Her Name Is Siobhan

Siobhan helping to set up the BBQ - picture by me in our garden

There are not enough adjectives in the dictionary to describe how honest,translucent and affable she is. Her personality encompasses a genuine sense of herself that is enchanting, alluring and without her knowing it, it actually embraces you. 

There is nothing about her you would consider is elusive. All on the contrary, she sometimes projects some sort of innocence - which I personally find endearing. It has not taken me a long time to love her, because in her what you see it's what you get. And I love that quality in people.

Her name is Siobhan O'Connor and I would like to publicly say she has not only conquered my heart, but also my friendship. This blog is a written testimony of why I know I can honestly call her "my friend".

In the car with Dermot, Dave and Siobhan

A few years ago, when I was working in the city center, I would usually get the lift to work of my hubby, John, who at the time had Compton Model Agency, and his office was in town. He would put the radio on, and there she was, a very distinctive voice with a melodic laughter, delivering some celeb news, telling jokes and having the craic with the two boys. Their chemistry was vibrant and I could sense that.

 Listening to 98FM was like ritual in our way into work. She made our journey into town less tedious, less monotonous and more so if it was raining and we were stuck in traffic.

So it is fair to say, I know her or of her a long time ago.

 One of the magical things radio has, it's that as you don't see the face of who's talking, you picture in your head the best version of what your imagination dictates you. My version was less pretty than what she really is and I confirmed this when I met her in person only around two and a half years ago.

Image from the independant.ie

From listening to her in the car to having her in my kitchen.

Around the time she started going out with her current partner and father of her beautiful daughter, Erin, John Norton, who is a friend of ours, John invited us to record a pilot for the Irish version of the program goggle box. So some members of the Production company Straywave media - which John is one of the directors - came to our house to set the equipment to record the pilot.

Siobhan came with the team, and in was right there, in my kitchen when I told her with such excitement that she was part  my going to work journey as we would listen to her. She humbly took the compliment and thanked me and showed no signs of "diva" - so I found her very approachable.

Since then we just clicked and have built up a friendship based on who we are: two extremely honest people - who live to love and love to live 

Siobhan O'Connor - The broadcaster 

She has a prolific career in the media. She has done Radio, TV, she has interviewed many national and international celebrities and personalities. She is a journalist and an incredible writer - in this particular area, I can honestly say I am her number one fan.

I find her writing very heart-felt. Engaging. Once you start reading her work, you get hooked to it straight away. Even though she is very professional, she keeps her writing real, honest with a good, sharp sense of humour. She speaks about topics that are relevant to people - both women and men. In her writing you can see she is true to herself, and this is a characteristic hard to find in a industry which is full of insincerity.

For example, I had a good laugh when she wrote in the Irish Mirror - 'My pregnancy reveal on the BBC's Nolan Live". Or when she openly and candidly wrote her struggles as a pregnant woman in her article "In the club...on the perils of an Irish pregnancy" or when she most recently spoke about exposing her boobs to breast-feed and "laughs off public breastfeeding jibes" 

And...

My favourite article she's written is "I'm a celeb on the dole - get me out of here" where she hilariously describes her transition from being a "celebrity, Dj, radio personality" to the queue of the dole office when she was made redundant from a job where her title was "The gossip girl."

Image by Kip Carrol

I am always "giving out to her", and this is why...

We have spent time together, and even though I respect, admire and love her, I think she is way too unassuming, way too humble. There is not a pick of arrogance in her at all. She does not expose the amazing work she has done - and still doing - as a broadcaster, journalist, personality, celebrity or whatever you want to call it. I have said to her that in this country some people who go to an opening of a packet of crisps become 'well-known'. The reason they become well-known (celebrities) is because of the way they promote themselves.

She does not seem to realise that what she does is such a big deal.

With just under two thousand "friends" on Facebook and over seven thousand real followers on Twitter @Sibhi2000 - she has the right amount of 'friends', 'followers' to become a social media sensation, and  she has a huge amount of content/material to expose, to show, to share and be proud of. But she does not get that she is fecking bloody Siobhan O'Connor.

Having said that, I will never give out about the person and human being

Putting business aside, I have to admit that the reason I love her the most is exactly the reason I give out to her. She is so humble. She is unique. Maybe that's her "selling point" as a person and a human being. As a person, she is so available. She is honest, sincere and has the ability to make you laugh every time she has the chance to interact with you.

To finish, it is important to say that she might not have time to invest in her social media, but she has all the time in the world  for her two biggest human investments yet, her partner, John and her angelical baby daughter, Erin. Now the reasons of her being her.

Siobhan, in John's (my hubby) and my own name, we salute you and love you!!!

Marlon/Marlife