Girls With Goals: Amazing accents and interesting topics

This is the first review of March 2021. The goal for Friday reviews this month is

Celebrating Irish Podcasts!

The Premise (from Her.ie):

Presented by Niamh Maher, each week we'll be joined by some seriously awe-inspiring women. From comedians to playwrights; from weightlifters to Olympians, nothing is off limits when you're a girl with a goal.

Series or standalone:

Standalone

Begin listening to:

Any episode that sounds interesting to you

Format:

Informal interview/chat

Host(s):

Head of Content at Her.ie, Niamh Maher

Sound/production quality:

Good

Rating/age suitability:

Best for adults

Approximate length of episodes:

45-60 minutes

Curricular ties:

n/a

Similar recommended pods:

Wheel of Misfortune

Podcast Librarian’s Review:

Inspiring stories! Fun chat! Irish accents galore! (BTW, did you know galore comes from the Irish phrase go leor?) Girls with Goals is a long-running pod that features Niamh Maher of Her.ie and covers beauty, culture, work, health and just about anything else you could think--kind of like an Irish version of Cosmopolitan or Teen Vogue but for women in their late 20s and up. She has a great hosting personality, and her guests (who are mostly women) are always relatable, fun, passionate, and insightful. Despite being a longtime hibernophile, I don’t actually know who most of these guests are (they are usually Irish--some are celebs and others are business owners, etc.), but I always enjoy their discussions and learn something new.

The topics range from the light (make-up) to the serious (Ireland’s homelessness crisis), and everything in between. Every episode starts with the guest(s) introducing themselves “in six words or less.” After their chat, Niamh transitions to “Spotlight on Sport,” which is a short interview with an Irish athlete. I honestly don’t care about any sport, but the interviews are interesting, anyway. The format has changed a bit since Ireland went into lockdown (I believe they’re in the 3rd one now), but the classic episodes usually featured a panel of a few people chatting about a topic together. More recent episodes have just featured one guest, though. Both are good, but to get the full effect, try going back to a pre-pandemic episode...ah, simpler times.