This week on Bay Business, Breda Fox is joined by entrepreneur Aoife Cheung.
Aoife Cheung is a proud Mayo woman whose career has taken one of the most joyful and unexpected paths in the Bay Business series. A beauty therapy graduate of Galway Technical Institute, she joined the PorterShed innovation hub in 2018 and has been at the centre of operations ever since — as Facilities Manager and Events Coordinator, she is the welcoming face and organisational heartbeat of one of Ireland's most celebrated innovation communities.
Along the way, Aoife built a TikTok following of over 20,000 people by sharing her passion for cooking — specifically the bold, fun, Asian-Irish flavours she grew up with, inspired by her chef father. When her audience kept asking where she got her rice cooker, she didn't just answer the question — she spent months developing her own, launched a kitchen product brand called KOOKD by Aoifs, and went on sale in March 2026 to an overwhelming response.
As if that wasn't enough, Aoife was simultaneously one of the eight finalists in RTÉ Today's inaugural TV Home Cook competition.
In this episode, Aoife talks about identity, creativity, the PorterShed community, building a business from a TikTok audience, and what it takes to back yourself.
Galway 360 on Galway Bay FM
Discover Galway through a fresh daily lens with Galway 360, a series of themed 10-minute segments airing every weekday as part of FYI Galway at 5:45pm, with extended podcast versions available on our app and website. From business and tech to youth culture and Irish language stories, each feature brings you closer to the people, ideas, and events shaping Galway today.
