Holly Tucker MBE is co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of award-winning online marketplace notonthehighstreet.com, which provides a retail platform for more than 3,500 small creative and entrepreneurial businesses. Founded in 2006, the company now employs more than 120 people at its offices in Richmond-upon-Thames.

After starting her career in advertising and sales, the inspiration for notonthehighstreet.com came when Holly created Your Local Fair, well-marketed upmarket fairs that were staged in affluent areas of London and the South East. Holly has won a number of awards including 35 Women Under 35 and the Women of the Future Award. She is regularly invited to speak at business, digital, design and entrepreneurial events; giving advice to start-ups, telling the inspirational story of notonthehighstreet.com and talking about her experience with venture capital investment. Holly will be presenting the at a reception in London on 19th November 2013.

Her bestselling book, Build A Business From Your Kitchen Table (Simon & Schuster) was written with co-founder Sophie Cornish, published in July 2012 and has topped the Amazon and Sunday Times Business bestseller charts.

In 2013, both Holly and co-founder, Sophie Cornish were awarded MBEs for services to small businesses and enterprise as part of Her Majesty The Queen’s Birthday Honours List. Holly lives in St Margarets with her partner and young son.

My Favourite Website... has to be notonthehighstreet.com, of course! I’m so proud of what has been achieved and the way the site has evolved over the years.

My Favourite App... Clear, which is all about checklists and rewards – it has definitely helped me to manage my day-to-day life outside the office.

My Favourite Blog... TheBeatThatMyHeartSkipped - Such an amazingly inspirational blog full of creative ideas and an abundance of inspiration. My little boy and I love looking at this blog together, as it gives him the opportunity to suggest new things for us to do and new places to go. In a sense, I find it quite educational for him.

My Most Recent Buy Online A life-size wooden cow cabinet for my office from notonthehighstreet. I really wanted to create an office environment that inspired me on a daily basis, and I have gradually pulled together various different products from the site to do this.

My Favourite Tweeter... @MarthaStewart - I really do enjoy reading Martha’s tweets. She’s a great role model and fantastic businesswoman. My partner loves to cook and so I often find myself perusing through Martha’s tweets and passing on tips and ideas to him. She’s also adopted a healthy work/life balance, or at least that’s the image she projects – something to truly admire, especially for such an iconic and successful entrepreneur.

My Favourite Instagrammer... thiswildidea - I absolutely love keeping up to date with Theron Humphrey and his rescue dog, Maddie. His passion for living his dream is reflected in his photos, which are incredible, and the relationship that Theron shares with Maddie is tangible. I have a real obsession with animals and listening to animal-related stories, which either leaves me crying my eyes out or laughing, or both! My love for Theron and Maddie, and my general obsession with animals has grown to the extent that we now have a dedicated pets department on our site. Theron and Maddie were definitely my inspiration.

My Pet Hate About Life Online... Personally, for me it has to be the lack of engaging information that appears so frequently. Why bother producing something just to meet a deadline or fill a gap? I much rather prefer quality over quantity.

Social Media Allowed Me to Meet... All the small businesses that I very rarely get the opportunity to meet during my day-to-day life. For example, Twitter is perfect for putting everyone on an even keel, offering a platform that allows its users to interact at the same level. This is something that should definitely be admired!

My Stand Out Online Memory... There is a very memorable (and often talked about) moment for me and I’m so glad you asked. Without a doubt it has to be the day we launched our first site with no checkout – we were very optimistic, but most definitely wish we had understood the word Beta at the time!

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6 October 2013