Willetta Gabriel is the founder of Bethel’s Kitchen: an artisan bagel and pickle business in Dromore, County Down.

In this episode, we talk about:

• Launching an extremely niche product in a rural town
• Why every single bagel tastes different
• (Depending on who rolled it)
• How one social media post saved her whole business
• And her experience living in Northern Ireland for the last 20+ years.

Check it out!

https://bestofbelfast.org/stories/willetta-gabriel-bethels-kitchen

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bethelskitchen?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet&igsh=ZDNlZDc0MzIxNw==

Google Maps: https://maps.app.goo.gl/9PnmQraZ3Gg9zTFr7

Mark Marais is an entrepreneur from Zimbabwe with deep roots in Belfast.

He’s the founder of the luxury travel business Africa Golf Safari and co-founder of the Sport Changes Life Foundation.

In this episode, we talk about:

• Growing up on an idyllic African farm during the war
• How sport helped with racial integration in his school
• What Donald Draper can teach us about nostalgia
• The difference between space and place
• Starting his business even though it didn’t make any sense
• Combining passion with entrepreneurship
• His experience in and passion for Northern Ireland
• And advice he’d give to his 19-year-old self.

Check it out!

https://bestofbelfast.org/stories/mark-marais-africa-golf-safari

P.S. Mad Men nostalgia video: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=suRDUFpsHus

Tony Novosel MBE is a former motor mechanic, steelworker, and semi-retired academic from Pittsburgh who has dedicated his life to serving Northern Ireland.

In this episode, we talk about:

• How the collapse of the steel industry was the best thing that ever happened to him

• Why he first decided to visit Northern Ireland 50 years ago

• (And why he's been 85+ times since!)

• Acting as "the American uncle” for NI students on the Study USA programme, (which is is managed by British Council Northern Ireland on behalf of the Department for the Economy)

• The transformation power travel has had on his own life and the lives of his students

• Why we tend to oversimplify narratives

• The grassroots movements that led to a hugely successful academic book about NI

• Being awarded an MBE

• And advice he'd give to any student interested in studying overseas!

Check it out.

Graham Robinson is an Artist and Director with over 15 years of experience working with household names like Netflix, Universal Music Group, Ed Sheeran, Coldplay, Dua Lipa and the BBC.

In this episode, we talk about:

• How the creative journey is made up of incremental steps rather than huge Hollywood moments
• Discovering his art form at a young age
• The role of the artist in society
• Balancing virtual worlds with the "real-world"
• Being led by intuition/calling rather than logic/reason
• What he learned from his time working in London and LA
• How Belfast is positioned to carve its own path in the new era of story-telling
• Why he thinks the big-budget feature film model is about to be disrupted
• The deep heritage/history of Northern Ireland as a place of creativity and impact
• And his vision for the future of the screen industry in NI

Check it out.

https://bestofbelfast.org/stories/graham-robinson-virtual-artist-and-director

Alan Mahon is the Belfast-born Founder and CEO of Brewgooder, an impact beer brand, B Corp, and the fastest-growing independent UK beer brand of 2023.

In this episode, we talk about:

• Meeting George Clooney & Leonardo Dicaprio
• Leaving his "three mums” behind to move to Scotland
• The tension between doing good and making money
• How getting a parasite in Nepal led to him starting his business
• The power of pub culture and its impact on relationships
• Using business as a vehicle to change the world
• Not compromising on quality just because you're "doing good”
• Why he moved back to Northern Ireland after so many years
• And advice he'd give to an 18-year-old version of himself

Check it out!

https://bestofbelfast.org/stories/alan-mahon-brewgooder

Marty Neill is the founder of AirPOS. He’s also an ex-music journalist and avid retro gamer.

In this episode, we talk about:

• Leaving school illegally at 15-years-old
• Building and selling video games as a kid on his Spectrum + 2
• How all the best things in his life have come from “tiny rooms”
• Why you should never fall in love with your business
• Ideas being the “real currency”
• How COVID both destroyed and transformed his business
• Why your business will never love you back
• The huge opportunities that exist in Belfast
• And the new Retro Arcade opening in Belfast later this year

Check it out.

https://bestofbelfast.org/stories/marty-neill-airpos

Máirtín Ó Muilleoir is the publisher of the Andersonstown News in Belfast and the Irish Echo in New York.

In this episode, we talk about:

• Why he has a blackbird on his business card
• How he was able to buy a business with no money
• The future of the newspaper industry
• Growing up in Andytown during the sixties
• Challenges facing the media sector
• The symbiotic relationship between Ireland/America
• Life lessons from a Buddhist Chaplain
• And dealing with the chaos of modern life

Check it out.

https://bestofbelfast.org/stories/mairtin-o-muilleoir-andersonstown-news

Patrick Treacy is a pioneer in Aesthetic Medicine. Throughout his incredible career, he’s won countless awards, trained thousands of doctors and trail-blazed new protocols used around the world today.

In this episode, we talk about:

• Smuggling cars across the German border to pay for med school
• Being arrested in Iraq under suspected espionage
• How being from Ireland quite literally saved his life
• His phone call with Nelson Mandela
• Treating Michael Jackson and the subsequent friendship that ensued
• How he wants to spend the next few decades
• And advice he’d give to his 18-year-old self

Check it out!

https://bestofbelfast.org/stories/patrick-treacy-aesthetic-medicine