The Shona Project is operated by a small army of women and men. Founded by Tammy Darcy in 2016, it has grown over time and our team now consists of an accomplished board, an amazing group of youth ambassadors, and a panel of wonderful women, who provide all kinds of support from advice, to mentoring to cups of tea and biscuits.
Meet the team
Tammy Darcy : Founder
Founder
The year Tammy turned 14 everything changed. Her parents went through a messy separation, and her older sister, Shona was diagnosed with an acquired brain injury that rendered her physically and mentally disabled and left her requiring full-time nursing care. It was also the year she was bullied so badly in school that she spent break times in a toilet cubicle and climbing over the back wall to go home.
As a result of all these experiences, Tammy went from an A student to a fail student, her self-esteem and self-confidence were destroyed and she gave up on herself for many years, made some poor choices and some even bigger mistakes.
At 25, Tammy went to college at night, and achieved an honours degree in Human Resources Management followed by an MA in Business Management in Social Enterprise. She is currently studying an MA in Education.
Tammy feels that had she had the right support, information, and guidance, she may have been better equipped to overcome the challenges she encountered as a teen. She now sees that her experience is not unusual, and that many girls find their teenage years to be negative, distressing, and traumatic. It is during these years that the internal barriers which prevent young women from achieving their potential are often formed.
Tammy is passionate about eradicating bullying and rivalry amongst girls and promoting the fact that our differences are what make us special and our challenges are what teach us to be understanding, resilient and determined.
Over the years Tammy has received many awards for her work including the Irish Red Cross Humanitarian of the Year in 2021. In 2024 she was announced as a European Leader with The Obama Foundation. She regularly appears on TV, radio, podcasts and newspapers and has been invited to speak to royalty about her work. She is also a published author, and released her first book, You’ve Got This, a beautiful resource for young women in 2021 (You can buy it here).
Tammy can recite the theme song to the Fresh Prince of Bel Air on demand, which is her proudest accomplishment in life. She is wanted in 13 countries by the Grammar Police, so if anyone asks, you haven’t seen her.
Áine Kerr is co-founder and COO of technology start-up Kinzen. She is a former primary school teacher, former Global Head of Journalism Partners at Facebook in New York, former Managing Editor at social media news agency Storyful, and former political correspondent with Irish newspapers. Áine is also an accredited Executive Coach and is the host of her own show, Reignite on RTÉ Radio One and a guest presenter on other RTÉ shows.
She is Chair of Gaisce; the President of Ireland’s Award earned by young people. A Fellow of the Sulzberger Leadership Program in Columbia University, NYC, Áine has a Masters in Business (MScB) with University College Cork, Masters in Journalism (MAJ) and Bachelor of Education (B’Ed) with Dublin City University [DCU].
But her most important job in life is ultimately being Mammy to her little Boss Lady and Chief Negotiator Anna.
Vivienne Flood
Vivienne is currently Head of Public Affairs, RTÉ, having previously held a number of different Communication roles there also. Prior to joining RTÉ she worked within the voluntary sector for Early Childhood Ireland and Barretstown.
She has recently qualified with an MSc in Management Practice from the Irish Management Institute and has just completed a short course in business and climate change at the Cambridge Institute of Sustainable Leadership.
She is a member of the Purpose Disruptors Irish chapter, exploring ways in which the marketing and communications industry can positively influence action on the climate crisis. She is also a Steering Group member of the RTÉ Toy Show Appeal which has raised over €13 milllion to date for children’s charities, and an occasional assessor for Social Entrepreneurs Ireland.
Antoinette McDermott
Antoinette currently works as the Regulatory Lead at the Central Bank of Ireland, and has years experience in regulation, governance, banking and diversity and inclusion.
Despite the fact that Antoinette is obsessed with policies and procedures, she is also the best craic of all time.
Gillian Maxwell
Gillian is an entrepreneur who brought the Flying Tiger Copenhagen brand to Ireland and then to the USA. Before this, she worked for the Special Olympics World Summer Games – the best job she ever had! Mum to Kate and John, she loves to drink tea and chat, and is mad for all things chocolate!
Fiona Curtin
Fiona Curtin is the Marketing Director at HEINEKEN Ireland. She has over 20 years of experience in brand management, innovation, and marketing in Ireland and abroad.
She’s a big hurling and rugby fan – and an avid documentary watcher.
