It is always one of the most popular series we run through the year and our listing of 30 Under 30 Young Leaders of Tomorrow for 2021, in association with our friends at PwC, has now reached the first ten.

We are now into the final few in highlighting 30 young leaders that are making a mark within the Business of Sport in Ireland. They will be drawn from sports administration,  sports sponsorship, sports media and other areas. Our ambition is the creation of a network of people making a real difference within our industry.

They will join the 100 who have been nominated over the past four years and there is still time to nominate someone you feel might be a good addition.

How to nominate someone you know for our list.

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Joanne O’Riordan

Journalist and Advocate

Joanne O’Riordan is a force of nature who has overcome the obstacle, for want of a better word,  of being born with no limbs to become an accomplished sports reporter and a powerful advocate for sport in all forms but especially for women and people with a disability.

She is the youngest speaker to have been on stage with us as part of the annual Sport for Business Women in Sport Conference, where she pitched to become a reporter at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic games.

She was a keynote interviewee at the second Leaders Lounge event earlier this month, squeezing that in with writing her weekly column in the Irish Times and appearing as a poolside reporter for RTÉ during coverage of the Swim Ireland Olympic and Paralympic National trials.

Born with Tetra amelia syndrome, she grew up with her parents and four siblings in Cork and as a teenager wrote to Enda Kenny as Taoiseach on issues of disability access.  An appearance on the Late Late Show led to a higher profile than she could have imagined and a speaking engagement at the United Nations.

Sport was never far from her heart though and she has referenced going to watch matches across all four codes of Gaelic Games as being where she wants to be.

O’Riordan is a graduate in criminology from UCC and has a successful podcast with Red FM.

 

Take a look at the others to have appeared this year on the 30 Under 30 list

 

PwC is one of more than 250+ members of the Sport for Business network of sporting and business organisations working together across a number of key areas.

 

Sport for Business Partners