Young Difference Makers: Sophie Sweeney On Education, Courage, And A Human-Centred Accounting Career

A teenage mum, a bus to Galway, and a toddler in the back row of a lecture hall—this is where Sophie Sweeney’s story begins. That early proximity to learning didn’t just open a door; it rewired what a career could be. We sit down with Sophie, a lecturer at the University of Galway and a member of Chartered Accountants Ireland, to explore how a love for numbers became a mission to serve people through education, mentorship, and purpose-driven accounting.

Sophie shares how structure became her launchpad. The chartered pathway offered clarity—training contracts, exams, professional standards—while her curiosity turned financial statements into narratives that reveal choices, risk, and values. When the day-to-day of practice no longer aligned with her desire for visible impact, she followed the signal toward lecturing. In the classroom, technical rigour meets empathy, and the ripple effect is real: one educator can equip hundreds of future professionals to combine accuracy with ethics and to measure what truly matters.

Fresh from the One Young World Summit, Sophie reflects on the power of networks, representation, and stepping onto big stages with grounded pride. Carrying the Irish flag and connecting with delegates from around the world, she absorbed a simple mandate: you don’t need to fix every problem; you need to leverage your position to move good work forward. We talk imposter syndrome, how to claim belonging without losing humility, and why time pressure—from motherhood to research goals—can sharpen ambition. Looking ten years ahead, Sophie sees a human-centred academic career, a completed PhD, and a community of former students who return with stories of impact.

If you’re curious about purpose in accounting, the value of professional qualifications, or how education can multiply social change, this conversation is for you. Subscribe, share with a friend who needs encouragement, and leave a review with the moment that hit home for you.

Chapters

• 0:00 Human-Centred Career Mission
• 0:21 Meet Sophie Sweeney
• 0:52 Mother’s Story And Early Hardship
• 2:36 Growing Up On Campus
• 4:00 School Drive And Love Of Accounting
• 5:10 University And Chartered Path
• 6:47 From Practice To Purpose
• 7:36 Discovering Lecturing
• 8:40 One Young World Impact
• 10:32 Lessons On Networks And Belonging
• 12:02 Time, Motherhood, And Ambition
• 12:50 A Decade Ahead: Dr Sweeney’s Vision

