SHE was the only candidate on The Apprentice to get tipsy on a task but now Co Armagh make-up entrepreneur Grainne McCoy is completely clear-headed about making her way to the top.
A year on since last year's series started filming, the single mother will launch several of her own branded beauty products in this summer. She's also emerging as a business mentor to young women both in the north and in England who have struggled to find employment through either early pregnancy or poor exam results.
Although sacked as one of the final five in the gruelling business reality BBC One show fronted by Lord Alan Sugar, Grainne came through the process with her dignity intact, and her eye firmly on the prize.
"Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think I would get on it or, when I did get on it, that I would make the final five. But I worked my little backside off. I know I did and I can say that very loudly and proudly," says the 32-year-old.
"I worked really hard in every task and I think Lord Sugar saw that. Now I intend to continue that for as long as it takes me to build my empire."
When she's home, Grainne works out of that make-up studio that she established in her home village of Dromintee, near Forkhill, where her make-up courses introduce teenage mums to possible business opportunities in the industry.
But life could have been so very different for Grainne, who started working on a retail make-up counter before becoming a professional make-up artist working in the film, TV and fashion industries in Northern Ireland and London.
The former student of St Paul's High School in Bessbrook became pregnant at the age of 15. Like many other young girls in her predicament, she denied the reality of her situation for a while. But Grainne says that despite the difficulty of her situation, she always knew that her pregnancy would not prevent her from making a success of her life – for her and her child.
"I didn't tell anyone I was pregnant until I was about six and a half months pregnant," she recalls.
"While my mind was telling my body to hide it, I started to get big. I went through most of my pregnancy without telling one person but I knew I wanted to have my baby and continue to do something with my life as well."
Within four weeks of having her now 16-year-old son Ryan, with the support of her family and school teachers she went back to school to sit her GCSEs. Although university was not for her, a job on the make-up counter at Boots instead fired her passion for business and she worked her way up from there, often travelling late at night back from Dublin or London to be with Ryan.
"I could never have done this without my mother Siobhan Carragher's help and support. She was the backbone to me and still is," Grainne acknowledges. "Also Ryan is a great kid and never fails to make me laugh. He's always supportive, as his father has been. We both agreed when Ryan was born that we both wanted it to work. I think that was very mature of us both considering we were both practically still children ourselves."
She's emphatic that her son and building her brand are her main focuses: "I've been single now for many years and I'm very happy with that. I'm too focused on my work right now, but I wouldn't rule out a relationship later on."
Perhaps it was becoming a mother at such a tender age, or it was down to her straight-talking and hard work, that led to Grainne being seen as a mother figure to other Apprentice candidates.
"The other candidates knew that I was there to work only and not to bitch. There was no point in it as it didn't get the job done," she says now. "Besides, I knew that Ryan would be watching and I didn't want to do anything on the programme that would embarrass him."
Considering she was teetotal at the time and still is, Grainne laughs about how she ended up getting squiffy while tasting a new flavoured gin.
"I was actually drunk, you know," she confirms. "I think that I only survived that boardroom as I argued, how could I market a gin if I didn't know how it tasted?
"I'll never live it down, but it was TV gold."
While she impressed Lord Sugar and his board members Karren Brady and Claude Littner, her business plan of wanting to establish her own make-up artist recruitment agency alongside her studio while working as a make-up artist, was ultimately ruled out by the multi-millionaire.
The interview stage, where each of the candidates have their CVs and business plans pulled apart by experts, is loved by viewers and feared by candidates. But not by Grainne.
"I absolutely loved it. I just thought I would enjoy it as I will never have that experience again," she says.
"After the show, the interviewers said it was hard to interview me as I was always smiling at them."
:: Contact Grainne regarding workshops and courses via www.grainnemcoy.com
