#IMAGEInspires: Who Pushes You To Go That Extra Mile?

This coming Friday, October 14th, is the closing date for our 2016 Businesswoman of the Year Awards – you can nominate HERE – and today in IMAGE HQ, we’re talking about the people who inspire us.?

Who drives us, pushes us and encourages us to be?the best version of ourselves we can be? These are the people who might be in the background, shying away from the limelight, yet they are an integral part of our lives. The First Lady of the United States, Michelle Obama, made headlines today for naming her inspiration in life – her 15-year-old daughter,?Sasha. And what are her motivating words for the woman who will soon step in her shoes? “In the words of Sasha Obama, I’d say ‘do you,'” she said. “Make [the role] your own because it’s believable when it comes from the deepest part of who you are, because this is a powerful platform to make a lot of change.?

When I think of my life inspiration, I know I’m lucky to have more than one person fighting my corner, but the first person will always be my mother, Annette. It is she, with her incredible grace and huge capacity for kindness who is always there to say, ‘keep going, you can do it.’ Any drive, or determination I have, she passed on, and when the chips are down, she is a constant; always there to lift me back up. “Anything is possible,” she said. I believed her at 13 and I believe her still. My dad, Tommy is another who encourages me to excel, particularly?when it comes to my career. To this day, I know of no one else who has achieved as much or who has worked as hard in their job and watching him, I thought ‘I can do that.’ He quietly pushes me further, offering advice, encouraging me to be myself and embrace the things that make me unique – all advice crucial to?any choices I make in terms of my job.

And finally, my friend Sarah Kiely. We’ve known each other since college, both bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, and we worked our way up from the bottom. She bravely decided to change jobs, and go out on her own to pursue a business dream and through an endless amount of sleepless nights and iron steel determination, she made a dream a hugely successful reality, and single-handedly too. ?She is a woman I’m lucky to know.

In Ireland, we’re lucky to have many incredible women to draw inspiration from. So, what we want to know is, who do you know doing inspiring things in business that the world deserves to know about? That friend?getting a start-up off the ground that more than deserves recognition? The colleague pushing boundaries in her fifth year or simply a woman who has inspired you in any aspect of your career – these are the woman we want in our 2016 Businesswoman of the Year Awards.

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Remember, IMAGE Businesswoman of the Year 2016 is taking place on Monday, November 21 2016 and we are looking for women who excel in their field. If you know a deserving client, colleague or friend,?nominate them now!