O'Dea co-founded the Silicon Republic online newspaper for science, business and technology with Darren McAuliffe in 2001.
[2] Opening the fourth Inspirefest in 2018, Ireland's Minister for Health Simon Harris "emphasised the role of women in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) and said that the future was being invented by people like those at this event" in Dublin.
It was relaunched as Future Human in May 2020, with speakers including US astronaut Joan Higgenbotham, and Cambridge Analytica whistleblower, Brittany Kaiser.
O'Dea was awarded a fellowship of the Irish Computer Society for her work promoting women in the technology sector.
O'Dea attended University College Dublin and obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree in French (1990) and a MA in Drama & Performance Studies (1992) .