What a whirlwind it’s been for entrepreneur Celia Gaze!
Her book was named ‘Amazon best seller’ in three categories, she featured on BBC Breakfast, hosted a successful corporate and book launch and topped it all off by scooping the Events Team of the Year award at The Wedding Industry Awards in London.
Celia said:
“Somebody pinch me; this is truly unbelievable, yet amazing! Never did I think that I’d become a best-selling author with a best-selling book and be able to share this story with the world. I am completely blown away by the response and support.”
Celia is the founder and managing director of The Wellbeing Farm, in Edgworth, Bolton; a neglected family hill farm she took on in 2013 and transformed into an award-winning wedding venue.
Her book, Why Put a Bow Tie on a Llama?, offers her honest, warts and all journey of setting up her own business, the highs, the lows and the things she never saw coming.
Before it had even officially launched on January 10th, the book, published by Practical Inspiration, was a best seller in five categories; Small Business, Entrepreneurship and Service Industry.
Already starting the day on a high, Celia was soon to be blown away by the response to the farm’s first ever corporate event.
Entitled ‘Make 2020 the year you changed your live’, the day began with a roundtable followed by a lunch event, where fellow entrepreneurs shared their personal stories of life-changing moments and how and why they grabbed control of their destiny.
Hosted by award-winning journalist Chris Maguire, panelists included Caroline McEleney, instrumental in the corporate hospitality sales growth at Manchester United and Manchester City, Lorna Davidson, who grew a business from her garden shed before selling it for millions, Cody Gapare, whose cancer battle led her to launch her own eyelash range, Chris Fisher, who lost his sight to a virus called Toxoplasmosis and found a passion for woodturning, and, of course, Celia herself.
Days later, Celia was on the train to London with members of her team to attend the National Wedding Industry Awards, where they were named Events Team of the Year.
This is an award based predominantly on independent feedback from couples who have had their wedding at the farm.
The couples fill in a questionnaire and their feedback goes to a panel of over 100 judges who then scrutinise the information before deciding on the national winners.
Celia said:
“That’s why this award is so important for us to win and thank every single couple who have chosen The Wellbeing Farm to deliver their wedding experience.
“I am honestly feeling so fantastic as a result of people’s feedback on my story and on the farm. I’m bursting with so much pride for my team who are professional, friendly and helpful at all times and I cannot thank everyone who has supported us and voted for us, enough. Perhaps 2020 will be the year I change my life….”