Holly Matthews is a former TV actress (Byker Grove, Waterloo Road, Casualty) and singer (Signed to Sony at 18, appeared on TOTP’S, MTV, Disney) who learnt how to use her ‘weird’ to stand out from the crowd.
After the death of her husband to brain cancer in 2017, when she was just 32, the Mum of 2 began her mission to help others to embrace their ‘weird’, build their confidence and feel ‘more happy and less crappy’.
Her TED Talk has been watched by over half a million people and she is the go to ‘no-nonsense’, confidence expert at the BBC, where producers call her their ‘motivator in chief’.
Her Books Find Your Confidence and The Happy Me Project (Bloomsbury Publishing) are both best sellers and winners of Health & Wellbeing Magazines Wellbeing book of the year.
Holly became a TV actress at just 11 years old, after writing a letter to the casting department and asking for a job. This tenacity saw Holly grow up on British TV screens on popular kids drama Byker Grove. Following in the footsteps of Ant and Dec Holly left the show to pursue a singing career (under the pseudo name ‘Summer Matthews’).
Holly became a Mum in 2011 and now has two daughters. Both pregnancies were difficult with Holly developing pre-eclampsia and giving birth to her daughter Brooke 6 weeks early. This meant time in special care with her premmie baby. After her second daughter Texas was born Holly Discovered she had a rare autoimmune condition called Antiphosphilipid syndrome and had to inject blood thinners throughout pregnancy.
Terrifyingly Holly’s daughter Brooke contracted meningitis when she was just 3 months old (and still only 7lb), something Holly herself had contracted at 10 years old, and they found themselves in hospital once more.
In 2014 Holly’s husband Ross was diagnosed with a PNET tumour, a rare brain cancer normally found in children. This resulted in 3.5 years of treatments, (including 2 brain surgeries, chemo and radiotherapy) and Ross’s eventual death in Myton hospice in 2017.
Holly took all this pain and tried to make sense of it by helping others. Her Happy Me Project brand started as an online course and has since developed into events across the UK, an online coaching membership, podcast and has seen Holly asked to speak and create workshops for Aldi, SEND prison, Sainsburys and wellbeing festivals across the UK.
Holly’s Weird AF brand took her belief that embracing your ‘weird’ (your authentic and unique self) helps you feel your happiest and become your most successful self into the world of business. She now supports founders that don’t fit the mould to get seen, get paid and to do it all in their own ‘weird way’- because Holly believes that your ‘weird is your winning edge’.
Holly recently opened up about being neurodivergent and has since been a advocate for this community, working alongside ADHD 360, appearing on ADHD Chatter, ADHD Beyond The Label (Bloomberg TV), in a collaborative book about ADHD entrepreneurs and creatives called 'Unstoppable by design' and being nominated for a National Diversity Award.
Holly’s relatable and lighthearted approach to self development has seen her amass a large online following and become a regular contributor to UK publications such as Psychologies Magazine, Closer, Hello, Daily Mail, Metro, The Mirror and chatting on the sofa with Lorraine.
