What We Know Now! : Lessons on Love, Life, Loss and Friendship

In the course of a twenty-year friendship, podcasters Jenny Kelly and Mairead Ronan have experienced single life, career highs, break-ups, make-ups, marriages, divorce, motherhood, death, diets, hair styles, stress, ageing, lifestyle dilemmas, sadness and lots and lots of good times too. Of a middling age, and after years of talking (and cups of tea), they no longer sweat the small stuff. What We Know Now! is full of their down-to-earth advice on the serious (and sometimes funny) business of life.

Inspired by their own life experiences, Jenny and Mairead share their failures, successes and mess-ups. They share how to navigate the ebbs and flows of proper grown-up friendships, to what it means to be in a relationship and how to read the signs of when to move on, to how to stop worrying about having it all and figure out what it is you actually want – as well as essential truths, like why you will never have Pocahontas hair and that’s okay, the joy of a deep clean and the noise of a spray mop, and how staring at trees can make you happier than owning a Mulberry handbag. What We Know Now! doesn’t claim to solve all your problems, but it will provide good company, give you a good laugh, and help you feel less alone through the unavoidable ups and downs of life.

Jenny and Mairead’s friendship began over twenty years ago when they met working on Today FM’s hugely popular Ray D’Arcy Show. Jenny has worked in Irish radio for over 20 years. Before joining the Ray D’Arcy Show, she worked on The Gerry Ryan Show on 2FM and on East Coast Radio. While on Today FM, she won numerous radio awards with the team. Jenny co-presented the ‘Fix-It Friday’ slot every week and, with her cupid wings on, she was responsible for getting many listeners together. A career highlight was singing ‘Happy Birthday’ to Roger Moore. She stepped back from daily radio life in 2017.

Like Jenny, Mairead has worked in radio for over 20 years, spending 12 of those with The Ray D’Arcy Show. Mairead went on to produce The Ian Dempsey Breakfast Show on Today FM, and she has presented Ireland’s Fittest Family on RTÉ for ten years. She was crowned champion of RTÉ’s Dancing With The Stars in 2019, after which she returned to Today FM to host Lunchtime with Mairead Ronan. She pressed pause on her radio life in December of 2021 to spend more time with her young family. Mairead is also co-founder of haircare brand FARO.

Together Jenny and Mairead present and produce the podcast Jenny and Mairead Now. This is their first book together.