Tech entrepreneur Peggy O’Flaherty launched her first business venture when she was a little girl in second grade. Peggy was the youngest of ten kids and would hit her mom up for money to buy candy and mom told her, “Money doesn’t grow on trees!”
So Peggy would search through the couch cushions hunting for change that might have fallen from pockets but finally “I went to all my brothers and sisters and asked them for any of the trinkets in their rooms, and I filled it all into my wagon, and I went up and down the street and I asked all the neighbors to buy things from my wagon, and I emptied the entire wagon and came back and told my mom, “Well I can buy some things at the store now!”
And mom said, “Perfect, you figured out how to make money!”
Peggy's been on the hustle ever since.
Whether she was putting on shows for the kids on her block growing up, re-enacting The Sound of Music or opening her own resale shop while out in the world, getting married and while having kids, she loved the action.
“And then I started a mom blog and then it just took off from there.”
In the meantime she had five kids of her own and started “crushing it” with the blog, telling stories about everyday women, “the real mom in the kitchen with the spaghetti on her shirt”.
With her kids, 2023
E-Commerce came calling when Peggy O’Flaherty figured out she was an “influencer” and a voice for women with kids, who could relate to her tales of boggle, braids and brands.
“I was proud of myself. I was able to buy Christmas presents with cash. I didn’t want to put it on a credit card. My goal was just to help our family. I just wanted to help offset the cost of raising a family and lift the burden of paying our bills.”
Meanwhile, the worldwide web was starting to notice Peggy O’Flaherty.
“So I went back to school and got a coaching certificate, because I wanted to help other moms do what I’m doing. So I got certified in how to help other moms start small online businesses.”
2020 in Rome with Pegy, Shane, Grania, Enya, Cillian, Liadan, and Orla
It was about this time, 2011, that Peggy really started “crushing it”, She was capitalizing on her moxie and her mom-army and creating communities of tech savvy professional women with families.
That year she founded “Creating Space,” a consulting and coaching business supporting women. Then she started a communications tool, the “One-Parish app,” a tech gizmo for churches to capitalize on donations and building community for 200 active parishes with over 200,000 users. The One-Parish platform was “acquired” in 2017.
Peggy is now my resident “start-up” genius pal and go-to-gal for all things techno. She’s a Distinguished Fellow at The Busch School of Business at Catholic University of America where her bio states: “Peggy co-founded the Mavely platform to help brands lower their customer acquisition and increase their customer lifetime value by leveraging communal commerce and proprietary technology that converts everyday consumers into a virtual salesforce for brands.”
I don’t know what the hell that means but it’s gotta be good because Mavely was “acquired” as well, and for big bucks!
At a recent Cubs game
Peggy is now involved in another start-up, Vinly, which is very much in its infancy. Peggy tells me “Vinly is a vine, connecting us for better conversation with AI doing the heavy lifting.”
She confesses that two years ago she had no idea what AI was, but “I am the queen of jumping into things that I have no idea about.”
She speaks of charisms, gifts of the Holy Spirit.
The roots of Peggy O’Flaherty’s “charism” began with the community of fighting Irish Notre Dame alums and friends, in the heart of Irish American pride, the golden dome of our Blessed Mother. Peggy became their cheerleader and the glue of their online alumni community as she explored the ND online world of folks, just talking family and faith.
Peggy with her daughter Orla
On Saint Patrick's Day Peggy makes over 200 loaves of Irish Soda Bread and gives them to her kids who bestow the bread on teachers, friends, and neighbors. That’s kind of what she does in the tech world.
Any advice for fellow women entrepreneurs?
“They should connect with me on Vinly. I would be happy to help coach, mentor, or encourage any female founder…because it’s important that we reach out and lift other women up.”
Peggy O’Flaherty: charismatic!
