Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Dani Wallace. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Hi Dani, thanks for joining us today. Let’s kick things off with your mission – what is it and what’s the story behind why it’s your mission?

Dani Wallace is a motivational speaker, international celebrity public speaking coach and fearless leader of the I Am The Queen Bee movement. She helps people all over the world to Show Up, Wise Up and Rise up using their superpower hidden in plain sight, their VOICE, so they can take up more space in the world and step into their birthright of success.

Having overcome homelessness, domestic violence, and years of self-sabotage, Dani has had massive entrepreneurial success, inspiring particularly women and members of marginalised communities to share their message and business mission with the people who need to hear it most.

After watching The BEE Movie with her children back in 2007, she was inspired by a quote that would prove pivotal to her life:

“According to all known laws of aviation, there is no way a bee should be able to fly. Its wings are too small to get its fat little body off the ground. The bee, of course, flies anyway, because bees don’t care what humans think is impossible.”

Having realised her purpose, Dani herself is on a mission to spread the word that, whatever your background, whatever troubles you have faced, whatever level you are at, Bees don’t care what humans think is impossible, they fly anyway.

Her global online community and sell-out live event The BIG Festoon sees serial-entrepreneurs, celebrities and business owners alike return time and time again to link arms, learn and laugh together.

Dani, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

Glossophobia, the fear of public speaking, is the number one fear in the world. It is THE reason why so many people say to me that they struggle with even the thought of adding public speaking to their marketing strategy.

If business owners don’t get to grips with being able to speak about their message then they’re leaving money on the table and that just is a travesty. I want as many people as possible to be able to confidently share both their passion and their value with the people who need to hear it the most, their ideal clients.

It’s my absolute privilege to help business owners to get out of their own damn way and get in front of more of the people they need to help.

I do this with my free, vibrant, online business community, The IATQB Hive, and I am the founder of The BIG Festoon, the UK’s fastest-growing business and personal development event to inspire and develop small business owners and entrepreneurs. This is my absolute biz-baby and something I’m so proud of- watching this grow and evolve is testament to the work we’ve done on making the event packed with value, fun, accessible and inclusive for every single person who wants to attend.

I also amp up the confidence, eradicate fears, and elevate the speaking skills of my speaking clients through my world-renowned public speaking programme, BEE Heard.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

Before IATQB, I worked my way up the corporate ladder, landing some really cool roles within the learning and development space, and eventually moving into management because that was what I thought was the ‘correct’ path. It was what was expected. It was ‘comfortable’.

But hard as I tried, I didn’t give a toss about the job. I was working 50-60 hours a week, managing people who did not want to be managed. I wanted to teach, and I wanted to lead. But the people I was working with didn’t want to be led because they were ‘comfortable’ too.

So I gave up. I stopped showing up in the role. I didn’t want to just manage. To manage means to ‘get by’ and that’s basically what I was doing. I was desperately unhappy in my work and no-one was benefitting.

It was awful. And for what? All for the sake of ‘comfort.’

My cup was not being filled up. I didn’t feel like I was following any kind of purpose. And I eventually got let go.

The comfort of the safe pay check was taken away and I had to move my now very uncomfortable self very quickly to keep my head above water.

Comfort is a trap. It is designed to help you enjoy your rest time, but if it’s rest for the rest of your life that you’re after, you’re in the wrong place. You are short serving yourself. Getting gloriously uncomfortable will help you find resilience that you never knew you had!

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

The business space, and the speaking space in particular, is still predominantly male and pale. This means that on the whole we need more role models, more people from marginalised communities and diverse backgrounds to bring their lived experience and their stories centre stage so we can open up the arena, diversify and enrich our understanding, and create change.

What I’m doing with The BIG Festoon is actively seeking out speakers and audience members from these communities, bringing their voices to the spotlight so that we have a richer experience. This has definitely cemented in most people’s minds that The BIG Festoon is a safe space to have conversations that matter; that we are a safe place for people regardless of background, to call home.
We’re known for putting out some of the UK’s most exciting new speakers, for not being afraid to be ‘different’ in the way we approach edutainment (which is when we learn through entertainment) and for the quality of our production, which is a particular love of mine.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.thebigfestoon.co.uk
• Instagram: instagram.com/thequeenbeedani
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thequeenbeedani
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/iamthequeenbee/

Image Credits
Vicki Head Photography