Day in the Life of Sonya Lennon - Designer, Broadcaster & Campaigner

When Sonya Lennon and Brendan Courtney came to Kilkenny recently to launch their new line of fashion and homeware in Kilkenny Design Centre, I had to catch up with the dynamic duo.

Dynamic duo - Sonya Lennon & Brendan Courtney of Lennon-Courtney

I am a huge fan of their brand Lennon-Courtney and like many of us, I was ecstatic when it came back on the shelves in its new home The Kilkenny Shop.

During the launch I managed to grab the ever-accommodating Sonya Lennon for a quick chat.  

Sonya is a fashion designer, businesswoman and social entrepreneur as well as a powerhouse in helping others. She first appeared on our TV screen in RTÉ’s Off the Rails with Brendan Courtney. Roll on years later and they have become very successful business partners.

She is a woman on a mission to help other women. Not just when it comes to styling and dressing them, it's way bigger than that. She is a leader in gender equity in Ireland through the advocacy work that she does with WorkEqual. Sonya campaigns for gender pay gap legislation, and childcare reform to make Ireland a better place for women to thrive.

Recently she completed a Master's during COVID in business equity, diversity and inclusion, having never gone to college. Where there is a will, there’s a way with Sonya. She refuses to not do something because she is afraid.

Here is a glimpse into Sonya’s immersed world of design and vigour…

The new Lennon-Courtney line in Kilkenny Shops nationwide

You are all about how clothes can make a person feel. You are even a muse for your own fashion line at Lennon Courtney.

Yes, whether I like it or not! I think that’s important, because for us it has to be grounded in what works. It’s the least lofty form of muse, it's more about the practicality of what works; is this going to function in my wardrobe and my life.

Like all women, we don’t live one type of life, we live six or seven lives, and we need to be equipped for all of them.

It's kind of amazing to have such a practical and responsive approach to design. For us it’s the only way.

Colour and affordability have always played a huge part in the Lennon Courtney brand. Can we expect the same now that you are in Kilkenny Design?

It’s important for us that it’s a sort of democratic and accessible option for women. It’s a tiny bit more expensive in Kilkenny Design stores but we can see where that money is in terms of the finish, the quality, and the fabrics.

What we are going to do is create more specialness at the top of the pyramid. For example, we had two dresses in this drop which are floor length gowns, and they are nearly sold out already. There were only 12 of each of those gowns, so that was the opportunity to go high drama on a very tiny scale. We want to do more of that.

I think it presents a great opportunity for us, in the home of craft, to work with local makers and people who are based in Ireland to create very special pieces on a very short run. We are really excited about that.

Where are your fabrics sourced from and where are the garments produced?

The fabrics are sourced from all over. They are generally sourced close to where our production is, which is all over the world, from Portugal, Turkey, to the Far East.

It's very difficult as you know to crack manufacturing, in particular textile manufacturing in Ireland. We are looking at a couple of operations that may provide solutions, again for short runs.

We are talking with Irish manufactures for homeware, that’s for soft furnishings, candle supply, crystal, and wood production. There are tons of opportunities here.

With the new Lennon Courtney brand, you have branched into the interiors and homeware. Was this inspired by the revamp of your beautiful Dublin Victorian home?

To be honest Brendan and I have wanted to do this for a very long time. We are both avid homebirds, we love designing our homes and styling them.

For us we see our clothes as bringing joy and the opportunity to use those colours, prints and textiles to bring them into a home environment was a bit of a no-brainer for us.

You’ll see that colour popping through the homeware collection and our newest line is wooden table wear with beautiful pops of lacquered colouring. I think it’s going to take the homeware offering to the next level.

A lot of us have homes that are neutral base, so that opportunity to throw in seasonal hits of colour is really lovely.

You have gorgeous 18-year twins with your partner David, who you recently celebrated 28 years together with. What is the secret to a good relationship?

I think it’s a little bit of acceptance. At a certain point in life, you realise people are who they are, it's not our job to make them something else.

Besides acceptance I think it’s also important to focus on the positives. We have a terrible propensity as humans to see the negative more clearly than the positive.

For David and me, there’s real core value alignment. There’s stuff we are glued together on, like the importance of loyalty, integrity, and excellence – all the good stuff. We also love a lot of the same things, we love food, culture, art, cinema, and travel.

All those things are joyful to do together. We also have a beautiful little family that we are very proud of.  

You have another partner in crime, Brendan Courtney. How did that relationship form?

We were thrown together by RTÉ. They put us together to host their show Off the Rails in 2008. So that makes us 15 years working together and we are about 12 years in business together.

I think a lot of the same things apply to a business relationship as to a personal relationship.

You must have a foundational core that you can agree on. There will be good times and bad times regardless of the relationship. It’s about holding firm to the value of minding, protecting, and growing it.

When you were on Off the Rails, fame escalated immediately with strangers recognising you when you walked down the street. How do you deal with fame?

I don’t really think about it to be honest. I always say we are on a small island and fame is a lower-case f, certain people know me, and certain people don’t.

I’m not Madonna, it doesn’t matter, nobody takes it too seriously, including our audiences.

I think because of who I am and how I am perceived, there’s a great accessibility to me and to Brendan. People feel they know us, and they are okay to come up and tell us that they love us or that we look shit on the other day!

They are not afraid to be honest! I have to say, I love that.

You are also involved in the initiative called ‘Dressed for Success’ that helps women land the job.  That’s grown from strength to strength since you got involved.

I founded it to begin with and we rebranded it the last three years to WorkEqual. That has been a fantastic journey to be able to nationally scale the service that we provide.

We have also grown to be able to support men too. That’s important because if we are a company called WorkEqual we can’t say everybody except you.

Most of our clients are women who need support with confidence to present at an interview to enter or re-enter the workforce. We are dealing with cohorts of men in communities that are under representative and marginalised who also need that confidence to be seen and heard.

In a country that has nominal full employment, we tend to forget that there are groups of people who have barriers to inclusion in our businesses and in our society. As people of privilege, it's then on us to ensure we break those barriers down, because we are the ones with the power.

https://kilkennydesign.com/brands/lennon-courtney