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Mark Stephen Pooler

Mark Stephen Pooler

Everyone has brilliance from within no matter of your past

Mark Stephen Pooler has a remarkable story. He has survived the type of hardship most of us only see in movies, from being bullied from a young age, combatting severe drug addiction and even cheating death. Now he works tirelessly to help others overcome adversity and bring out the brilliance that shines in each and every one of us.

By the age of 15 the bullying had taken it’s toll. Mark’s confidence had hit rock bottom. He had undergone several cosmetic procedures to try and improve his appearance and was struggling to come to terms with his sexuality. He left school with bad grades and the downward spiral into drug addiction began to take hold.

On leaving school, Mark trained as a hairdresser and started working for big name brands in leading hair salons. By the time he reached his late teens/early twenties he his addiction was spiraling out of control – using crack cocaine and heroin so he didn’t have to live in reality of his life.

At 21 Mark was at his lowest point. He was rushed into hospital as his heart had stopped. Against the odds he made it back and realised that things had to change. He vowed (and succeeded) to give up hard drugs, although he continued to use soft drugs for the next six years. At age 27 he was finally able to kick the soft drugs too.

Following Mark’s hospitalisation and rehabilitation from drug use, he continued with his hairdressing career. However he embarked on a huge journey of personal development. Thus started a freelance career in hairdressing in 2013.

Though he went on to build a successful hairdressing business and built a business in network marketing it seemed that misfortune continued to plague Mark. He faced relationship break downs, struggled with debt and found himself having to make more and more dramatic changes and ended up having to sell his home to start turning his business around.

Once Mark had got his business back on track and operating successfully he still felt something was missing. Suffering loss of jobs in his career, relationship breakdowns in business and personal life and having many dramatic life changes he knew a new direction was needed. He realised he was not following his true passion, and in 2017 made a big change in direction deciding to follow his true passion of helping and inspiring others.

Mark is now a professional speaker, a coach and an author. His area of expertise is self-leadership and transformation. He is passionate and dedicated to inspiring others to overcome their own adversity and find their inner entrepreneur to transform their lives. With a vast amount of knowledge, business skills and life experience to draw on, Mark embarked on a mission: To help professionals to create brilliance out of adversity.

Testimonials from Teachers

"I first saw Mark as the keynote speaker at The International Speakers Club. Mark was very open and honest about his past experiences and captivated his audience instantly. Mark spoke with passion, clarity and used humour to put his audience at ease and to enable him to deliver his message in the most effective way - the message that anyone can create a bright future, no matter their background or past.

As an experienced primary school teacher, I was impressed with Mark's delivery and interaction. His audience hung onto his every word and as a result, his message was delivered loud and clear.

I feel that children in a secondary school setting would benefit from hearing Mark's words of wisdom, spoken in such an open and honest way, as a way of reinforcing that anything is possible if you believe in yourself."

– Rachel Ashcroft, Primary School Teacher​

"I have seen Mark Pooler speak and I was impressed by the message of hope that his story provides. I believe that his story will help to build personal resilience and self motivation in young, if they are given the opportunity to hear it."

– Mr. Keith Fraser BA (Hons), Chair of the board of Trustees, EmployabilityUK

"Mark was the keynote speaker at our business networking event speaking to a mixed audience and was extremely well received. The feedback from all the delegates was very positive and they all took something of value away. Mark talked about his past and was able to use his story as a motivational and inspirational tool and show delegates some real techniques they can use to maximise success. I would highly recommend Mark as a speaker. Having a background in college education, I feel this talk would be extremely educational for teenagers."

– Lyn Calver, National Director, Coffee and Natter, Pathway2Grow

" Mark was amazing and I was so thrilled that he had agreed to come so far to talk to our learners. A measure of how good he was was that our learners sat in silence and listened to him. Our school is for SEMH children who have themselves suffered Trauma, and many are from unhappy backgrounds. Mark had a great affect on them. Please thank him again from all of us at Acorn. We will be doing some work around his visit and story within our PSHE curriculum, this will focus on bullying and the effects of bullying. I would happily forward copies of their work to him."

– Jo Filer-Cooper, Upper School Lead, Acorn School

Speaker File

Location

West Midlands

Topics

  • Creative
  • Careers
  • Assemblies and Celebrations Events
  • Well-being
  • Anti-Bullying
  • Drugs/Alcohol
  • Mental Health
  • Body Image

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