We explore the link between business and culture. David Revagliatte meets Seamus Byrne, the CEO of the Gibraltar Cultural Services (GCS). Seamus joined the Gibraltar Youth Service as a volunteer in 1992 and has been a part of Gibraltar's cultural fabric since then. In 2014 he became one of the founding Directors of GCS and became its CEO in 2018.
Seamus shares his experiences of delivering large-scale events including National Days, Fairs, Winter Wonderlands, Literature Festivals and discusses how the local community could elevate Gibraltar's cultural offering even further.
MJ Feeke from Radiance Clinic joins us later in the episode for our GFSB Member Spotlight feature.
Remember to subscribe to never miss an episode.
Thanks for listening to the Gibraltar Business Podcast by the GFSB! Follow us on Twitter, Linkedin and Facebook!
We explore the link between business and culture. David Revagliatte meets Seamus Byrne, the CEO of the Gibraltar Cultural Services (GCS). Seamus joined the Gibraltar Youth Service as a volunteer in 1992 and has been a part of Gibraltar's cultural fabric since then. In 2014 he became one of the founding Directors of GCS and became its CEO in 2018.
Seamus shares his experiences of delivering large-scale events including National Days, Fairs, Winter Wonderlands, Literature Festivals and discusses how the local community could elevate Gibraltar's cultural offering even further.
MJ Feeke from Radiance Clinic joins us later in the episode for our GFSB Member Spotlight feature.
Remember to subscribe to never miss an episode.
Thanks for listening to the Gibraltar Business Podcast by the GFSB! Follow us on Twitter, Linkedin and Facebook!
Hello and welcome to the Gibraltar Business Podcast. I'm your host, david Ragliade. I'm joined by a different guest each week and we discuss themes like leadership, business balance and also explore some of the global issues that affect their particular sector. If you already know the show, welcome back and thank you for listening. If you're just discovering the podcast, hello and welcome. Before we go any further, I'd like to ask a favour If you're enjoying the show, please like it on social media and hit follow on whichever player you are listening from. This really helps us grow the show.
Speaker 1:The Gibraltar Business Podcast is brought to you by the GFSB and is sponsored by Gibraltar International Bank, a bank that truly shares our passion for business. Today on the podcast, we welcome Seamus Byrne, the CEO of Gibraltar Cultural Services. Seamus needs no introduction. He's got an extensive background in organizing major social, cultural and leisure events, including Gibraltar National Days, the Fair La Fedia, christmas Wonderland and international dance festivals. His journey from volunteer to key figure in Gibraltar's cultural calendar demonstrates his commitment to community and cultural development and offers valuable insights into leadership and event organization. We often talk about the link between business and culture and this show. We'll hopefully kind of explore that in a bit more depth. Later in the episode, mj Fiek from Radiance Clinic pops in for our GFSB member shout out. So, seamus, thank you so much for joining me today. Thank you for having me.
Speaker 1:We just spoke a bit off recording about how long it's taken me to get you on the show, so actually it's great to have you here, so it's great to be here, Seamus a lot of people know you from the La Cronica, from the Chronicle. You and your events are always in the media. But can you outline your journey from the start, of how you became the CEO of Gibraltar Cultural Services?
Speaker 3:Well, my journey began in the civil service in 1999. I was very, very blessed to join the civil service. I started working at the social services department and Minister of Time Ivetelawa knew that I was very, very experienced in the events field because I used to organize many, many events when I was a young person of the Gibraltar Service and therefore the government needed support with the Fair and National Day. So I joined the team in 2000 to organize the Fair and National Day, something which I now have been organizing for 24 years. But yeah, it all started there.
