Breaking Barriers with Sinead Sharkey-Steenson

Breaking Barriers is all about inspirational conversations to help you break down the barriers to leadership. This week for IWD I decided it was time to go solo and talk about my favourite topic…menopause!!

I will be sharing my personal experiences, talking challenges and strategies to support you to navigate your career and leadership journeys, and may even let you into some of the good bits!

Breaking Barriers with Claire Staple

Claire is the Vice President of Strategy & Country Manager for Ireland for Nordic Global and the youngest partner in her law firm at 31. She went from a private law practice to a lawyer in the health service, and from there made the move to tech leader.

Such an impressive and varied career, with her fair share of challenges, Claire shares the power of purpose, being a values-driven leader, and how burnout has made her a better leader.

CX thought leader, innovator and foresight strategist, Paula Kennedy-Garcia has been at the forefront of conversations that shape the intersection of global brands and tech in the age of automation and AI.

Paula has won awards for her innovation and futurist leadership, fuelling growth and advancing user experiences with the use of emerging technologies like AI, neuroscience, machine learning and language translation, and creating pioneering solutions for digital health and well-being, global online safety and the gig-economy, to name a few.

Mari Collyer is EEA Chief Operating Officer of Paysafe.

This is a story you don’t want to miss! We talked how cleaning toilets and seeing the good in any job transforms your experience and makes you a better leader.

How important talking about the thankfully no longer so taboo subjects like perimenopause and mental health is. And why it’s important to be unapologetically you!

Colonel Amanda Werkheiser is a senior leader in the United States Air Force, boasting over 23 years of service as an intelligence professional. She has occupied various strategic, operational, and tactical positions, including squadron command, where she led Airmen across global locations.

Recognised with numerous awards, she demonstrated exemplary leadership and analytical prowess throughout her deployments in support of Operations ENDURING FREEDOM and IRAQI FREEDOM.

Debbie Connolly is a chartered financial planner and Director of AAB Wealth Limited. For her, financial planning is more than providing advice. It is about providing unwavering support to her clients on their financial journeys.

Debbie has worked in financial services for 17 years and loves what she does. She had the honour of winning the Professional Adviser Women in Financial Advice Awards – Financial Adviser of the Year Scotland & NI 2023, she is the chair of the Personal Finance Society in Northern Ireland

Archita Fritz left India at 17 to be ‘the only’ on her engineering university course in the US to overcoming bullying and her drive to thrive. She delivers so many great stories, strategies, and dare I say a couple of mic drop moments!

Archita Sivakumar Fritz is the Host and Producer of the Embracing Only podcast. An international executive, who has lived and worked in India, the U.S., Canada and Germany, she is the founder of Ready Set Bold a workplace transformation firm that supports F500 to start-ups on their product, people and process transformation journey. She is a fierce advocate for cancelling the culture around the silence of bullying and harassment in the workplace through her work with Speak Out Revolution. 

Sarah Joyce is the Founder and President of Lean In Boston, a nonprofit organization that she started in 2015 to locally support and connect women. Tune in as we learn about stepping up in corporate and the start up world, building networks. and shaping the next generation leaders!

Sarah is the VP of Customer Success for LightForce, a digital platform providing orthodontists with fully customized 3D printed braces. Her previous roles have included Chief Customer Officer roles at two different healthcare IT organizations, Current Health and Healthcare Source. As the CCO, Sarah was responsible for implementation and services, support, and success for the organizations. 

Sara Booth has been blazing a trail since the beginning of her career, and now at FIFA. I’m excited to talk about being the only woman in the ultimate man’s world…football, coming out, and being a visionary!

She is currently Head of Competitions within the FIFA Women’s Football Division. She also oversaw the introduction of the FIFA Play-Off Tournament at the 2023 edition of the FIFA Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand. Currently, she is working on the concept for the recently announced new FIFA Women’s Club World Cup which will commence in the next few years.

Sara is a former Northern Ireland captain and international football player amassing 32 caps and was awarded an MBE in 2018 for services to women’s football.

I’m excited to welcome Sarah McKay to the interview hot seat to discuss leadership from small to mega global business!

Sarah is Vice President Service Delivery at Concentrix. With 25 years industry experience, driving operational performance and developing EMEA ESG strategy.

Over her career, she has worked with a diverse set of clients, from telecoms, to technology and networking, to financial services and retail.