Holly Moore made her first dream come true in 2012, with the launch of her events company, Make Events. Making her next dream come true in 2016 confirmed her belief that anything is possible
Holly Moore is the power behind some of the largest and most glamorous corporate and charity events in the North West, the UK and indeed globally, offering her clients the full gamut of every kind of live, virtual or hybrid event. Clients include Garmin, Co-Op, Nestlé, Autotrader, ITV, Puma, Softcat and more, and Holly has grown a team of 20 experts working from her creatively decorated Wilmslow offices. In 2011 however, this all seemed a distant dream.
“Before I started Make Events I had severe OCD for five years. OCD is sadly, and severely misrepresented in the media – it's not all about cleaning. It's picks up on people’s worst fears and can manifest itself in many different ways. It’s horrendous and is usually in opposition to the sufferer’s true personality. It was awful; I was told I’d never be able to recover fully, I would always live with low form of it. I had a long journey to find the right treatment and eventually found an amazing psychologist at The Priory, Dr Costas Papageorgiou who undertook a pioneering treatment, and in 2011 I became OCD-free and medication-free. During the treatment you can genuinely feel your brain rewire, I could literally feel my brain re-stitching.
“I thought, at that point, well if I can do that I can do anything, and that’s when I decided to launch Make Events. I had been a yes person my whole life, a people-pleaser, and would never step out of my comfort zone. Following my treatment I knew I was ready to set up my own business.
“I’ve always been obsessed with goal setting and one I written down as a teenager was that I’d meet Kylie Minogue one day. In 2016 I was doing a charity party for Fred Done, of Bet Fred, and had to propose a celebrity, so I put down Kylie, and he said yes so I had to make it happen – and finally made my dream come true. Again, I’d made it happen and so shown myself that anything is possible.”
Always fascinated by the brain and psychology, Holly was a regular attendee at personal development events, travelling far and wide to hear from experts and learn more.
“I loved them. I was going everywhere – I went to see Tony Robbins [life coach, self-help author, and motivational speaker], Oprah Winfrey in LA, to the Girl Boss rally, Create and Cultivate in New York, I was going everywhere. What I noticed was in America, they were amazing aesthetically, the experience was amazing, but very much focussed on ‘girl boss and career’, but while Tony Robbins’ events were more about your full 360-degree life experience, they were just big stadium events, and I noticed there was nothing in the UK that was the whole 360 – relationships, career, fitness, mental wellbeing, everything – that was also an event experience.
“I also felt like there was nothing really aimed a broad age range – I believe you’re never too young or too old to reset and reengineer your life. I started my business at 35, and then saw all my friends heading into their 40s with a ‘that’s it, my life is set’, attitude, and I believe you should be able to reset your life at any age and should not live with any regrets. Christine’s Preserves is a case in point – she didn’t start that till she was 70. People set themselves a lot of barriers, and I wanted to help more people understand and believe that anything is possible.”
By now an event maven extraordinaire, in 2022 Holly decided to combine her two passions and launch her own personal development event.
“I wanted to create an experience that empowered people to believe anything is possible, and started with a podcast, Anything is Possible, which I launched last year. I chat to people who have accomplished great things in the face of adversity. I have had some great guests – the late Jacqueline Gold, who founded Ann Summers, Fred Done, Joe Wicks, so many wonderful people who show again and again what can be achieved when you just decide you’re going to do it.
“The really big one for me was when I interviewed my psychologist, Dr Papageorgiou, to educate people on what OCD is. It’s had an incredible effect – it got picked up by Anna Jamieson and she played it on Radio 5 Live at about 3am, and they got loads of phone ins – to which I said of course, that’s when people with OCD are up and awake and stressing. And then the producer BBC Morning Live listened to my podcast and covered OCD in a special edition on mental health.
“The podcast is really all about introducing people who have proven anything is possible – people of any age, any background who can inspire others to realise that they can make anything possible.”
The podcast has just been Holly’s first step into spreading the anything is possible mantra, and she has followed this up by launching her own Anything is Possible conference series, with the first held in Manchester in March.
“I had 250 attendees and the feedback was incredible. It ran from 8am to 8pm and was very curated – the content had a real flow to it, from setting goals to understanding the barriers you are putting on yourself to overcoming unexpected obstacles, etc, then there were break out groups that explored topics such as confidence building; the importance of sleep; relationships; elevating and building a career, and physical/mental health. Guest speakers included Sandy Macaskill, co-founder of Barry’s Bootcamp UK; Jake Humphrey and Professor Damian Hughes from The High Performance Podcast; Laura Pomfret and Holly Holland, founders of Financielle; Andrea McLean and Nick Feeney of This Girl This Guy on Fire; Fats Timbo, author and comedian; and Pride of Britain’s Joanne Thompson; as well as authors Tonia Buxton and Roxie Nafousi.
“The feedback I have had has been insane. People have set up businesses, left their jobs, got promotions... One lady said it saved her life; she’d lost her mum and thought life would never be the same again, then attended the talk on grief and it turned her life around.”
The next Anything is Possible conference is planned for spring 2024, and Holly is already almost bouncing with excitement.
“I learned so much last year and am taking all that forward into 2024. I really want to reach a younger and an older audience, as those who attended gave such positive feedback. My goal is to develop it into multiple events during a year, but one step at a time. I have amazing sponsors and brand partnerships, and just brilliant people to speak and lead workshops.
“I take a very holistic approach to planning the event – I want to give people the opportunity to understand and undertake the life reset I have had. I never cut corners; every attendee must feel really important and will get more than they hoped for. “
Listening to Holly talk, her conviction that anybody can make changes in their life is contagious. Next year’s event will, she says, include a panel discussion with three people who have reset their lives following their experience at this year’s conference and I suspect she will have a wide pool to draw from. Maybe in 2025 you’ll be one of them?
You can listen to Anything is Possible on all main podcast platforms and watch on YouTube.
