We've had THE LAST LAUGH!

Once the target of cruel bullying at school, these women are proving the haters wrong with their successful businesses

- FRANCES LEATE

‘Finally, I’ve come out of my shell’

Danielle Knights, 33, from Reading, Berkshire, is the founder of events agency Live & Love Music. 

Hearing the school bell ringing for the last time one summer’s day in 2007, I felt a huge weight lift from my shoulders. Grabbing my bag, I walked straight out the classroom, through the playground and out of the school gates. Finally I was free.

For years I’d battled with anxiety and low self-confidence due to being the victim of bullying. At school I had been shy and once I’d replied to the teacher during the morning register, I’d hardly speak again all day. It soon became another excuse for the bullies to pick on me and they’d make up nasty songs and chant them at me through the school corridors, throwing pencils and rubbers at my back in class. One day, I went to my locker to get my belongings after school and someone had taped it up with parcel tape, so I couldn’t get my things. I missed my bus home that day, and couldn’t stop crying. So when that very last day of school came around, aged 16, I felt a huge sense of relief, and excitement for the future. Without those bullies dragging me down, and with a strong sense of ambition and drive to succeed in life, I knew I could be whoever I wanted to be.

Gaining confidence