Youth champion Olivia represents Ireland in Canada

A YOUNG CAMPILE WOMAN is making a big impact on the business and volunteering world.

Olivia MacDonald from Ballykerogue has just returned from Ottawa, Canada, where she represented Chartered Accountants Ireland at the One Young World Conference having won the Chartered Accountants’ Institute Young Chartered Star competition in July.

One Young World was founded in 2009. The competition gathers together the brightest young leaders between ages 18 to 30 from around the world, empowering them to make lasting connections to create positive change.

Olivia was educated in Horeswood NS, St Mary’s Secondary School and Waterford Institute of Technology ( WIT). In 2015 she was chosen to represent WIT at the Washington Ireland program in Washington while studying accountancy in Waterford. Originally called The Young Leaders Program, The Washington-Ireland Program for Service and Leadership ( WIP), is a six-month program of personal and professional development that brings outstanding university students from Ireland to Washington DC for summer work placements and leadership training. The program begins and ends with practical service in Northern Ireland and Ireland.

Olivia is actively involved in the community, both inside and outside of work. She was appointed as the vice chair of the Chartered Accountants Student Society South East, bringing chartered accountant students from all firms together to support them during their professional examinations.

She is chairperson of Junior Chamber Ireland South East which gives young people an opportunity to hone their leadership skills and she was recently profiled in The Irish Times and combines all this with an accountancy career at PWC in Waterford.

Olivia has a great interest in social justice and is a committed volunteer in the area of homelessness and deprivation. Meeting US Vice President Joe Biden at the ambassador’s residence, President Higgins at the Aras, local business leaders, maths classes for slow learners or sleeping out to support the homeless is all part of Olivia’s day.