn’t fit for purpose, that she’s trying to rebuild.

It’s creating those moments, like Suzanne coming on, and then the other people who were on my podcast before, but it’s just to see where they were then and where they are now.

What would you say have been some of the challenges you’ve encountered working on this particular episode, and how have you navigated them?

Do you know what the biggest thing is? The bloody Northsiders won’t go to the south side!

That’s all it is. It’s crazy. They’re like, “it’s Tallaght,” and I’m like, “Lads, are you for real?” ” and I’m getting, is there parking?’ how do I get there?'”

For a lot of my guests, it would be their first time coming to Tallaght. It’s absolutely outrageous, but I’ve gotten people to say to me, “you know, I’d love to come, but it’s too far,” and I’m like, “lads, it’s not bloody Timbuktu.

“What they’ve done is they said, ‘Well, we’re going to get her to drive, and then we might have a few drinks,’ because that’s the environment.

I want people just to come, relax, enjoy themselves, and just get involved in the stories, and the number of people that are asking, “is there a meet and greet, will I meet Paula, will I meet Seanagh, will I meet Suzanne? Will I meet you?

Am I going to get to meet you guys after? I’d love to have a drink.”

That’s the environment and the community that I have created online, and I just want to bring that to the Civic

What’s next for ‘Everywhere We Go’ this year? Do you have any teasers for future episodes?

At the moment, I’m paused. Just for personal reasons, I had to pause the podcast, and it’s crazy to see how many people are like, “please come back. please come back.”

“I have been paused since last October, and I haven’t released an episode since, but I’m definitely coming back bigger and better with more stories.

With the amount of things that are happening out there right now, like in Dublin and across Ireland, people need to hear what’s going on.

I’m ready to come back, and in a couple of weeks, I’ll be announcing that I’ll be back doing weekly podcasts.

For helping you put all of this together for this particular episode for International Women’s Day, who would you like to thank?

I’d like to thank the Civic and Donal Shiels and Niamh Honer in the Civic for everything that they’ve done to get this up and running.

I’d also like to thank Rob Murphy, because Rob is my sounding board in terms of “does this sound good, does that sound good?”

I came to Donal, and I said, “I don’t want this to be a TV star or a celebrity; I want this to be ordinary women telling extraordinary stories – stories we go through every single day.”