Desert Island CEO: Michelle Begy, MD of Ignite Dating

Interviews
Written By Roar! Editor

Name: Michelle Begy

Age: 45

Job title: Managing Director and Founder of Ignite Dating Group Ltd

If you were stuck on a desert island, and you could only take 3 things to support your business, what would they be?

  • Mac Book

  • My team

  • Mobile phone

What are 3 apps you can’t live without for your business?

  • LNER (train booking app)

  • Smart Match App (database for matching)

  • LinkedIn

3 best business books you’ve ever read:

  • Simple, Logical, Repeatable by Marianne Page

  • Gifts Differing: Understanding Personality Type – The Original book behind the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator by Isabel Briggs Myers

  • Emotional Intelligence – Mindfulness (Harvard Business Review Intelligence Series) by Daniel Goleman

3 favourite business podcasts:

  • The High Performance Podcast featuring Baroness Michelle Mone

  • The Biz Chix Podcast for Women Entrepreneurs hosted by Natalie Eckdahl

  • Dating in the City hosted by Alessandra Conti and Christina Conti Pineda

Which three people would you take with you to your island and why?

My business mentor, Peter. He is high energy, has an amazing business head and is one of the most inspiring leaders that I have ever met. 

My Ops Director, Amie Leigh. She is my right-hand woman, ensures that the business has processes in place to run efficiently and is an amazing PR!

Head of Matching, Kristina. Kris has a great understanding of the business and is an intuitive matchmaker. She supports the in-territory matchmakers with their clients and on boards clients that we have head hunted for paid clients. She is the hub of our matching process. 

What’s one piece of advice you’d like to give our readers?

In the face of adversity, push harder, work harder, build quicker. 

Ten weeks after launching Ignite Dating, we were sent into lockdown. Faced with a situation where we couldn’t meet face to face, I was concerned with the impact this would have on a new business. We decided to work harder – we increased our marketing and PR – and came out of lockdown stronger and in a better position than ever. 

Roar! Editor