UX and Interaction Designer at BNP Paribas Securities Services
County Kildare
One-On-One with Tiffany
Could you tell us a bit more about yourself, your job and how long you’ve lived in County Kildare?
I was born and raised in the Philippines, moved to Singapore in my late 20s, before coming to Ireland in my early 30s. I used to work in marketing and graphic design but made a career shift to digital product design when I joined a Dublin-based UX agency in 2016. I’ve been living in Kildare for a couple of years now.
What attracted you to living and working in Kildare ?
My husband and I moved to Kildare about a month after our little girl was born (lesson learned: do not move houses when you have a newborn).
What attracted us to living in Kildare was it seemed like a nice place for young families. And it is. When I was on maternity leave, I met new people through local mother and baby groups and we are still in touch to this day.
The town we live in is also not too far from Dublin, where my husband and I both work.
Can you walk us through a day in the life of living in Co. Kildare ?
The majority of our stay here has been during lockdown. The beauty of working from home is I get to spend more time in the morning with my child and not rushing around getting ready to leave for work. I try to go for a walk as much as I can on my lunch break or after work. There’s the Royal Canal Greenway or sitting at the Harbour. Once a week I also go for circus fit classes, where I do strength and conditioning exercises on the trapeze, gymnastic rings, and corde lisse (rope).
How would you describe transport within Kildare ? Is it easy to get around ?
The town I’m in has direct buses to Dublin. There’s also the train station, where I can take the DART to Dublin or the Iarnród Éireann to Sligo. There are cycling lanes around town as well.
How fast/reliable is your home internet connection ?
Funnily enough, I only tether to the internet from my phone. But I heard Virgin Media is the best one in my area.
Can you tell us about some of your favourite locations or attractions within Kildare ?
Clonfert Pet Farm is great if you have kids. Carton House Golf Club also has lovely walking trails. The oldest tree in Ireland is also in Kildare. But my favourite thing to do is actually picking blackberries along the canal or around Castletown House in late summer.
What advice do you have for individuals or families interested in relocating to Kildare ?
Join your town or estate’s online community groups. There are often relevant announcements like craft markets, road closures, or service interruptions (e.g. water repairs, etc.) or simply updates from the councillors. It’s also a good way to meet like-minded people – I’ve seen people send open invites to capoeira classes, couch to 5K, and playing board games.
Join local swap and recycle groups. This is a good place to get things for free as well as to pay it forward to someone who needs them, in the spirit of sustainability. This is especially handy if you have a toddler like me who easily gets bored of toys. I get a “new” one and put the old one back to the group for someone else.
Get a car. Public transport is not too bad, but it can be a pain if you need to go somewhere like CityWest because you have to go into Dublin.
Thank you very much Tiffany for taking the time to talk with us and thank you for representing Co. Kildare as a Rural Ireland Tech Advocate.
Rural Ireland Tech Advocates 