Una Parsons & Lily Murphy Her Next Step Episode 2

Hello and welcome to Her Next Step, the podcast where women in the public service talk about how their passion and their intuition led them to interesting and exciting career paths. We'll hear about the fears and challenges that could have held them back and about the internal and external supports that enabled them to take their next step. I'm Lily Murphy and I'm speaking to women whose stories will, I believe, inspire you to wonder what stepping stones would help you to take your next step. Today my guest on the show is Una Parsons, head of the Faculty of Engineering and Design at ATU Sligo campus and head of college. Una has a fascinating story to tell about how her career went from studying toolmaking to becoming the head of engineering faculty and being an acclaimed member of the Academy of Engineers Ireland. We didn't even get to talk about Una's interest in gardening but because she has so many more interests and I'm sure you will enjoy listening to her story. Una, I'm delighted to have you here today to talk about your career and some of the choices that you've made and indeed some of the challenges you've faced over the years. You're welcome. Hello Lily, delighted to be here. I'm always really curious about people like us, people who started their career, you know, a number of years ago but what were you like as a child and so I'm curious about if I were to stand in front of your family or your peer group in National School and say somebody here will become the head of engineering and design in a national university, would they have looked to Una and said, oh she's the one? No way, no way. We had no ambitions, I had no ambitions and I'm sure they didn't think that of me. I was one of nine children living in the heart of Dublin in Finglas so next to nobody went to college so there was no real ambitions. To get a job was probably the top priority. And what kind of job might you have expected to get or did you even think about it? Well when I was in secondary school, you know, a job in the bank, going to teaching or nursing, they were kind of the areas people were, if they were interested in going to college, may have been interested in going to. What did you do when you left school? Did you did your leave-in cert at time? I did my leaving cert. Unfortunately I didn't get the points that I originally thought I'd go for architecture, I was interested in creativity buildings and so on and so forth so I didn't get the points. So I initially started doing interior design in the College of Marketing in Parnell Square but very soon after the first few weeks there I realized that wasn't for me.