Kathryn Kenneally
Kathryn has years of experience as a Chartered Management Accountant and the co-founder and director of Dairy Direct.
Ellen graduated from WIT with a Bachelor of Business degree with a specialisation in Marketing and has most recently graduated from SETU with a Master in Science in Digital Marketing Practice. Her role sees her playing a part in many aspects of The Shona Project from workshop bookings, to communications, to strategy and stakeholder relationship management. Ellen has a passion for all things digital marketing and the power of using it to share the organisation’s story.
In her spare time, Ellen can be found drinking coffee out of one of the many many mugs in her collection. She could also give Dr.Dolittle a run for his money so, if you see her chatting away to animals, it’s totally normal!
Judith Mullally
Workshop Facilitator
Judith reigns from Waterford, in the Southeast of Ireland. She’s a lover of fashion, spoken word, music, people, and the ocean! She is currently studying psychology and counselling. Prior to
commencing her studies last year, she was a professional singer/dancer turned entertainment director for CCL, touring the world and sailing the open seas performing on cruise ships. She’s a believer that the strongest card in the deck of cards of your life is your authenticity -so shine on my friends, and always be unapologetically yourself x
Freya
The Real Boss
Freya may be young, but she is fiercely passionate about girls following their dreams and being whoever, they want to be. She can often be found smiling sweetly at boys on the soccer pitch before flattening them. Having struggled with her mental health over the past 2 years, she is more driven than ever to help girls in any way she can. The future CEO of The Shona Project? We think so! Tammy better watch out!
The Shona Project is powered by an army of girls and women who share their expertise and experience. They do this simply because they believe in The Shona Project and want to create a better future for the young women in Ireland. To these incredible humans, we want to say thank you!
Steph Golds
Steph is a long-time friend of The Shona Project (TSP), she first met Tammy in 2018. She came across TSP scrolling on Instagram and fell in love with our mission.
Since then, Steph has become a mom of 2 little boys, Dylan & Conor. She started her career in the financial services industry in 2007 at the age of 21 and has worked her way up to a senior leadership position. She has a BSc. in Counselling & Psychotherapy, and is also certified to teach Kundalini yoga.
Beyoncé is her absolute icon and she will argue with anyone who tries to criticise her! She would love to set up a GAA Rounders club for the kids of the South-East. She would also love to be involved in creating positive changes to the treatment of eating disorders in Ireland. And she has too many books and not enough time to read them!
Steph has lots of advice about lots of topics, but most of all, she loves to hear people’s stories and hopes for the future.
&Smyth
&Smyth are the PR Queens that support The Shona project in sharing our story. Gemma, Kiah, Ann, Katie and Ciara have been on board with our chaos for nearly 2 years now, and we consider them as family!
Laura Wall
PR and Marketing
Laura is a creative genius who currently works as a group director for Thinkhouse. Laura is a culture sponge and PR nerd who fell in love with The Shona Project when we pitched to her in her previous job in 2019. She helps us tell our story in a colourful and lovable way.
Fitzgerald Power
The Fitzgerald Power team are a force of nature who we met in late 2023. Since day 1, they have backed us with endless support when it comes to all things finance and governance.
The Shona Project is for girls, by girls, and about girls. In order to make sure we always have the best interests of our girls at heart, we established our Youth Council, a group of young Irish women from all over Ireland, and with a range of different backgrounds and interests.
Our youth council helps us make all our decisions, tells us when we’re doing things right, and breaks it to us gently when we’re missing something special. They are our ambassadors and our eyes and ears on the ground. If you would like to apply to join this group of brilliant young ladies, get in touch. The more the merrier.
Junior Ambassadors
Our Junior Ambassadors (Jambos) are leading the way, spreading the Shona message of kindness and positivity in schools across Ireland. In additon to their important work in schools, our Jambos have attended monthly meetings, created social media posts, spoken in front of Members of the European Parliament, been on national radio, and sent petitions for curriculum reform in relation to gynaecological health.
Senior Ambassadors
Our Senior Ambassadors (Sambos) are an incredibly important part of our organisation. Some of them have been with us since day one and all of them believe in the Shona mission for girls in Ireland. Many of our Sambos also do advocacy work on everything from LGBTQ+ rights to mental health, anti-stalking legislation, road safety and climate action. They are total bosses!