Speaker 3:Then I was further blessed, joining the Ministry of Culture in 2003 and, since then, working myself on the ranks in the civil service and public service. In 2011, the government decided to create an agency out of the Ministry of Culture, and then the birth of Cultural Services was in July 2014, when we created this agency authority to be able to run all government's cultural facilities and all cultural events in Gibraltar. And then in 2016, our CEO at the time, ivetelawa, decided to retire. So I was fortunate enough to become a designer and then in 2018, I became officially the CEO. In January 2018, first of February, actually 2018 I became the CEO of Gibraltar Cultural Services with my energy, enthusiasm and vision, which I tried to bring to the table.
Speaker 1:I think that definitely comes through right, because I very much know about GCS just for short, gcs services and I'm sure that, like all of our listeners have attended either events that have you guys have run or taken part in initiatives too. You run so so many events. How many events do you run a year?
Speaker 3:Approximately. Well, we are. We, gibraltar Cultural Services, runs under a contractual obligation with his Majesty's Government of Gibraltar. It has a schedule of all the events that we have to organise. You can see the chronicle are out in the press, the chronicle itself GBC. We're out there every day, really, or every day. We have a press statement in the chronicle because we're always organising something, whether it's events, whether it's our cultural facilities events, our development programme, which is thriving, and I don't know more than 50 events a year, isn't it?
Speaker 1:I bet, I bet, because you know, if you look at like how many weeks are out a year you do definitely more than that, Answer it to you in the spot. But part of that question is because I know the Minister Santos recently made a statement that he wanted to place cultural events in the centre of his tourism strategy, etc. What's your response? Can you handle the extra events?
Speaker 3:Yes, of course. Yes, of course, I tend to agree. I tend to agree with that statement because I've been calling as a public servant, I've been calling for years now that tourism, culture, sport, business should all be intertwined. At the end of the day, it should be about team Gibraltar, it should be about Gibraltar. It's not about culture doing the wrong thing and sport doing the wrong thing and tourism does the wrong thing, and thanks to now having Minister Santos leading tourism and culture, we are hoping to achieve that. Events like tourism is something very, very important and it should be at the forefront of government policy. It should be at the forefront of supporting local businesses, bringing tourism to Gibraltar, and that's been something that I've been advocating now for many, many years. Thank God, now we have Minister Santos at the helm for tourism and culture and we hope to be able to bring that to the forefront, because Gib events, the tourism and Gib wine as it causes it, is something very, very important for us.
Speaker 1:It's nice to hear you talk about business there also, and I'll come back to that a bit later on in the discussion, because it is such a big part of our culture business you know. So it's kind of one to explore and hopefully we can. So obviously you've been sat here for five minutes and I can already see your enthusiasm. How do you see yourself like? How do you feel you influence culture in Gibraltar?
Speaker 3:I think my influence has already been being seen in some way or another, because I've always, always said that there's more to culture than events. There's more to culture than putting a stage and a jumping castle in cases and making the community believe it's culture. It's culture, entertainment is one thing, and when I became the CEO in 2018, my vision and my policy and my manifesto, my own manifesto, was let's bring cultural development and education into the picture, because it's important to be able to promote our arts abroad. It is important to be able to foster and provide those opportunities for our artists, whether it's locally or going away internationally, whether it's trying to produce cultural exchanges or not. Residencies where you have a mix of people not only from Gibraltar, but from around the world. And it is evident.
Speaker 3:One of our projects is very, very evident, which which maybe your listeners may have seen, like the emphasis that I'm giving to to Gibraltar, morocco, the emphasis that I'm giving to Gibraltar and Tangiers, especially, where I've always said and you can read the press statements where I've always said how important it is Cultures of opening many, many opportunities between Gibraltar and Tangier. Let's expand it. Let's take sporting activities in Gibraltar and in Tangier and elsewhere in Morocco. Let's take tourism in and out of both countries. Let's invest business wise with Morocco in the same way as Morocco invests in Gibraltar. You go to Tangiers just for a take-rip and just things like food and drink and many other products that they have it's easy to have in Gibraltar, it's accessible. So if we have issues with a frontier which we hope we don't have with God's blessing we don't have but Tangiers is that door and we call that project Isthmus because it's a spiritual connection. We're not connected by land but we are connected spiritually because of the history that also Tangier has with us. That's answer.
