Oprah visits Ireland thanks to Cork connection
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Oprah Winfrey with David Meade at the 3Arena, Dublin, during her first live appearance in Ireland on Monday. Photo: Conor McCabe Photography CONOR MCCABE PHOTOGRAPHY LTDImage 2 of 3
Oprah, 72, had never been to Ireland before.Image 3 of 3
Oprah addresses the Dublin audience with host David Meade.One of the most famous people on the planet made their first appearance in Ireland this week, and it was all thanks to a well-known Cork couple.
Global media icon Oprah Winfrey took to the stage at Dublin's 3Arena on Monday night for a special one-night-only conversation, marking the first time she’d ever stepped foot on Irish soil.
Hosted by veteran broadcaster David Meade, Up Close With Oprah Winfrey saw Oprah, 72, speak openly about her life, her career, and the experiences that have shaped her journey, in front of an Irish audience of 8,000 people.
Behind the massive event was Cork husband and wife duo Norma Murphy, an events director and life coach, and former Munster and Irish hooker, Frankie Sheehan. Together they head up Pendulum Summit, one of the world’s leading business, leadership, and self-empowerment symposiums.
The power couple from Cork founded Pendulum Summit in 2014 with the goal of empowering individuals to maximise their potential in business and life.
Speaking on ‘The Oliver Callan Show’ on RTÉ Radio 1 last month, Sheehan said booking Oprah for a talk in Ireland had been a goal of theirs since early in the company’s existence.
He said: “Even back then, Oprah was obviously the ‘Holy Grail’ we’ll call it, and Norma was always so passionate about getting her, and we’d been asking her for years and years and years, and we eventually wore her down.
“She came from very, very humble beginnings – she was a black female who grew up in Mississippi with a very traumatised childhood and overcame all that, not just in becoming a journalist, but then to set up Harpo, which is her company, and become the first self-made black billionaire worth $3.4 billion and the challenges to do that against the white man in America at the time and to make that her own – it’s an absolutely phenomenal story,” Sheehan told Oliver Callan.
Previous Pendulum Summit speakers include English business magnate, Sir Richard Branson; British adventurer and television presenter, Bear Grylls; former men’s world tennis number one, Andre Agassi; Oscar nominated Irish actor, Colin Farrell; and English comedy legend, John Cleese.