Verona Pentony
– activist, author, business leader, peace campaigner, poet –
Verona Pentony, born the middle of six children, grew up on a farm in north county Dublin, spending summer holidays in the remote Irish county of Leitrim. Such circumstances combined to nurture in her a deep love of nature and a warm appreciation for her community. Subsequent education as a boarder at Ursuline Convent in Sligo and later at Loretto Abbey, Rathfarnham also saw her traverse that certain urban/rural, east/west divide that characterises Irish life in so many ways.
Her poem, The Farmer, reflects much of this background and was inspired by these early formative experiences. It finished second at the 2015 Ireland National Ploughing Championships, in a competition that considered over one thousand entries and submissions. Verona was the only female and only living poet to make the shortlist.
Verona has enjoyed an interesting, rewarding and varied career in hospitality, hotel and facilities management and corporate social responsibility. She has a foundation in hotel management across seven hotels and three international brands: Fitzpatrick, Sheraton and Marriott Hotels (Ireland and UK). She holds a Diploma in Hotel Management from the Fitzpatrick Hotel Group, which she obtained in 1989. She received a 2:1 in Foundations in Counselling Skills at NUI Maynooth in 2007.
Committed to World Peace as a Global Citizen Peace Ambassador, a recipient of the EveryWoman TV Peace Award for Outstanding Women of Peace consecutively in 2023 and 2024, she is the founder of missionary of peace initiatives, including the White Rose of Peace Walk, creating peace awareness since 2022, through people walking collectively to achieve the total circumference/distance of the All-Ireland map – 3171 KM.
On returning to Ireland in September 2004, Verona took up the position of Deputy General Manager at Marriott Johnstown House Hotel, Enfield in October. She changed career in 2005, to join the Facilities Management team as Site Manager at St James Hospital. After 18 months, the company was taken over by Momentum Support – a cleaning and security business later to become ABM Ireland – providing expertise in corporate social responsibility (CSR), communications and quality. In April 2022, her team was joint winner at the European Cleaning and Hygiene Awards for Sustainability Best Practice.
Travelling, swimming and walking are among the leisurely pursuits that Verona enjoys most, especially for the opportunities that they provide to meet people of different cultures and traditions – something that she deeply relishes. Her goal has always been to meet people from all walks of life.
She also finds time to perform her work, when asked, at landmark destinations worldwide. In 2017, she was invited to recite her poem, A Single Black Cross at Kilmainham Gaol in Dublin, by the family and descendants of Commandant Michael Mallin, one of the executed leaders of the 1916 Easter Rising.
It was while living in London during the Iraq war, Verona says, that she received the guiding sign to promote world peace and forgiveness. Thus began her distribution of The White Rose of Peace Card campaign.
“All missions begin as thoughts, embryos of an idea that grow into a visualised result.”
It was also upon returning to Ireland that Verona began the work that would culminate in the Reflections series, consisting of two volumes of poetry: Reflections from the Heart, first published in 2012, shortly to be followed by Reflections of Time, in 2014. Both books are still in print, having been through several re-prints and are also available in e-book editions.
Verona’s poetry conveys passionately held ideals, rooted in Humanism, that promote healing through forgiveness, acting as a pathway to reconciliation. Eloquent expression of this is found in her poem One Day, from the Reflections of Time volume (also published online):
One day, our childhood instinct to reach out won’t have been ripped away and replaced with fear.
One day, we will remember without pain and have no need to spread the blame …
Verona’s work has been published in magazines and performed at festivals, gatherings and events across Ireland and further afield, making her well-known in poetry and literary circles.
A Song for Forgiveness, One Day and Remember Me in the Light of Day have been recorded in Nashville, Tennessee. Verona will continue to pursue her dream to impact World Peace through calibration with a like-minded producer. She hopes to influence musicians to consider supporting her vision of a worldwide peace concert.
You can follow her work through her website at VeronaPentony.com
Listen to Verona describe what motivates and inspires her to write in an interview with Colm Colgan on you tube and also in an interview with Fahmeda Naheed on Cork Community Radio’s Let’s Integrate programme.
Click here to go to Verona's Website