Speaker 1:My next question Seamus, because I was going to ask you? Why do you believe culture is essential for community? And I think a lot of the listeners will agree. I think that culture, seamus, sport, opens a lot of doors for trade, for business. What role do you feel that businesses play in supporting and enriching life in Gibraltar?
Speaker 3:Well, I think it plays a very, very important part. But, taking back to what you just said, I think culture is an intrinsic part of any community and provides a high quality life, quality of life for, for individuals, for groups, for people, for for generations. And I think, like you said, the support of business should be an integral and fundamental part of creating that cultural fabric in Gibraltar. With the support of business, we could do so many, many things which we have still not been able to do. Personally, as Gibraltar cultural services CEO, that's my experience personally, you know, because sadly, I don't think that we all think to know that Minister Santos has come in. We all don't think about team Gibraltar. I think we all need to think about Gibraltar and I think we should all be sitting around the table trying to see well, we're going to do the Christmas festival of lights or we're going to do Christmas wonderland, which is one of my visions. I want to do Christmas wonderland like they do in Hyde.
Speaker 3:Park which they call it Winter Wonderland. Bring it to Gibraltar, do something ahead in Gibraltar and everybody gets together for Christmas, festival of Life, for the Christmas Wonderland, for whatever event. We only took it together and see well, how are the businesses going to support? Are we going to have late night shopping? Are we going to support financially? How is tourism going to support this particular event? Are we going to promote it in Spain, because it will promote a product, whether it's culture, tourism, business, whatever? If we promote a product just in Carizamalaga or together, about 2.9 million people in a one hour radius away from Gibbonson, are we promoting it in the UK, where it's easy access from London, gatwick or Bristol or whatever to come to Gibbonson? That's why we should all be sitting around the table, in my personal opinion, and say this is what we're going to do and that's just only for Christmas. There are many events during the summer. We should be maybe all working together as well to see what are we going to do from October to March. How does that?
Speaker 1:happen. Do you feel, then, that businesses could do more to support culture here in London?
Speaker 3:Yeah, businesses should do more. So I think, as many other people, many other sectors could also do more, which is not only business. So how do we make that happen? I think we should all be working together to support the culture. Everybody should work together, because if business is a normal thing and culture is a normal thing, then things will work. But it needs to work in a better way than we, in my personal opinion, are currently doing.
Speaker 1:So maybe any listeners out there who are thinking of an idea or anything could they get in touch with you guys.
Speaker 3:People have ideas and we always want to hear new ideas. For example, one of the landmark events is called the Dita. The Dita started with a few tents in Cajunis, then became 50 tents in Cajunis and we did, despite COVID. We did Jubilee in two different geographical sites and we want to go and get in to that. We want people to come to Dita also.
Speaker 1:It's got a great profile and actually one of my previous guests was Owen, who is the chairperson of the GFSP as well.
Speaker 1:Yeah one of the founders of it and actually just seeing that story kind of develop was one of the big successes. When I think of events or things that interest me, and as a Gibraltarian writer with a passion for the arts and things like this, which is kind of very hyperlocal content, some events and initiatives stand out for me. So things like Gyptalks, the literary festival, recent explorations or Janito I know there's going to be something in Vigo very soon those events and initiatives stand out to me. What are some of the highlights for you? Come on. I'm sorry to put you on the spot. No, no, come on, come on.
Speaker 3:One of the best events that I think I organized myself. Obviously it was a massive government event supported by many government departments, but I think my favorite event was the Swalph who came in when Cayana Marino won the Swalph.
Speaker 1:Classic moment. Classic moment, classic moment.
