By Business & Finance 
Ruth Kearney, Director, Talent Garden Innovation School Dublin
What was your first job? I started working at the age of 13, picking strawberries in McCarthy’s Strawberry Farm in Straffan, Co. Kildare. It was hard work, but great fun. What would you regard as your greatest achievement to date? My biggest professional achievement to date has to be launching training programmes that have a real impact on people. I ran the first dedicated Returners Programme at Trinity College, which was targeted at helping people to return to work after taking time out due to caring duties. At Talent Garden Innovation School, I have been a part of launching new, unique programmes for the Irish market. These include two 18-week bootcamps in Data Science and UX Design, for those looking to accelerate their careers or change career paths, and a series of 1 and 2-day masterclasses including Executive Mindset, Data Science in Practice and AI Ready, all with expert faculty members on board. I also consider my mentoring work a great achievement. In three words or fewer, how do you define success? A continuous journey! What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever been given? I think there is a lot of truth in the Maya Angelou quote “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” What’s your motto? Try to live in the moment and don’t sweat the small stuff. How do you motivate yourself and your team? I think it’s important to celebrate all achievements, big or small. At Talent Garden Dublin, we regularly go out for dinner together, organise team socials, have monthly community beers and pizza with our members. We just had a fantastic Tiki Summer Party, to celebrate our team and members. Sometimes it’s as small as going for ice cream together on a hot day, or making fresh juices as a team that can boost morale and brighten up the afternoon. How do you relax? I go for a walk. I try to walk most days when I get in from work. I’m a big fan of big open spaces and can be found roaming The Curragh or Japanese Gardens on the weekends. What are your aspirations for the future of Talent Garden? Globally, we will continue to scale as the leading European digital innovation hub and co-working ecosystem. We have 26 campuses across 8 countries, and raised €44m funding this year, so the plan is to open 20 new international campuses over the next five years. In October 2018, we officially opened Talent Garden Dublin, and since then we have set up a great team and are building a solid digital and co-working community. At Talent Garden Innovation School, we want to continue to help businesses and individuals upskill and stay ahead of the game. Our bootcamps and masterclasses, led by expert faculty with years of industry experience, will help tackle Ireland’s tech talent shortages.
Ruth Kearney, Director, Talent Garden Innovation School Dublin
