Rory King is the owner of Rory’s Travel Club.

In this episode, we talk about:

• Leaving Northern Ireland to work in Fiji
• Starting his travel club in an Indian restaurant in Brooklyn
• Scaling to 100,000 customers
• Running a business where “everyone wins”
• And his plan to grow to 1 million customers

Check it out.

https://bestofbelfast.org/stories/rory-king-rorys-travel-club

Join Rory’s Travel Club Here: https://rorystravelclub.com/

Lucy Briggs is a world traveller whose career spans across Government, Academia and Royalty.

In this episode, we talk about:

• Her love of collecting things
• Where she got her desire to travel from
• Why Gen-Z's career path will look different than their parents
• How a StudyUSA experience ended up taking her around the world
• Landing a job with the Royal Family
• And advice she'd give to her 18-year-old self.

Check it out.

https://bestofbelfast.org/stories/lucy-briggs

Caroline McKenna is an Executive Coach who works with some of the most successful people in Northern Ireland.

In this episode, we talk about:

• Why hard work doesn't always work
• Working on the business vs in the business
• Why self-care if one of the highest leverage activities you can engage in
• How to take time off without thinking about work
• And a live coaching session with Matt

Check it out.https://bestofbelfast.org/stories/caroline-mckenna-coach

P.S. Work with Caroline: www.leadself.co.uk

Ciaran May is the founder of Natural Resilience, a lover of nature and a proud father.

In this episode, we talk about:

• The baggage Northern Irish men are unpacking from their dads/grandas
• Joining the police as a young lad from West Belfast
• Taking “the armour off” for the first time
• The rock bottom moment that changed his life forever
• And breaking limiting beliefs around business/money

Check it out.

https://bestofbelfast.org/stories/ciaran-may-natural-resilience

Ciaran’s Skool: https://www.skool.com/natural-resilience-6996/about

Tom Griffiths is a Sunday Times Top 100 Entrepreneur & Disruptor who is currently launching a revolution with https://www.nightlenses.com

In this episode, we talk about:

• Getting Richard Branson naked
• Digitally selling fish in buckets before they come to shore
• Breaking the “crabs in a barrel” mentality
• 10-second courage
• The power of taking action
• And advice he’d give to an 18-year-old self

Check it out!

https://bestofbelfast.org/stories/tom-griffiths-night-lenses

Willetta Gabriel is the founder of Bethel’s Kitchen: an artisan bagel and pickle business in Dromore, County Down.

In this episode, we talk about:

• Launching an extremely niche product in a rural town
• Why every single bagel tastes different
• (Depending on who rolled it)
• How one social media post saved her whole business
• And her experience living in Northern Ireland for the last 20+ years.

Check it out!

https://bestofbelfast.org/stories/willetta-gabriel-bethels-kitchen

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bethelskitchen?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet&igsh=ZDNlZDc0MzIxNw==

Google Maps: https://maps.app.goo.gl/9PnmQraZ3Gg9zTFr7

Mark Marais is an entrepreneur from Zimbabwe with deep roots in Belfast.

He’s the founder of the luxury travel business Africa Golf Safari and co-founder of the Sport Changes Life Foundation.

In this episode, we talk about:

• Growing up on an idyllic African farm during the war
• How sport helped with racial integration in his school
• What Donald Draper can teach us about nostalgia
• The difference between space and place
• Starting his business even though it didn’t make any sense
• Combining passion with entrepreneurship
• His experience in and passion for Northern Ireland
• And advice he’d give to his 19-year-old self.

Check it out!

https://bestofbelfast.org/stories/mark-marais-africa-golf-safari

P.S. Mad Men nostalgia video: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=suRDUFpsHus

Tony Novosel MBE is a former motor mechanic, steelworker, and semi-retired academic from Pittsburgh who has dedicated his life to serving Northern Ireland.

In this episode, we talk about:

• How the collapse of the steel industry was the best thing that ever happened to him

• Why he first decided to visit Northern Ireland 50 years ago

• (And why he's been 85+ times since!)

• Acting as "the American uncle” for NI students on the Study USA programme, (which is is managed by British Council Northern Ireland on behalf of the Department for the Economy)

• The transformation power travel has had on his own life and the lives of his students

• Why we tend to oversimplify narratives

• The grassroots movements that led to a hugely successful academic book about NI

• Being awarded an MBE

• And advice he'd give to any student interested in studying overseas!

Check it out.