Speaker 3:It was such a magical and special event. In terms of all my events that we currently organize, I think the Christmas Festival of Lights is one which is a massive highlight for me. For example, this year the government decided to take the event to Cayesmit as part of its government manifesto commitment. Because of the election in October, we only had three weeks to organize it, but I think it's been the best event we've organized in terms of Christmas Festival of Lights. We've parted Cayesmit with six other people and I think that's been one of the highlights as well, I think, in terms of the work that we're doing also in literature now as well.
Speaker 3:We started although there was the Gibbons International Literary Festival, which is very, very well attended by locals. We organized as well due to the literature week. We felt that it was important. It was my vision, which then my development team approached the creative minds into it. We started it in two weeks because we felt it was important to provide a platform to our locals, because when you have locals and you have, you have local and you have international offers in the same platform, and then they don't have the exposure that they deserve, in my opinion, then that's why we started it's week. No, and that is an amazing event it's week. The work that we do in school, the work we do with the press, the work we do with the and Audiences with and Audiences with is so popular because you have local authors.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so they don't have a guest.
Speaker 3:And given that exposure that they deserve. So that for me was an important work, the work now we're doing as well, which stepped out thanks to Mark Sanchez with the National Council stand for him because a part of Literature Week and the work that we're doing, because he also did the Marble of a man in a bilingual format, the importance of not losing genital, and that's why we started the work with Cambridge. We had a symposium in Cambridge. Now we're doing a symposium in Vigo. We're doing one in Germany or in Switzerland next year we still have to decide the venue but it's important that our language is reached. It's important that we get young people not forgetting what genital is all about. That's why I've called well, I'm sorry, I've called for the Education Department to work with us to be able to do a genital week or a genital day, at least in schools. We're also launching a part of World Book Day. I hope that next week or the next coming weeks we finish printing our genital dictionary, which we Great, the pack is back, it's back, yeah, it's back.
Speaker 3:Great, great we're launching and it's very early, if you know, because it's really good to come back. The first one was done by Mr Cavilla, the second one was done by Dito Vallejo. There was two versions done by Dito Vallejo, so what we've done is compiled everything together and I'm putting it together into one compilation, and I think it's important that what we want to do extra is to give every young person in school a genital dictionary, free of charge, obviously for the kids, but I think it's important that we don't lose that genital and we slow that. That is a work that we're trying to do as part of development and education, because, I think I said before, there's multicultural and organising.
Speaker 1:Of course, I asked you what was your favourite, and there's three big projects. Because again they touch so many different things. Congratulations on the Christmas event because it was wild. It was really good to see events back and I think that enthusiasm was great. And the more cultural things like literary week, it makes sense to kind of combine them as well for this year.
Speaker 3:And that's one you're searching for. No, how come business support? Well, if we're organising Christmas Festival relays, for example, I don't know, trying to do late night shopping, because it's also class with Black Friday? No, black Friday a class with Black Friday? No, well, let's work together. How are we going to stay open and late at night.
Speaker 1:Could you sponsor this year? Could it have been better?
Speaker 3:Yes, it could have been better. I know that we only have three weeks to organise it, but, for example, the only entity that stayed open was Trenus. Trenus and his group. His group had the eight shops, or five shops, opened Till late. We also had events, apart from the Christmas Festival relays it was. The events were extended till 11 o'clock at night. We had the fair opening the day before, so that business.
Speaker 1:Is that a gift for that?
Speaker 3:To support Christmas at all. We had Christmas market by Campion Path, so we wanted. We had events at Kings Vaginali Centre so we wanted to businesses to come on board. So that is when we say okay let's start early with Christmas Festival relays. Let's start early. We've got a package to show all the businesses what can be done. This is a program we want to do. We want businesses to come on board.
Speaker 1:So listeners get involved, like this year. You're not too late getting in touch with Seamus and his team as well. It'd be great to see some of our businesses kind of open around that time. I know in the UK and different big cities like London and you know this is a big event they put DJs in store or depending on what that market is.
