Professor Katriona O'Sullivan

But I also had another voice, Ray.

And I don't know if that's like, I always think it comes from books and stories.

And I always had another voice that would be like, you're amazing.

You're going to be, you know, you're so bright.

You know, there was other voices that were placed in me.

I think so.

I think the biggest loss of my life, I don't know if that's a bit dramatic now, but one was when I got pregnant with John and that went.

So as a little girl, I was like, and I don't know if it was my dad had notions or it was reading stories or just spirit, just what we were born with, all of us.

But I remember vividly my next door neighbour, the Cavanaghs, looking at the little girl and her mum and her mum loving her and thinking,

I deserve that as well.

Like, I deserve to have the same as her.

You know, I am as good as her.

Why do I not have that?

With all the other thoughts of, there's something wrong with you, you're not good enough, pissy pants, smelly knickers, I still have this strong sense that this is wrong.

You know, the complicated things about my childhood and my family are, like, my mum and dad were very vocal people.

You know, we were all really loud and outgoing.

And so like we'd row and fight, but we, you know, so like there was a part of me that was encouraged to kind of fight for what was mine.

So like in the middle of all the madness, there was also me being encouraged to say, this is not right.

This is not right.

So, but I think when you're introduced to the world, right, you see what is right.