Pauline McCarthy
Pauline McCarthy
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Pauline McCarthy was born in Glasgow, Scotland in 1960 into a family of Irish descent and is the 3rd of 10 siblings. She studied Medical Laboratory Science in Glasgow College of Technology and worked in the Pathology and Cytology laboratory of Stobhill
Hospital in Glasgow, Scotland for 7 years. She also studied Drama, Theater and Art at Glasgow Arts Centre. From early childhood Pauline was singing and performing wherever she could, alway trying to bring a smile to folk.
Pauline was raised by her parents to care for folk, especially those in difficult situations and so has been volunteering much of her life with different NGO’s, religious organisations and even starting many of her own volunteer projects around the world i.e. Working with orphans in post communist Bulgaria, starting a project to “baby-sit” for single mothers in the Glasgow area to give them some breathing time, running the multicultural Society of New Icelanders to help immigrants learn about and adapt to life in Iceland, opening her home at Christmas to all those who would otherwise be alone at Christmas, to name but a few. She was awarded the Hvundagshétjan (Everyday Hero) prize in 2012 by the Icelandic Newspaper Fréttablaðið and was presented with the award by the President of Iceland for all the charity and volunteer work she has done in Icelandic society. She is also one of the authors in a collection of real stories in the book “The Courage to ……. “ where she discusses her experiences in the Speak Out Loud campaign in which she talks about sexual violence in society and how women (and men) have traditionally been too embarrassed to talk about it in society and even within their family or with close friends and how without talking about it, these vile acts will continue to be perpetrated.
At the age of 52 while going through menopause, Pauline established a small souvenir company in Iceland, proving that we are never to old (or young) to start our own business. Throughout her menopause journey Pauline determined that now the nest was getting emptied it was time for her to get back to “her” life and learned oil painting. She also decided it was time to put her passion of performing, singing and acting, centre stage and open the doors of the taboo closet of menopause and bring it out into the open and so started a fun one woman show The Pearls of Pauline – Pearls of Wisdom, Compassion & Joy for Menopausal Woman which she has had the honour of performing in several countries including Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Scotland, England, and the USA . In her mid 50’s she started and hosted the Menopause Morph podcast. Pauline also teaches Public Speaking and is prone to giving lectures to Corporations and small businesses on how to assist their menopausal staff during their transition.
Pauline is married to a wonderful Icelandic man and has 2 grown sons who have flown the nest. She currently lives much of the year in Iceland and Bulgaria when she is not traveling the world entertaining and educating menopausal women and their families and their work places. Pauline believes that humour (yes that is the way Brits spell it 🙂 ) is the best medicine and so incorporates a lot of fun and laughter into her life and performances. Pauline’s father’s motto is: If a thing is worth doing, it is worth doing well” Pauline’s motto is: If a thing is worth doing it is worth laughing through it 🙂