Mum started out with £300 - now she's £1m Queen Bee

Dani Wallace started her company with just £300

A mother who escaped domestic abuse and survived homelessness has built a successful business helping to motivate others.

Dani Wallace, from Preston, set up her firm I Am The Queen Bee (IATQB) in 2019 with just £300.

Her first event drew 50 people, but later this year she will travel to Los Angeles for her first USA engagement.

Ms Wallace, 40, said she hoped to show people that “even when things are dark you’ve got a choice”.

'Terrorised'

She said that in 2009 she and her children were “sofa surfing”.

"We were sleeping between my mum's house, my friend's house, my sister's house while trying to find somewhere stable to live," she said.

“It was really difficult and eventually we found somewhere to live."

But the home she did eventually manage to find was not the safe haven they had hoped for.

She said: "We were having tyres slashed, we were having our windows put through.

“We were being terrorised kind of in our own home and I decided one day that I'd had enough."

Known as the Queen Bee, Ms Wallace is taking her motivational events to the USA

Ms Wallace, who is originally from Bolton, had been a manager in the motor industry and a professional singer, so decided to make the most of those skills to set up as a motivational speaker and coach.

“I started to study business. I started to understand more about how you can make money online and how you can make money in events because my heart lies in events,” she said.

She said she started to surround herself with people who knew how to do that and “learnt from the most incredible mentors”.

She set up online programmes, teaching people how to speak in public and how to present.

She now runs events such as the Big Festoon, billed as offering inspiration, motivation and celebration for entrepreneurs.

From having to give away some of the tickets to her first small event, the 2025 event at Bolton Stadium Hotel sold out all 600 tickets in 48 hours.

She is looking at holding the 2026 event at an arena for a crowd of up to 2,000.

“There is such an appetite now more than ever and particularly post-pandemic for meeting in real life and connecting with people in real life,” she said.

'Means the world'

Ms Wallace said her business is expected to turn over £1.3m this year, and she hopes to double that amount in 2025.

While she is busy inspiring business owners, she said her sister, who runs a women's refuge for domestic abuse survivors, is her biggest inspiration.

She said it "means the world" to her that her children can see her realise her dreams.

And she added it is great to be able to "give hope" to people who might be in situations like the one she found herself in 15 years ago.

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