Speaker 3:It'd be great to see some of that. We extended it not only for one day. Then we did the second day as well, which our events. We knew that businesses were going to be very busy till approximately two o'clock with us, but then we started events at Kings Vaginali Centre and throughout Lee Street from three o'clock onwards. We had morning M, then we did Christmas Saturdays as well to support the business community.
Speaker 1:I'm tired, even just like listening to them. No, no, it's the drive.
Speaker 3:It's the drive and the enthusiasm which also Minister Santos brings, because he's been very, very, very much involved in all his life in cultural and the arts, and extending it now to tourism and business is very, very important for both of us because we want the best for Djibbord and Djibbord to proceed.
Speaker 1:When it comes down to organizing the cultural programs and things that are happening. Tell me about that process. The ideation, which is how do you come up with ideas or develop them? Tell me about that initial stage.
Speaker 3:So do I have a café, have a lie or something? Well, I always say that some people in the community think that the element is organized in one day or one night, in the night salon or in the evening. They set up the whole event and it looks fantastic. For example, djibbord's affair is a very, very important non-marketing event for us, but we've already started organizing the affair. What are we going to do different? What you brainstorm, you brainstorm on the table. When the event finishes, obviously, you do a debrief on how can it be improved for the next year. And, because some of these events can be a copy and paste, a fairly national day, You're being bred and battered, kind of events.
Speaker 1:Yeah, the.
Speaker 3:Shakespeare events that we're doing May. We have a full programme of events, as you very well know, but you sit on the table. How are we going to improve the events? What can we do different? It's really a breakthrough. And then the creative process comes into mind, especially, for example, in a teacher week. What are we going to do this year? How are we going to do a pop-up library? Ok, how are we going to do it? And look, I can say I'm very, very blessed to have such an amazing team of people to cultural services, because obviously one's vision is is is not comes with the magic wand, and it's used to be a group of people who are created, who have a vocation. You come back here.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you came back. You mentioned the word vocation. Why is that important in the work you do?
Speaker 3:You can tell the vocation. Look, our, our work is not a nine to five job and I will never expect people to be with us if they expect to have a nine to five job, because you always have something to do, just like some of the other day. With the Eastmost Tangier Project, we started at eight o'clock in the morning but we went home at eleven o'clock at night because you are just you're finishing finalising the exhibition during press conferences, then in the afternoon we have the actual event and then you're still hosting the evening. So people, people need to have a vocation to be able to work in culture and tourism. People who need businesses need to have a vocation. But if you don't want to invest in what you do, that's why. That's why I'm always very active. I'm always very active in trying to make sure that our community, our community and large, find out and know what GCS does. That's why you will always see GCS in the press every day.
Speaker 1:Do you feel that they do, and could engagement from the community be better? No, the engagement is good.
Speaker 3:I think the engagement is good. It's like my majority of cases majority of cases it's it's very, very positive. Everybody sees what we do in the community and we're doing things. Like you said before, we're doing things every day, whether it's an event, whether it's a cultural development program, whether it's in the Geo-Magician Library, whether it's BookJemp, because there hasn't been a library in Gibraltar since the Gibraltar Bookshop closed when it was opposite the Supreme Court. That's been an amazing addition back into the community.
Speaker 3:We decided that it was important to invest in a library, even if it's a money loss money loss exercise, because it's important that we have a Bookshop in Gibraltar. In my personal opinion, again, no, and that was an important addition that we've done as well to our cultural fabric the art galleries. We have three amazing art galleries in Gibraltar the National Art Gallery in Gibraltar. Let's promote it more. Culture can do everything by itself. That is something that we were talking about before. Everybody needs to come around and take, whether it's businesses involved in the travel sector, whether it's culture, whether it's tourism. We've got street-up tourism.
Speaker 1:Our street-up is vibrant synergetic, so you need support there. So where are the kind of review? Have you had a top one or top three initiatives that you're running now that you would prioritize need for the business community? From what would they be? So what are the biggest opportunities to save?
