WHEN Dani Wallace was left homeless and relying on food banks to feed her three kids, she didn’t know where her life was going to take her.
But never in a million years did she guess that aged 41, she’d be a successful businesswoman with a business that’s generated over £2m in revenue.
Dani went from being homeless and relying on foodbanks to owning a £2m business[/caption]
The 41-year-old is now a successful businesswoman with a £2m business[/caption]
In 2019, with just £300 in her back pocket, she launched her movement I Am The Queen Bee (IATQB), which aims to inspire people to become the best version of themselves, for free on a Facebook group.
Since then, the business, which makes money through tickets to its events, sponsorship, brand partnerships and speaking programmes, has gone from strength to strength.
Now Dani, who is chief of operations for her movement and has three children aged nine, 15 and 17, is regularly on the bill as a speaker alongside ‘business royalty’ like Steven Bartlett – and she’s even set her sights on cracking America.
It’s a far cry away from what life was once like for the motivational speaker, who grew up on a council estate in Preston.
Speaking exclusively to Fabulous, the author and coach says: “For us growing up, it was very much living on the breadline.
“There wasn’t any abroad holidays or expensive birthday parties and there was a bit of a running joke that when the ice cream van played music it meant he’d run out of ice cream.
“We had a lot of hand-me-downs, although we always looked very well turned out.”
But while Dani has now found success, it’s been a very long and tumultuous road to get there.
In 2008, Dani was four months pregnant with her second baby when she made the brave decision to leave her abusive ex after he tried to strangle her at a wedding.
Struggling to keep up with her mortgage, she was eventually left homeless with two kids under three and found herself sofa surfing for three and a half months.
“I had to go to food banks to feed me and my kids when I was homeless about 14 years ago,” she recalls.
Dani started her business with just £300 in her back pocket[/caption]
The mum-of-three stars on the bill alongside ‘business royalty’ like Steven Bartlett[/caption]
Dani is chief of operations for her IATQB movement[/caption]
The business has made £2million in revenue since it launched six years ago[/caption]
Eventually, Dani had to access council services and support, and it was then that things started to improve.
Shortly after, a friend’s parents also offered her the chance to rent out their house without any form of credit check.
Dani was trusted to pay the rent each month, giving her the chance to build things back up again.
Then, in 2013, she decided to leave her corporate job working as a manager in the motor industry to start singing professionally.
“I’d go out and gig in pubs and clubs but found that although it was great, I wasn’t doing good in the world,” Dani says.
“I used to put my phone on my dashboard, tell people where I was incase I got mugged, lock my doors and live stream.
“I’d put my makeup on ready for a gig and share with people what I was doing and my personal development – and that’s where the community was born.”
There was a time when we were having our windows put through and tyres slashed – it was a very unsafe area
Dani Wallace
Dani started a Facebook group and put on live events, before creating course programmes about speaking.
She set up a fake telly show on Facebook – the ‘Show Up, Rise Up, Wise Up show’ where she would go live while getting ready for her work day.
Before she knew it, she was interviewing celebrities and the business took off from there.
IATQB is now a team of five, including Dani, as well as working with freelancers.
She runs events such as the Big Festoon, which sees entrepreneurs commit to personal and business development in two days of learning, alongside high energy entertainment.
“The event is really inclusive,” Dani explains.
“One of the things I found really frustrating is how not really genuinely inclusive business events were and that’s what’s really captured the imagination of a lot of the people who now attend.”
While she had to give away some of the tickets to her first small event, the 2025 event which was held at Bolton Stadium Hotel sold out of 600 tickets in just 48 hours.
The next one will also take place in Bolton between October 30-31, before Dani moves the event to a big arena early next year.
“The Big Festoon is now one of the biggest business and personal development events here in the UK,” Dani explains.
“The event started out with just 50 people in a small venue in Chorley and in March next year we’ll be in the AO arena in Manchester which will hold 3,000 people.”
The Big Festoon has been such a success, Dani even took the event to Hollywood in May this year, which saw an impressive turnout of 300 people.
“We held it at the Hollywood Improv, which is where the likes of Robin Williams started his career – it was really like a flag in the floor moment for us.
“We’re going back again in December and really growing that US presence.”
How to get help
Women’s Aid has this advice for victims and their families:
- Always keep your phone nearby.
- Get in touch with charities for help, including the Women’s Aid live chat helpline and services such as SupportLine.
- If you are in danger, call 999.
- Familiarise yourself with the Silent Solution, where you call 999 and press ‘55’ if you can’t safely speak.
- Always keep some money or a bank card on you, including change in case you need a pay phone or bus fare.
- If you suspect your partner is about to attack you, try to move towards an exit if you are inside the house and get your phone in case you need to call for help.
- Avoid the kitchen and garage, where there are likely to be knives or other potential weapons. Avoid rooms where you might become trapped, such as the bathroom.
Women’s Aid provides a live chat service – available every day from 10am-6pm or email helpline@womensaid.org.uk
SupportLine is open Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 6pm to 8pm on 01708 765200. The charity’s email support service is open weekdays and weekends during the crisis – messageinfo@supportline.org.uk.
You can also call the freephone 24-hour National Domestic Abuse Helpline on 0808 2000 247.
Since hosting her events, Dani has also rubbed shoulders with ‘business royalty’ such as Steven Bartlett.
“He was really great,” she recalls.
“It was just in passing but he told me I was doing an incredible job and an incredible thing and advised me just to keep building the community and go from there.”
In just six years, Dani has managed to generate £2million in revenue with her IATQB business.
“I remember when I left corporate work, I wrote myself a cheque for £3 million, put it on the fridge and would look at it every day,” she recalls.
“I don’t know why £3 million but it just felt like a wild and unthinkable amount of money to me.
For us growing up, it was very much living on the breadline
Dani Wallace
“If someone would’ve said, ‘Dani, it’d only take you a couple of years and you’ll have done that,’ I would’ve been speechless and not believed it.”
For Dani, it’s wild to think that just six years she was living on a council estate and spending each day fearing for her kid’s safety.
“There was a time when we were having our windows put through and tyres slashed – it was a very unsafe area,” recalls the mum-of-three, who now lives in a £375,000 house.
“For me, getting to a place of safety was so important.
“It wasn’t ever about living extravagantly, it was about living safely and securely for my children and then creating a legacy for them, which is something I or my family hadn’t experienced.”
She continues: “”Now we’ve got a beautiful house and we live in a really safe area.
“Everything I’ve built today means my children don’t have the same experiences as I did growing up.”
Dani has also co-founded a support service for survivors of domestic abuse with her sister.
“We’ve created the ‘Fly Anyway Foundation,’ which helps people who have experienced domestic abuse build businesses,” she says.
You can find out more about IATQB here and The Fly Anyway Foundation here.
Dani set up her business I Am The Queen Bee in 2019[/caption]
Dani runs coaching courses and sell-out events for IATQB[/caption]
