User:Lmon123/Leona O'Neill

Leona O'Neill is a Northern Irish journalist and weekly columnist with the Irish News. She started her career as a news reporter in the Newry Democrat newspaper, before moving on to become a senior news journalist in the Andersonstown News bi-weekly publication in Belfast. She joined the Irish News in 2001 and was Deputy Chief Sub-Editor there before starting her own publishing house - Zero Seven Media - which produced Northern Ireland glossy titles such as Citizen Magazine and ID. She has been writing a hugely successful weekly column in the Irish News charting the adventures of her family since 2004. In 2011 she set up Northern Ireland's first independent online breaking news service - Newswireni.com - servicing the north west of Ireland, attracting some 150,000 visitors per week at home and across the world. She regularly works with schools and colleges, trained young journalists in the BBC School Report and managed the Journalism Department during the BBCR1 Academy in Derry in 2013. She has been heading up the Verbal Groups's Marketing and PR department since April 2013 and currently teaches Journalism, Media Production and Communication in the centre's School of Journalism. She is married to photographer Brendan O'Neill and has four children, all of whom regularly appear in the columns of the Irish News. She contributes regularly to the Derry Journal and BBC media outlets.