Speaker 3:The biggest. For me, the most important thing is promoting what we have. Promoting what we have as a product, whether it's and here where tourism really plays an important part, because Gibraltar is not only about the caves and the apes- what do you mean?
Speaker 1:it's not.
Speaker 3:It is. But, for example, there are many day trips that come to Gibraltar that are maybe going to see the caves and the apes, but we have many, many other things. Whether it's a Moorish castle, or whether it's the National Art Gallery, whether it's going to the Gallifers Library, whether it's going to see the World War II tunnels. We've got many, many things that to offer. Look, one example that I gave is for people who talk to me when are we going to accept it? I don't know. One of the examples is we have amazing caves which are run by the Gibraltar Museum, which is a foreign cave.
Speaker 3:you see, it's not accessible to the public but in Portugal you go to the Bengali caves and you go parallel to the caves. You might not be able to get in, but you go with a parallel route. Or you go on a I don't know to the Erdingi. You get in Erdingi, but something like that. Come and see the Kharamsi. I went to Sahara de la Sierra my daughter did, parachuting from there Paraplegium.
Speaker 3:You can say that and come and do that for me, up the rock and promote it as one of our products. I see that you've got the idea, the idea and the hana, the idea and the hana. Yes, you see, the idea has it the idea is the main thing, but I do think the other people. Why is this getting?
Speaker 1:one out. Well, I don't know if anyone has ideas, you can have the other idea person here. Shane was moving on a bit. You mentioned your team, your department, how many? Of you are there now GCS?
Speaker 3:Yeah, we have the Morgulwa 34 members of staff, 34 as a whole. We run. We have a team that is responsible for cultural events in the border, or the majority of them, which are run and produced by culture. Then we have a cultural development and educational team. The events are run. My head of events is Jovi Minales, my head of development and education is Tamina Varvara, both amazing ladies who are so passionate about the work as well, and those departments are thriving. Then there are other areas that people don't see. We have an accounts and administration team and we also have an operations team, which are all the time refurbishing all cultural facilities in Gibraltar. And then we have the facilities team that run all the cultural premises and venues in Gibraltar, for example, the Inter-Solidl, the centre of home. We run 200 premises for the government of Gibraltar, for cultural rules, supporting association and charities. So it's a massive team.
Speaker 1:There's a lot there. A massive team and lots of things going on, of course, again, lots of things that people don't appreciate. That goes on behind the scenes.
Speaker 3:What's your leadership?
Speaker 1:style.
Speaker 3:Well, I want to tell you two things. I think One of them is proactive. I'm very, very proactive. I want, I like that my team are proactive too, but that is because it could be a weakness, but because I'm very demanding of myself, so I'm also demanding with everybody that's around me, you know, and obviously something that I learned at the Gibraltar Youth Service when I was a teenager. I joined the Gibraltar Youth Service in the early 90s, where I became a voluntary youth worker for about 10 years. That's where I learned all my events, experience, which has then helped me in my career and being at the frontline. I'm always at the front. I try to delegate. I need to trust my team, of course, but I always want to be at the front. I will not be behind the desk doing office work and let everybody else run.
Speaker 1:I'm not in the mass, I know.
Speaker 3:And that's how my team also work because, See, I come home on a mission, I will be moving the table. We have to move 100 chairs for a few other cities in the center of town and I'm going to do it.
Speaker 1:And you expect your team to do the same, and my team will do the same If I'm at the front, everybody runs with me.
Speaker 3:If you're sitting behind the desk, then there's where. In my opinion, there's where you will find force.
Speaker 1:Jim's not a lot. We're running out of time, so I've got a couple more questions.
Speaker 3:And I've said I'm loads more, but I don't know how much more important One for two.
