Ian Whelan joined us earlier this year as Chief Operations Officer. You may have seen his face around at our sites and he has been a perfect addition to the Fad Saoil family!
Apart from his witty Cork humour and fantastic moustache, he is also hugely community focused. With that being said, we thought it was time ye got to know him a bit more…
I first began talking with Fad Saoil while I was climbing Kilimanjaro in Tanzania about a community manager role at the start of the year. I knew of Steve our director through mutual friends in rugby but never crossed paths until that first meeting and the rest as they say is history!
It’s such an exciting role which I honestly love jumping out of bed for each morning! It’s a far reaching role but it’s mostly making sure the business day to day is running smoothly, a mix of problem-solving, optimising systems, on-site visits, turning strategic goals into actions and most importantly the customer experience aspect!
Everyone at Fad Saoil shares the same drive to make a real difference in people’s health, and that collaborative energy has been both inspiring and rewarding. The most rewarding part has been seeing how our work at Fad Saoil genuinely impacts people’s health and wellbeing, it’s incredibly fulfilling. It’s a reminder of why we do what we do.
Also, I have also been lucky enough to travel around the world to learn about different sauna cultures around the world, such as the homeland of sauna in Finland which has really inspired me and I can’t wait to go back already!
I have loved the opportunity to grow our team and sites as we expand, it is such an exciting time for our business.
Evening wind down definitely, a few years ago I would have been the opposite! But I now love a late sauna, not too hot temperate wise, add some lavender oil and you’ll sleep like a baby!
My approach now is much more holistic focused rather than specific recovery aspects, I come from a sports background myself and my degrees are in sports science & nutrition.
Other than being a sauna junkie! I love the community that Fad Saoil is built around, I know community is an over-used word but it’s really the people involved and our guests, it’s social in just a really natural way, the environment created just has a bit of magic about it. The conversations you strike up, the intense heat, the cold… I could go on and on……
Listen to your body is my top tip, it’s the most important aspect of this practice in my opinion! some days you can do more than others and that’s alright.
