Úna-Minh Kavanagh


Úna-Minh Kavanagh, is a travel writer, journalist, and social media manager.

Biography

Úna-Minh Kavanagh was born in Vietnam in 1991 and three days later met her future mother Nóirín Kavanagh in Hanoi. Nóirín was a primary school teacher from Tralee, County Kerry. She was brought home to Ireland at six weeks. Kavanagh was raised there with her mother and grandfather, Paddy Kavanagh, where she learned Irish as her first language. She continued to study Irish in Dublin City University and earned a degree in Irish and Journalism.
On 30 May 2013, in Dublin, Kavanagh was standing at Parnell Street when a boy, with a group of teenagers, grabbed her face and spat on her whilst calling her racial slurs, her response to this and other similar events in her life where she experienced racism inspired her to make an online Twitter campaign celebrating the diversity of Irish people, according to her book Anseo, the event was reported on by the media and her story went viral in Ireland.
Kavanagh created a blog about travelling with her mother and has since also written a book about growing up as an Irish speaking person overcoming loss and racism as well as her love of the language.
Kavanagh works as a freelance journalist and content creator. She has worked on TG4 and with the trade union Fórsa. Kavanagh also creates YouTube videos centered on travel vlogs and gaming videos which are both in the Irish language, videos are funded through Kavanagh's Patreon. She is now based in Dundalk. In 2020 Kavanagh joined the new independent Anti-Racism Committee.