I Am The Queen Bee. Nice to meet you.

My name is Dani?Wallace and I Am The Queen Bee.

Ok, I get it, that is a ridiculously audacious statement to be rocking up here on Linked In and declaring...but stick with me, I'll explain!!

The phrase 'I Am The Queen Bee' is a reclamation statement.

Not just for me but for everyone who resonates with the idea that all the good stuff in life: health, wealth, love, great friends, success etc are not just for those born into those things, but a birthright. Some of us just need to be a bit more tenacious in acquiring those things. That's where I can help!

I’m the fearless leader of the I am the Queen Bee Movement, a community of incredible people who are ready to Show Up, Wise Up and Rise Up together. I’m also a singer, speaker, international best selling author, former serial self-saboteur, domestic abuse survivor, and public speaking coach and mentor.

Your girl is on a mission to help you show up, wise up and rise up so that you can take life by the nuts and step up into YOUR birthright of success, however it is that you measure it.?

I wasn’t always the fierce and fearless leader you see before you, the transformation has been a journey of acknowledging where I was, and giving myself the space to become the person I’m meant to be. I will share with you the full course meal that has been my life, LinkedIn family but let’s start with the appetisers.

Today’s story begins at the start of lockdown in 2020. Covid presented challenges to my offline business, as all events dried up, and there was a real risk I’d end up having too many long lie-ins! I decided to give myself structure by getting ready for work every morning and engaging with my community while doing it.

I’d originally built an audience over 8 years, almost by accident, by sharing my life behind the scenes of being on the road with my singing business by live streaming as I was preparing for gigs. I would put my makeup on and riff on what was happening in the world. I still find it funny how many people watch people do things like putting their makeup on, on social media!?

After doing this for a few weeks and recognising what my people were struggling with, I started to invite friends to share advice, and this developed into a safe space for entrepreneurs to participate and discuss real issues in business or learn from inspirational motivational people in my space.?

It became a thing to come on the show and get ready with me in the mornings. I decided to do another spin on the news, as at the time let’s be honest, the morning news in early lockdown was not the most energising way to spend your morning.?

I wanted to get people excited about re-imagining the future instead of allowing ourselves to be really weighed down. The show evolved into the Show Up Rise Up Wise Up (SUWURU) show that went on every week, Monday to Friday for more than a year!

I’ve just taken the show’s first editorial break and pivot, and soon I will announce to you what’s next, but for now, let’s go more into the back story so you understand where SURUWU got its roots.

I grew up on the council estates of Preston. We were very much on the breadline and struggled to make ends meet. I try to be careful when I talk about this because my mum, bless her, only really realised how much we struggled when I started to share my story about growing up. She did what she could with what she had at the time and what she and my father lacked in money, she more than made up for with love.

My dad was an alcoholic and domestic abuse was actually inherent generationally in our family. As a child, I absorbed that. My sister and I watched what was going on and it informed a lot of my choices when I got older.?

I often joke that when I was 16, I ran away with the circus, but essentially, that's what I did. I found that I could sing when I was very young and boarded a plane to perform all over the world, from holiday resorts to cruise ships. Looking back, I was escaping where I came from and it was fabulous....for a time.

But people like me, from where I come from, don't go on to be entertainers or singers or entrepreneurs or online whatever's. So there was always this voice saying, "go back and get a proper job, lay down some roots.." and so on...like internal water torture until, eventually, I came back to the UK.

I got quickly into a relationship to have the stability and validation that I didn't have - in the chaos of my younger years. It didn't really matter who was there to fill this husband-shaped hole, I just filled it with this guy. Bless him.

You may or may not gather that I am somewhat of a whirlwind and completely railroaded the poor guy into buying a house, getting engaged and having a baby and he went along with it until one morning, a couple of weeks after we'd sent out the invites to our wedding, he woke up and said, “Dani I don't want any of this,” and left.?He simply wasn't ready for the life I was trying to squeeze us into.

I was on my own, single parent having to manage the cancellation and the embarrassment of it all. You can imagine that after that, I was in a pretty painful and vulnerable space. As often happens when we feel like this, I sought validation from outside of myself again and got quickly into another relationship that quickly spiralled into a dar period of time where I experienced domestic and narcissistic abuse. It was an incredibly toxic situation. I managed to find help and leave the relationship with the help of local DV services to whom I am eternally grateful.

This left me, once again, a single mom of now two children under three years old. I couldn't afford to keep the house. All the while I was in a corporate role, where I had to show up being in control of things, but underneath my life was in tatters.?

We ended up homeless, sofa surfing, me and the two girls, Poppy and Daisy, my big flowers (I had my third daughter, Ivy sometime after....she's like beautiful foliage to finish my bouquet off).?

One night, as I was taking my kids to bed and I can't say that I wanted to die...more, I didn't know how to live.

I didn't. I felt I wasn’t useful or helpful to anyone, not even my kids. I thought “God, I'm doing the best I can and that doesn't seem to be good enough. How did I end up homeless with these two beautiful children? How did I end up on my ass like this??

I couldn't seem to make a good decision or hold a good relationship down. I couldn't work out what was wrong with me. It was a real rock bottom moment.

As I sat in the car that night, I had a choice..... I was either going to happen to life or life was going to continue happening to me.

I was the common denominator in all of my sadness just as much as I was in any happiness I had experienced and I knew that I needed to CHOOSE better for myself.

I started a journey at this pivotal point to work on myself. By asking myself what does taking responsibility look like? How do I choose better for myself? How do I choose better for my kids? What could I do? How do I ask for help??

It was a long road to build my life back up again and I would love to share more of my journey with you on here as we grow together.

Today I live in my dream home with 3 gorgeous children, a husband I adore, a multiple 6 figure business that changes lives daily and a charitable foundation that connects survivors of domestic abuse with the means to create independence through building businesses.

It makes me think of a quote from the bee movie that goes:?'aerodynamically a bee should not be able to fly its little wings and get its fat little body off the ground.?The bee, however, doesn't care what humans think is possible the bee flies anyway.'

And that's the aim here...for as many of us to choose to #FLYANYWAY as possible!

You are all welcome to come fly with me, on all the socials, follow my youtube channel for great interviews and training, or join me in my hive on Facebook.

The SURUWU show resumes 16th August - More to come.