In episode 336 of The Just Checking In Podcast we checked in with Sam Lehane.
Sam is an entrepreneur, former business owner and former employee of Virgin StartUp, where he worked during two separate periods.
In-between all of that, he co-founded a creative events & wellbeing business called Make Your Own (M.Y.O) alongside his wife Diana, which they ran together from 2017-2025, until they exited and sold it.
In this episode we chart Sam’s professional journey, from starting out in KPMG in their Dublin offices, moving to London, starting his own business alongside his wife and being inspired by his father, who ran his own business for over 30 years.
We also discuss his work with start up businesses with Virgin and working with Richard Branson, where he is in 2026 where he could be unemployed for the first time, and the identity issues he has been managing as a result.
For Sam’s mental health journey, we discuss the life and death of his dad, who died from bowel cancer on 4th September 2014. We talk about the influence he had on his life, the way Sam handled the grief and how he moved forward from that point.
We also talk about how following the Covid-19 pandemic, Sam was much more proactive in developing his mental toolbox, which involved him trying various things to figure out what worked for him and what didn’t, and using those in the future when he experienced mental health dips.
We finish by discussing the role his wife plays in supporting his mental health, fatherhood, which he was due to become at the time of recording and this new chapter of his life.
As always, #itsokaytovent
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