I am Jade, I’m 28 and from Jobstown. I’m Car Park Supervisor and also work alongside security. I am here nearly 3 years, and I love it.

I am in a job that is mostly dominated by men. There is only a handful of women in these roles. I do a lot of the work from behind the scenes with the control room with the cameras and then I also help out on the floor. It balances out great with the team here, and I get on great with all the lads here too.

The biggest inspiration to me when I first started here was a lady who greeted me on the first day. Her name was Saoirse, sadly she’s no longer here anymore, she was like my work mammy. She was one of the best, and I learned a lot from her. She looked after me and took me under her wing. She was such a strong woman in here, I learned from her about that balance of respect, but also don’t mess with me either. I genuinely love what I do and working in The Square, I never thought I would enjoy it as much as I do when I started. I understand this place, The Square is where I grew up. I am hoping to progress my career here, with so many things coming down the line.

My suggestion to girls out there considering a career down this path would be don’t be afraid, I think a lot of women think because it is a more male dominated job that they are hesitant to come on board. Women tend to have a very different approach.

When I am not working here I have an interest in Motocross. I was always a tomboy growing up. I’m a Motocross driver, I got into this when I was about 15. That is when I got my first little small bike, and I just loved it ever since then. After that my dad got me a bigger bike, and I will never forget on the track, taking off my helmet and all these boys wondering who this person was on the bike. I will never forget it, they were like –“that is a girl driving that bike!!”. The bike was so big and I was after beating half of them in the race, so they were impressed.

I’m still young so I am not sure exactly what the future holds but I would love to have a family. I have a few things I want to tick off my list before all that though. I am going on a Carribean Cruise this year so I want to see the Bahamas. I want to finish off some things I’ve had planned and then we go from there.