Speaker 1:What are, look, two main things. One of them is kind of looking at the challenges facing Gibraltar and I think we talked about it briefly Bored of trouble, treaty, this perennial kind of issue and challenges for business, which is uncertainty. Does that uncertainty come through as a challenge for GCS and, if so, how?
Speaker 3:No for me. For me, this issue with the front and all that for me is not a worry. We have a very contingency plan for events to be able to continue in Gibraltar. Whether it's bringing an affair from Morocco or bringing a state from Portugal, we will bring it. The events will continue in Gibraltar.
Speaker 1:Shall we go on?
Speaker 3:Yeah, the show must go on, come on see a Freddie Mercury. What, for me, is one of the biggest challenges that we face? It's always a venue. It's always a venue because we have our own venues, like I've already mentioned, the D'Amico Schoen, the theater in Sassoual, and I mean the opening of the theater, which belongs to environment, but we also use. We have different venues around town, like Cays Street and the Piazza. But what happens when we want to go to a major event? What do you do.
Speaker 3:The Victoria State venue is going to be refurbished and you want to bring an artist over. What do you do? You kind of use sometimes the Europa Sports Complex because it's used for sporting activities in general and we also don't want to do major sports and cultural events in an arena, and then after that the sporting fraternity that you want to close it down for three weeks because you're going to bring nine lodges and a medal. So it's a balance. So, venues are always a major issue.
Speaker 1:Venues and logistics, booking everyone in. How do you get around that?
Speaker 3:There are different things that I've always advocated to and always called for a new state of the art cultural facilities, which we are already working on with the National Theater Project, and then also, I also asked for a multi-purpose arena. It needs to be a multi-purpose arena in the same way that you have in many other countries around the world, where you do all your events there, so that we don't have to close down Territory Sports or Europa Sports Complex or Special Olympics hall as well, which is sometimes used for events. That is, for me, some of the solution, but obviously it needs to be invested into.
Speaker 1:But of course that's a huge challenge. But you know, with everything you're running you seem to be doing fine already. Yeah, yeah, yeah, we'll try. We'll try, seamus. We talked a lot about work and kind of everything that's happening with GCS Outside of work. What keeps you motivated?
Speaker 3:My kids for sure, very impressed. So after children who are very involved like me in the community, who are very involved like me in sports, but then they have, they're doing very well in education, I say I'm out of it. And then obviously my football as well. I mean I'm very, very active as well in the community doing charity work and my football as well. I've got 16 football teams.
Speaker 1:How do you get that? I guess you must wake up.
Speaker 3:No idea, no idea, no idea, no idea.
Speaker 3:But I see my friends call me Cinderella because I like to go to bed early, I wake up early, I'm more and more in person, but yeah, that keeps me motivated, it keeps me going, because what I learned from the New York City Service as well, is about the community service, providing a service to that community, which is one of the advice that I would give everybody. When you do something, always do it without asking for anything in return. That's advice that I would give anybody who wants to do any project, whether it's especially when you're doing voluntary service and voluntary work. You'll never be doing anything, but I'll say you always do it out of the heart, out of the goodwill, whether it's for culture, whether it's in sports, because that's what we have to try and do. I produced one of my ideas when I came into CEO, which my development team do is the youth that's jambering, because we have a duty to create those cultural leaders of tomorrow those youth leaders of tomorrow, those heritage leaders of tomorrow, and surface that with young people right, yes, of course.
Speaker 3:That's why I mean, during February and March, our emphasis on our cultural projects and more care for young people, because it's creating those leaders of tomorrow. Because when I look back in 10 years time, in very time, who's going to be the next cultural leader in Gibraltar? Who's going to be the next Gibraltar cultural director? And, in the same way, how are those young people going to be involved in other projects, whether it's the Scouts, the Youth Service, nautilus Project?
Speaker 1:I think the idea of industry and I think you're not unique in the fact of trying to engage younger people in I think, getting people inspired, in whichever sector, is super, super important. I know there's a lot of work from the GFSB the Young Enterprise and a lot of other things as well. So, yes, absolutely, seamus. The final one and you've actually answered it which was what advice would you give to someone who's starting out their career? Or some advice that you've got that you couldn't have done without.
