About Me
After studying law in Ireland, I spent 11 years in London working in project management on some complex, prestigious projects. Driven by a passion for helping others transform their working lives, I left my corporate career to train as a coach. I worked for myself for a while, running events, facilitating group workshops and delivering one to one coaching, all to help people to overcome their obstacles and identify their own solutions. Now back in Ireland, I am an Equality, Diversity & Inclusion Manager at a university while continuing to pursue my dedication to helping people achieve their full potential.
My Passion & Purpose
As you will quickly see from my blog and social media posts, I am incredibly passionate about human rights and social justice issues. I don’t believe it is fair that there is so much inequality in the world, often with the difference being simply by virtue of our good fortune at birth. I was born in Malaysia to a White Irish mother and an Indian-Sri Lankan Malaysian father, raised in Ireland for over 20 years, before moving to London as an economic migrant. I am grateful for the many doors my Irish passport opens for me, and I am keen to use my voice for the many who are denied these freedoms and opportunities.
My Journey of Reinvention
I have reinvented myself and my career many times over the years, experiencing what I playfully called a ‘quarter life crisis’ at the age of 25 when I realised I was still living in my home town of Shannon and moving from one entry-level job to another! Having completed my Master’s in Cork and moving to London, I quickly progressed through the ranks of project management roles and success in coaching & facilitation, only to experience what I now call a ‘racial awakening’. In the aftermath of George Floyd’s murder and the rise in Black Lives Matter protests, I realised that as a ‘brown’ woman I was seeing and experiencing the events very differently from my predominantly white friends and colleagues. As a direct result, I moved into Equality, Diversity & Inclusion, to not only learn more myself but also help more people along the journey.
Since October 2023, I am now experiencing another awakening – realising how many people are either not willing, aware or able to understand the horror of inhumanity being inflicted on not only the Palestinian people but all people still somehow surviving under occupation and oppression. Palestine is not the only issue, but it is an issue that somehow intersects some of the most pressing issues in the world, from racism and white supremacy to colonisation to misogyny to ecocide. The illustration below depicts it better than I can describe:
Siobhán Kangataran 