We think it’s a crying shame that there are so many women doing amazing things in Ireland and not enough people know about it.
There are women at the helm of startups, women who dreamed up a new career while on maternity leave, women who went back to college after having kids, women who have gone into business alongside their besties, women who are owning it and with all this talent, we want to tell everyone about you and your skills.
We put a call out recently, asking you to get in touch to tell us about your pal who’s doing great things, or maybe it’s your aunt or you know, maybe you’ve worked up the courage to explain why you are the success story.
Meet Jess Murphy of Kai Cafe + Restaurant, Galway.
Jess is co-owner of Kai Cafe, a restaurant she and her husband David opened in 2011 on Galway’s Sea Road.
It has enjoyed immense success since and only last year, Lonely Planet named it as one of the top three places in the world to eat.
A talented lady, Jess has been awarded the Food & Wine Best Chef in Connacht title and the venue also won Best Casual Dining at the Hotel and Catering Review Awards.
Of course, it hasn’t always been a bed of roses and Jess tells us what it was like starting out.
“The difficulties starting up is that I’m not from Galway, so I needed to borrow money which is very scary and a load of weight on your shoulders.
However, Jess acknowledges that she had the support of David and Jean Purtill, the woman who ‘holds Kai together’, another example of women empowering other women. This left Jess to make the restaurant a roaring success, with the European menu changing daily depending on fresh and seasonal ingredients.
“I just put my head down and cooked my heart out”.
This leads nicely on to Jess’s advice for other women who are thinking of going out on their own.
“My advice, build a great team and network you will be only as strong as the team, the team is key”.
Jess has always wanted to have her own restaurant and is proof that the dream can become a reality.
“Well, I’ve always wanted my own restaurant probably since I was about 16 and started washing dishes in a 120 seater in my home town. My mother has always inspired me, at 17 she had my brother and nine years after me, she had a very successful business and proved to me that you didn’t need a university degree, just a bit of cop on to run a business and treat your staff they way you would want to be treated”.
Interestingly, Jess has no regrets and says there’s a lesson to be learned from everything that goes wrong.
“There’s nothing I’d do again, for every hardship there’s a lesson, some might be huge and knock you for six, but you recover and come back harder and the main thing is – it’s not how you fall, it’s how you get up again that’s important”.
As you’ll see from her words, Jess is all about teamwork and how you can do so much more when you work with others, rather than alone. Here come the girls!
Again, we want to hear from you so you have a friend/mother/cousin/sister/like-minded female doing something great, we want to hear from you. Drop me a line at cathy.donohue@her.ie
