THERE'S SOMETHING ABOUT MOYA

 – Moya Doherty, Tyrone Productions

WORDS: Liv Morgan

Riverdance is far from being an albatross around Moya Doherty’s neck. As the
co-founder of the Irish dance phenomenon, which took €100 million per annum in its first five years, she is resolute, “Actually it’s kind of like a nice albatross. It casts a long shadow and that’s fine. It doesn’t live in my head but because of its global
impact, and with Google, it’s the first thing that comes up. Lots of other things that I do or have done tend to be forgotten or buried in some little quiet corner. But nothing annoys me, I know who I am and perception doesn’t really bother me.”

A manicured Moya sits before me in her office overlooking Merrion Square. A lethal combination of brains and beauty, she is articulate throughout. With regard to where she currently is in her business life, she soothes: “I’m not chasing anything. Absolutely nothing. I’m just working! The way I approach things is to just follow your instinct, follow your passion, do the work that you want to do and it will either succeed or it won’t. If you put your proper heart and soul into it and it doesn’t succeed then you know you did your best, and if it does it’s a bonus.”

The Donegal native started professional life as an actress. She soon found her way on screen by working her way up the ranks of RTÉ from secretary to TV presenter before her most longstanding and successful role as an accomplished producer. “Acting is what I wanted to do. I spent a year with the educational theatre company and at the end of it I realised it’s a very tough profession, a brutally tough profession for women, and there are so few of them who get to the top. You’re scrutinised. It’s the same for television presenting. I enjoyed dipping into both but I realised I needed a little bit more management of my own future and I felt much more comfortable behind the scenes and behind the camera.”

Before coming to this resolution, presenting had enticed Moya to London to work on a breakfast television programme. Husband John McColgan, who she met during her days in RTÉ, was also based there. The decision to take control over her future and pursue a producing/directing course back in the homeland, she says was “Like a lot of decisions that I made, slightly haphazard, and one I just sort of fell into”.

Read more about Moya Doherty in the Winter 2011 issue of WMB, on newstands from December 1st.