Transcript

Sophie Sweeney: 0:00

What I want to do with my academic career is to make sure that it is all human-centered, that I'm leveraging the accountancy skills that I have to really make again make the world a better place and keep empowering young people. Hi, my name is Sophie Sweeney. I am a lecturer at the University of Galway and a member of Chartered Accountants Ireland. But that's what makes stories beautiful, is everyone is so unique in how they got here. But what unites us is our membership. So education has been a very important part of my life. My mother had me at 17 years old, and she has been my biggest inspiration. And when she had me, she was, you know, told that this was so embarrassing. She was ashamed of the family. She ended up leaving school and kind of you know putting me first, right? And she she worked jobs constantly to buy me milk, and and she always says this. She um went into hospital, uh, gave birth to me, and she didn't even have a nappy. And the the midwife in in hospital said, But where's her clothes? You know, are you gonna breastfeed? Blah blah blah. And she says, I have no idea. She was on her own, totally isolated. And five months later, my dad died. Now they weren't together, um, but even further, she just was completely isolated. Fast forward, then you know, a few months later, she said, actually, I'm gonna go back to school. I am going to get an education and I'm gonna provide the best life for me and Sophie. And she did that. She got the highest result for essentially her A levels. Um, out of her year, she got the third highest out of everyone in the class who sat the exams that year, um and she was the first in her family to go to university. And I was two years old, and the two of us got on a bus from very North Ireland, Donegal, down to Galway, and she brought me to university. So I went to university at two years old, and I I used to sit at the back of the lecture theatres with her, um, and she'd bring me into computer rooms, and I remember going on these like big white old computers and her printing colouring pages for me, and I would have do beautiful colours, and and I was like famous around the university, and people still to this day who know my mom say, I remember you know, this little two-year-old following you around, um, we were we were connected at the hip. That sense of the importance of education was just there from the very beginning, and it was the greatest gift she ever gave me was motivating me to create, you know, a future for herself, a future for me, and give us the best opportunities. She worked multiple jobs. She used to ask her her college friends to babysit me, and actually, myself, my mom, and her best friend slept in a very small double bed for over a year during that time. So it was really tough, but I still remember it as like so much fun, like what an experience. She did, you know, her third-level qualifications. We moved back to Donegal. I started in into you know my own kind of education journey in school, and it was it was you know great. I loved it, but I always find I was not challenged enough. My brain couldn't function. I was always searching for more. I had this hunger for education. And when I started in secondary school, I loved business. It was just something that connected with me. I saw the value and the power that businesses had, and especially from an accounting side, I thought of it as you know, this is like telling stories, telling stories with numbers. Um and for some reason, because there's nobody in my family that's an accountant, but for some reason I was like, I really, really like this, and I'm so good at it. I used to have a friend who'd sit beside me. So we used to race to see who could complete our accounts the fastest, and my teachers used to be like, Sophie, stop doing so much work, stop doing so much homework. So I'd get my homework done in school, and then I'd be asking for more work. I was that person that used to say to the teacher, uh, you forgot to give us homework. So I I loved education, um, went and did my my final um again kind of my leaving search as we have in Ireland, and I remember arguing with um kind of the the career guidance counsellors saying, So you need to pick a science subject, you have to do a science subject, you're closing off the doors, you know. And I said, Nope, not doing it. And they were like that, you're gonna regret this now. So I did business, accountancy, and economics. I got my first preference in the university course that I wanted, which ended up being um a course in the exact same university that my mom brought me to. And it was a beautiful full circle moment of me sitting in the lecture halls that I sat in, you know, 20 years or even 16 years previous as a as a two-year-old. And proceeding then, you know, specializing in accountancy, and and what I love about the profession is the the kind of career path is set for you. Um, of course, you have the ability to to do whatever, but you know, the exams with Chartered Accountants Ireland, um, I love structure, and structure works for me, and having that structure of go into practice, enter this contract, um, sit your exams, and and the world is your oyster then, and it is the best training ground, and and I absolutely loved it. Um, but then I was like, it's not fulfilling me. Um, you know, I I I saw the value in my qualification as a chartered accountant, and I didn't want to, you know, be doing these accounts and tax returns for for the wealthy companies. I wanted to do something different, I wanted to help individual people, not you know, just talking on emails about okay, our profit margins. Um, it just wasn't fulfilling for me. So I kind of found my way into education. I was asked, would you be interested, Sophie? We we we kind of see that you might be good at lecturing. I'm good at talking, and I I'm really good at kind of disseminating really difficult and complex ideas and and making them um approachable for people who who maybe don't understand. And and someone saw saw that in me. It was a partner in in KPMG and he recommended me and I got a part-time lecturing role. Um, started that during COVID, and again, that was the university that I went to when I was two year old, two years old, and I just loved that story of my life and my mom's life being interconnected and just coming full circle. And now everything I do is is just pushing that education is the best power you have. Um, and and the thing that that really kind of brought me along, especially after I finished university, was getting my chartered accountants qualification because there's nothing I can't do now. The the One Young World Summit and um being here, what I expected versus reality, it's really like Instagram versus reality, it's so much better. It's so hard to explain how impactful, how inspiring it is, and how grounding it actually is. Um being chosen as Chartered Star and getting to come here and you know having that my professional body support me, so we believe in you, we believe in the work you're doing, we believe that you know you are the right person to represent us. Um and then also getting chosen to fly the Irish flag was just I mean the icing on top. Um it was amazing. There was over 190 delegates chosen from each of their countries, and I've met and spoken to people that I probably never ever would have um met, you know, from countries that I mean I probably didn't even know existed, and it was it was so lovely to to have conversations and hear people's experiences, but that flag-bearing ceremony walking across the stage where you have the most influential people, um, and I shared a stage with them, and I remember sitting down after and I got so teary-eyed, I was like, I'm so proud of myself. I was like, I can't believe I just did that. That was amazing. There's definitely a lot of key lessons that I'm gonna take home to to not just my students, but to I definitely think my colleagues will really benefit from from hearing a lot because they are in positions of power, and I don't think we utilize especially chartered accountability worldwide um as a professional body. So um bringing back that networking and connections, um, the impact, but also that you don't have to solve all the problems, you just have to use your position. Um, and that was Sir What Sir Bob Galduff talked about was that you know he knew something needed to be done, he didn't know how to do it, but what he said was how can he leverage his position, his network, um, and I think we need to just keep that at the forefront of our mind that you know we all have our skills, we don't all need to be the same, we don't need to be doing the same things, we just need to to come together and and work as a team and be collegial. Um, and also I feel like a big lesson I've learned is that you know, and it can be kind of hard because you're in the room with like these amazing people and you get a bit of imposter syndrome, but that you know, I deserve to be here. So I think from a personal aspect, it's again it's that pride in myself and the pride in what I'm doing and and the influence I have over all my students, um, to motivate them is gonna make the world a better place for for not just themselves but for my children, for their children, for future generations. Um, and it's just been so inspiring here. Yeah, I think of 10 years' time, and I think of my daughter being 12 years old, 13 years old, and going into the teenage years, and that is so scary. But time is flying. And I feel like the older I get, the more I feel like the days are are going so quickly. And I always say to to new mothers, a lot of my friends have just become mothers, and I say to them, you know, when they're up late at night with their their children, and I say the days are long but the years are short, and I'm really seeing that not just you know, personally as a mother, but also in my career, and it's very easy to push things out and say, Oh, I'll get to that, I'll get to that. Um and you know, I procrastinated applying for my PhD, and this year I finally did it, and definitely in 10 years' time I will be Dr. Sweeney, and I'm so excited for that. Um but what I want to do with you know my academic career is to make sure that it is all human-centered, that I'm leveraging the accountancy skills that I have to really make again make the world a better place and keep you know um empowering young people. I really do believe I will still be in that university. I will still be standing up, teaching, motivating, and I really hope in 10 years' time that some of the students that I have taught in the past come back and I get to hear their stories and and maybe hear how I was, you know, a trusted person in their life that motivated them to take their career path. Um so I hope that you know I stay on this path and that I can continue bringing people together and motivating people.