Speaker 3:Well, the biggest advice that I was given is the one that I'm already mentioned Do things you love asking for anything written. That's the best advice that I've been given by Roma Balmán and I carry it throughout my life. The same way I tell everybody in my team. The same way I tell every young people that wants to work with us or anyone who wants to work with Gibraltar cultural services or with me personally. Any of my projects is doing things without asking for anything written and also, as Gibraltar cultural services as well, offering those opportunities. We need to offer those opportunities. We need to export a lot abroad and do things without any financial gain, because there's more to culture than any financial gain. And providing those values, whether you're working with us as a subcontractor, whether you're part of the business industry or whether you just go and attend an event, because everybody will be enriched in one way or another. Brilliant.
Speaker 1:Shemad, thanks for coming in and thanks for your time today.
Speaker 3:Thank you for having me and I hope, like I said before, that we are able to work with the business community at large and be able to produce more things together, because, at the end of the day, it's about Gibraltar.
Speaker 1:Brilliant. Thank you, you know, thank you.
Speaker 2:GFSB Member Spotlight.
Speaker 1:So this part of the show is where we invite one of our members to introduce their business. So, mj, it's great to have you here on the podcast.
Speaker 2:Yeah, thanks so much, david. So I'm MJ from MJ Nutrition and I work out a Radiance Clinic here in Gibraltar.
Speaker 1:So tell me a bit about Radiance Clinic.
Speaker 2:So Radiance Clinic is a fully licensed establishment, is fully licensed by the OFT and the Medical Board, and we offer a full range of aesthetics and holistic services, including a holistic GP, addictions therapist, counseling and something like myself which is a nutritional therapist, and I work as part of the Complementary Natural Healthcare Council. So I'm fully compliant as well and registered in the UK.
Speaker 1:So tell me about your practice.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so as a nutritional therapist, I support people basically in their health and wellness journey. I have a unique twist on it because I was a chef for 25 years, so I not only support people with various medical conditions, their medications and knowing how to adjust their diet and lifestyle to have better health, but I can also make it more obtainable by giving them tips and tricks right at home in the kitchen, so that they can actually walk away with a plan and be successful for, basically, for their life.
Speaker 1:So how important. Obviously you're going to be biased, but how important is nutrition to us functioning well?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so people really don't realize that if they have low energy or fatigue or maybe they're feeling depressed, like so many things actually come down to us looking after our bodies and feeding them, we may actually forget to eat some days and we just don't see that impact on our health. Now, long term it can cause different symptoms, but even in short term, if you're not eating well, you can have headaches, you can be dehydrated, and all of that impacts both your work and your overall wellness.
Speaker 1:Okay, so thank you. Last bit, because we're running out of time, because this is a mini segment and they feel that we could talk for a whole episode. So maybe we'll come back in a different season, but how can our listeners get in touch?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so Radiance Clinic is located at 17 Turnbulls Lane and we can be found on Instagram at Radiance Clinic. You can find myself at MJ Nutrition and Lifestyle, and Radiance Clinic's phone number is 222-55730.
Speaker 1:Thanks, mj, and I hope to see you again sometime.
Speaker 2:Thanks so much.
Speaker 1:And that's a wrap for this episode of the Gibraltar Business Podcast. Thank you to our guests Seamus Byrne from Gibraltar Cultural Services and MJ Fiek from Radiance Clinic. Thank you to the team at the GFSB, our sponsor, the Gibraltar International Bank, to Matthew for editing this so professionally each week, and to everyone who contributes to the project and keeps it going from strength to strength. I hope you enjoyed listening and you can catch up on any episodes you've missed any time you like. So it's a goodbye from me till next week. Until then, keep focused on your journey and reach for your goals. See you very, very soon.