TEDxStormont returns to the Great Hall of Parliament Buildings on 31stAugust. Ahead of the event, Jamie Pow spoke to Orla McKeating, founder of Boden Park Coffee Company and DEEP SH!T podcaster. Orla’s TED talk will be on ‘Stigma: Never a Dull Moment’.

 

You started your career in Belgium. Did you ever set your sights on becoming an entrepreneur?

I did Spanish and Theatre at Queen’s, so my degree never really specified where it would lead and I grew up never knowing what I wanted to do. I did know that I wanted to leave Northern Ireland. That was the first thing. I was always ambitious and I always wanted to write my own destiny, having that freedom of choice. I think it was always in me to do something that I could choose myself and be flexible with. I worked in aviation in Brussels for four years, and while I loved that I was working for an international organisation, I wasn’t challenged in it. So I saved money and made the choice to go out on my own. I’ve been working on my own now since 2007, and I suppose as soon as I started doing that I just loved the freedom of choosing what I want to do, who I want to work with, how I want to develop new skills and grow.

 

After working in lots of different industries, from aviation to fashion, what was it that made you passionate to start a business around coffee?

Well I had always worked in coffee. I worked in Arizona on the Lisburn Road when it opened and I just loved it. But taking it more seriously, I moved home from Belgium when I was seven months pregnant. I had my baby here and was dealing with not really wanting to move home and dealing with a relationship break-up, so that was really a major pivotal moment for my career. My dad wanted to open a business and it just seemed like the right direction to take. I’ve always loved coffee. I obviously love the energy that it gives you – nobody could speak to me without it in the morning! I also love the social aspect of it.

What surprised me about opening a business in the coffee industry was the fact that you’re actually giving so much back to the community. So while I’m running a business and developing my own skills and knowledge in coffee – we have a roastery as well, which we opened three years in – I’m learning a lot about coffee, the process it, the ethics of coffee and where it comes from, and then on the other side, on the ground, I’m able to be play an active role in the local community. We’ve done supper clubs, I’ve met friends from just coming into the coffee shop, and I think it is that people meet in the coffee shop for business meetings, they go on dates, they’re catching up on friends, so I suppose it’s the whole social side as well as actually drinking coffee.

 

 

You’ve lived away from Northern Ireland for a while. Do you think that gave you a different perspective when it came to setting up a business and settling back here?

Yes, it changed my perspective massively on a lot of things. It certainly opened my eyes to new cultures, new languages, new ways of life. I loved being away. It was important for me to be taken out of a routine and out of privilege. In Northern Ireland it can sometimes feel as if everyone knows your mum or your dad, and that helps you move forward a bit. I think in hindsight it was great to be able to go out and literally start from nothing. I was looking at the world from a new set of eyes, but also, now that I’m back in Northern Ireland, I really appreciate what we have here. I’m really invested in giving back to this place. Everyone knows there’s so much work to be done, and I don’t think I would move away again right now because I just love where we are here. In terms of growth, diversity and inclusion, we have so much work to do, and I would want to apply what I have learnt away from Northern Ireland and help us move forward.

 

As well as founding Boden Park Coffee Company, you’ve launched a podcast too: DEEP SH!T. What was it that motivated you to set it up?

I will talk about this in the TED talk, which is called ‘Stigma: Never a Dull Moment’, and my podcast is all about stigma. It’s really important to me. I suppose it’s the way we’ve been raised here in Northern Ireland that we have a lot of bias towards single mothers. I really struggled with that – the self-judgement and being the ‘other’ in some ways – but never really spoke about it. Few spoke about it positively at that time – at least in my experience.

I had always listened to podcasts, and I came across one about single mums in London and they were just sharing stories, views and challenges. They were just talking about it as if it was normal, so I thought, “This might actually be normal! This mightn’t be a thing that I should be ashamed of.” I felt quite connected when I listened to it. It sounds so cheesy, but it literally did change my life. So I thought I could create a platform for people from Northern Ireland, because if you look at the stats for PTSD, suicide rates and mental health in general, there are so many people suppressing how they feel or who they are, what they want to do or what they want to be. I thought if I created a community and just talk about it, explore feelings and emotions, and just raise the volume on issues with a stigma attached to them, then it might just make some people feel a little bit better. That’s why I started DEEP SH!T.

 

What are some of the other issues that you think there’s a stigma around?

Parental mental health is something where there’s definitely more conversations needed. I did a podcast about a single-sex couple raising a child, and I thought it was really interesting for me because I think we all need to accept – not just in Northern Ireland – that there isn’t just one typical family or one typical way to be. Your family can be your friends. You can have two mums or two dads, you can be adopted, you can have a single parent.

