She Sees

30/05/2026

🥰She Sees. My Substack. I haven't posted there in a very long time.

Life, as it does, got beautifully, busily, wonderfully full.

A new role with Clare Local Development Company. Team EVOLVE growing and evolving (the irony is not lost on me). An MSc thesis that is consuming every available brain cell. The VP role with Network Ireland Limerick. Board membership with Shannon Community Partnership. And the most wonderful new dimension of all: becoming a grandmother to the magnificent Edan Ri.

Writing never stopped, thankfully. My monthly 'Connection Chronicles' over on LinkedIn kept me consistent. I thought I 'hadn't time' to be creative and write for my SheSees page so I've left it sitting there for a while!

This week, with a gentle nudge from Noel, I went back. And used my latest Linkedin piece for my Substack page, it all adds up!

My latest piece is called The Ringleader Grows Up: Voice, Service and a New Season.

It's about the thread that has always run through my life, from the boundary-pushing, question-asking girl who rallied people together, to the woman I am now. It's about what it means to have a voice, and what it means to use it in service of others rather than just because you can.

[👉 Read it here, https://open.substack.com/pub/shesees/p/the-ringleader-grows-up?r=25ya85&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true

If any of it resonates, I'd genuinely love to hear from you.

Voice, Service and a New Season

28/09/2025

New musings over on Substack!

🌿Walking where Shaw once found his "dream world" at Parknasilla today, with Yeats whispering in my mind: "Come away, O human child, to the waters and the wild."

Sometimes poetry finds you at the edge of an island, contemplating new life and the beautiful mess of family bonds.

My 'SheSees' philosophy: show up untrained, create freely, let the self-consciousness rise and fall away. Onwards. Link to my latest substack piece is here: https://open.substack.com/pub/shesees/p/parknasilla-ramblings?r=25ya85&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true

19/09/2025

Back in the classroom. Again. 🌿

Who knew research could be its own topic? Not me, first time around. Now I'm here, Masters in progress, listening to a lecturer dissect how society sees women over 40.

Spoiler: we get shoved into the 'old' box while men cruise along with a 15-year bonus pass.
The young student in front - auburn hair, blonde streaks - reminds me of summers past.
This time around, I'm present. Calm. I'm here for myself, to learn, to challenge, to do it right.

Full story on Substack. Because sometimes you've got to show up, even when the world thinks you shouldn't.

https://open.substack.com/pub/shesees/p/autumns-classroom-a-reflection?r=25ya85&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true

10/08/2025

🧁🧁🧁It's good to be back writing a little. This one needed to be written about too... body image and me.

👧The full journey from that little girl who just wanted to eat the buns she'd made, to this woman who's finally done playing the game. Some stories take a lifetime to be ready for telling.

Read "Have the Buns" on Substack - link in bio / comments.

https://open.substack.com/pub/shesees/p/have-the-buns?r=25ya85&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true

03/08/2025

🥀🥀🥀It's a rainy bank holiday Sunday. My playlist brings me back to when I was 17, before we knew what lay ahead.

Hello SheSees followers....Life took over for a while. The business, the speaking, the doing... and 'She Sees' went quiet. But some things need to be written. Some memories demand their moment.

This one has been waiting patiently.

🌿I find myself here thinking of my Mom. It's coming up to her anniversary, but I think of her regularly. And here I am writing again, not for 'business', not for any purpose aside from the expression of it all.

Memories of a mother gone too soon: full piece on my Substack page over at SheSees.

"I don't have that many memories of my Mom. She left me when I was 25.
25 years old. She was 54, she had just turned 54.
My daughter had just turned 2."

🥰When I connect with this page, I connect with my innermost self. And I express it outwardly. It might help someone, or move someone. Thank you for being here.

Read the full piece on my Substack - link in bio.

25/04/2025

🌱✨ After a busy season of college, work, and a joyful community role here in Shannon, I’m finally slowing down and coming back to this creative space that’s so close to my heart at SHESEES!

Recently, in the quiet of Mass at my beloved Drumgeely Parish Church here in Shannon, the priest shared a message that really stayed with me. He reminded us, echoing the late Pope Francis that “We are the gift… we are each God’s gift.” Every single one of us. The challenge, he said, is to try to see others as that too and that’s where the hard part is!

That simple truth has been working on my heart: What if, wherever we go, we’re here to bring life, to recognise the gift in ourselves and in others? Even when it’s difficult.

So as I return to She Sees, I’m holding onto this: slowing down, bringing life, and seeing the gift in every person I meet (myself included). This will be something I will fail at more often than not!! But sure is worth a try ❣

Where are you bringing life these days? Who reminds you that you’re a gift? 🌻

✨

31/03/2025

Days are now longer with the clocks 'Springing forward' here in Ireland 🇮🇪
My phone made this stunning photo from my camera roll so I just had to share 🧡
This is my beautiful hometown ✨️

02/03/2025

Funny how a charity-shop find can become a time machine. ⏳
This week’s essay isn’t jut about a jacket—it’s about the moments that stitch themselves into our bones. 🥀
If you’ve ever loved, lost, or lingered in the in-between, this one’s for you.
🧵 P.S. New here? Say hello below—I’d love to know what brought you to this corner of the internet. 🌿
LINK TO FULL ARTICLE IN THE COMMENTS BELOW!

26/02/2025

⚠️ Content Warning: Su***de loss & grief.

Midweek reminder: Healing isn’t linear, and no one walks through trauma unchanged.

My essay “Reflections at Twilight” isn’t an answer to pain—it’s an invitation to sit with the questions. Through personal stories of loss along Ireland’s Shannon River, it asks:

How do we honor those we couldn’t save?
Where do we find courage to keep walking?

If you’re navigating hard days, this piece might offer companionship in the quiet. Read when you’re ready.

And to those struggling: The world is brighter with you in it. 🤍
https://shesees.substack.com/p/reflections-at-twilight

***deAwareness