How agreeable are you?
I think I go with the flow quite a lot. At work, I’m agreeable until I really want to do something, and I’ll make sure that gets done. Ultimately, I would say I’m agreeable unless I’m pushed too much.
What’s your middle name and what do you think of it?
I’m Naomi Therese Marcella. My mother wasn’t sure what to call me. I think she picked out Naomi first and then thought if people didn’t like it, we could go with Therese. Marcella was my dad’s mom’s name, and that was picked to maybe ingratiate me in the will, but I didn’t get anything!
Where is your favourite place in Ireland?
Naul, my home in Fingal, Co Dublin, where we’ve spent 20 years refurbishing a lovely old cottage that we have extended, renovated and put our own touches to. Naul is a sleepy village, pretty, untouched. Everyone knows everybody, so you can walk into the village pub or the Séamus Ennis Arts Centre at any time, and there’s someone that you know. I love it.
Describe yourself in three words.
Creative. Chaos. Co-ordinator.
RM Block
When did you last get angry?
My husband may have seen me angry twice, my friends would probably have never seen me angry, and at work, rarely. If I do, it’s usually because someone has been unfair or someone has been hurt. I never like to waste my energy on anger, so it’s very rare. It takes a lot to wind me up. You have to really annoy me.
What have you lost that you would like to have back?
When you’re in your 20s, you’re totally bulletproof, and you don’t have to think twice about anything. I’d still be a little bit like that, but not as much as I used to be. I’d love to go back to having no fear of anything.
What is your strongest childhood memory?
We grew up in Portmarnock, and my dad worked for a plastics factory; they made sturdy, thick bags for fuel like peat and coal. When I was about six, my brothers put me into one of them, tied the top with a big rope, tied the rope at the top of a tree and then launched me out. I’d go spinning around and around the tree until the bag whacked into it, and then I would spin back again. I think that’s where I got the adrenaline buzz. Every photograph from that summer in the family album is of me in the bag!
Where do you come in your family’s birth order, and has it defined you?
Being the baby of six has absolutely defined me. By the time I arrived, my parents had almost completely given up on discipline. That didn’t work with the first five, so why bother with me? The fact that there were six kids meant you had to share – not only food and clothes but also love, kindness and generosity, all of which my mother instilled in us. My family gave me creativity, fearlessness, compassion, empathy and fairness.
What do you expect to happen when you die?
I would hope you get to see all the people you’ve lost, to hang out with them and have good fun.
When were you happiest?
I’m always happy, genuinely. I had a great childhood. I loved school. I still have friends that I was in kindergarten with. I boarded at Drogheda Grammar School, and I have great friends from there, too. Then, at 20, I met my business partners at the recording studio, which is where I met my husband. I’m now in a more reflective period where I’m happy to have chats in old pubs rather than going out clubbing. I’m always happy at whatever stage I’m at. I think I was born under a lucky star.
Which actor would play you in a biopic about your life?
I’d love Rosanna Arquette to do it. She could put on an Irish accent. I’ve always liked her and kind of identified with her for some reason.
What’s your biggest career/personal regret?
It’s boring, but I don’t have any at all. In my personal life, I’ve always seemed to fall into a lucky space. I have great relationships with my family and my friends, and I’ve a wonderful husband. Career-wise, it’s the same. I’m in a job that changes constantly, and I’ve had the opportunity to work with a broad range of people, all the way from Bon Jovi and 50 Cent to Hozier and Lewis Capaldi.
Have you any psychological quirks?
I probably have lots, but my main one is that I can’t eat carrots unless they’re cooked whole and roasted. If they’re boiled, I won’t eat them – I can’t even stand the smell of them – and if they’re chopped in circles, I can’t eat them, either.
In conversation with Tony Clayton-Lea