I’m also so passionate about race issues – that’s what my TED talk will be about as well. I think we have so much work to do here in Northern Ireland in terms of diversity and inclusion. We’ve been living in our bubble of the Catholic-Protestant divide and I feel like there can be a lot a fear or mistrust towards people from outside. We need to educate ourselves in a safe, non-judgemental way. This is a relatively new thing for us when we have different cultures coming to live here – and it brings so much. A diverse country is a massively invested country. Think how far we can go with all these different skills and different cultures mixing here together.

 

You’ve also founded the Women in Coffee Lean In Circle, so you’re clearly committed to empowering other women in business. Have you noticed any changes for the better in recent years? And what are the big things that still need to change?

I think empowering women is nearly a human rights issue, so I’m really passionate about it. I joined Lean in Women myself and I was at a point in the business where it was going great but I didn’t know how to network here and go about it. So was able to get the mentoring and support I needed through that group. Carrying that network forward was important to me. I know that more people are invested in empowering women, and things are changing. But they are micro changes. I think there’s a lot more work to be done in terms of women in leadership roles. There are a lot more companies that offer flexibility to women that are choosing to start a family. I do think that is something that should be implemented to men as well who want to start a family and want a more flexible work schedule. But people are starting to wake up, and there’s certainly a great community – a really supportive community – of women in business here in Northern Ireland.

 

It seems like you keep yourself busy, pursuing lots of ideas that go beyond your immediate business. Is it hard to juggle all of these different roles?

It was until I realised how much it was wearing me down. I spent five years going non-stop, and I was loving it, but then I hit a brick wall. I took a couple of months off, and I’m confident that I know my boundaries now. I know my limits. I have a work schedule and a life schedule. I’m a single parent and my priority is my son. I’ve taken time to just work it out. Hot yoga helps me to be sensitive to my own mental health and physical well-being. It’s just a case of working out the balance that works for me and going with it.

 

Now, if we move beyond your career, I have a question that we usually ask interviewees in our Northern Roots series. It’s usually, “If you could have dinner with three politicians (past or present), who would they be and why?” But for you it might be more fitting to meet them over a coffee. Who would your three picks be?

I loved Ghandi for his non-violent approach to civil rights, promoting freedom and tolerance, and I think that’s very reflective of the ideas driving the work that I’m doing. I also love the strength of Mo Mowlam, especially her strength as a woman and what she brought to the peace process here. The third would be Clare Bailey. She’s in my coffee shop all the time, and she’s amazing craic! She’s a single mum as well, she cares, she’s open-minded, she’s strong, and she’s fearless. It’s really tough to be fearless and I admire that. I’d be guaranteed that if we had a coffee it would be great craic. So my three picks would be Ghandi, Mo Mowlam and Clare Bailey.

 

Thinking ahead to TEDxStormont, this year’s event is a tribute to Lyra McKee. How do think as a society we can best pay tribute to Lyra?

I think her talk about how uncomfortable conversations can save lives was so powerful. It’s very aligned to the way a lot of us need to think. We need to get out of out comfort zone in so many ways. In order to progress as a society we need to understand and educate ourselves about the people around us every day. If we’re segregating ourselves because we’re afraid of someone who’s different, someone who’s not like us, I just think we’d be moving backwards. With Lyra I think we could learn a lot from her fearlessness and having that courage and vulnerability to speak up, because ultimately if somebody doesn’t like you, they’re not going to like you anyway. We don’t have to love each other personally. But as long as we have tolerance and respect we can move forward. It’s so critical now in Northern Ireland. It’s so critical now. Paying tribute to Lyra is listening to her message: having those uncomfortable conversations, reaching out and making that bit of extra effort to understand each other.

 

Looking ahead to the event itself, the theme will be ‘Imagine’. Without giving too much away about your talk itself, how have you been preparing? What has inspired you?

This talk, genuinely, has been my 37 years in the making. I focus on becoming a single mother and bringing up a mixed-race child in Northern Ireland. I share my journey of acceptance, tolerance and healing. I wanted to share my experience of how I think creating community and belonging can create a kinder and more progressive Northern Ireland.

 

The venue will be the grand surroundings of Stormont, which isn’t being used for much else at the moment. In the absence of leadership from politicians, how can businesses and civil society play a constructive role in moving Northern Ireland forward?

I think it does come down to tolerance and respect. I know that sounds so textbook, but it’s vital. If our leaders aren’t cooperating and doing what they need to do, we need to do it from the bottom up. We need to do it every single day. We live our lives how we work, how we treat people, and it’s so do-able. I don’t know anyone – and I see a lot of people in and out of the coffee shop and outside my own circles – who doesn’t want to progress as a country. I think most people want it and we’re definitely in a place where it is a really exciting time. I think we’ll look back on this time of our lives and be proud because change will definitely come.

 

TEDxStormont takes place on 31stAugust at Parliament Buildings. For tickets and for more information on the speakers, go to www.tedxstormont.com.