When I first saw Poppy Delbridge in action, I wasn’t entirely sure what was happening.

The tapping practitioner - no, we’re not talking tap dancing - helps women to overcome negative self-talk and limiting beliefs with a practice that involves quite literally tapping the body in a particular pattern, whilst repeating mantras. And as strange as it looks to the uninitiated, Poppy swears by it. Tapping disrupts emotional patterning stored in the body, she explains, “and creates new neural pathways in the brain. This means you get to release the emotions associated with them, and have a new response to a situation.” 

And it’s something she’s used to build an empire. Poppy has made a career of defying odds and expectations. At 21 she decided to start a family, in her final year of university. “I had to breastfeed in the toilets between lectures”, she says, “and taught myself most of the work, going on to have the highest dissertation grade ever.” Upon graduation she landed a dream job in TV, working her way up to executive level by 28. Which makes it all the more remarkable that she decided to leave her 6-figure role to become an entrepreneur - but “I like a pivot”, she explains. “Pivoting is about reading the collective energy. What is working, what do people want?”

She’s since been called a master pivoter, and in a post-pandemic world, that’s a skill that couldn’t be more sought after. And it all comes down to belief. “I truly believe we can do anything with the right support, vision and belief system”, Poppy says. And in this interview, you might just start to believe the same...

I want to start with what I imagine must have had an enormous impact on you and your outlook on life: your Dad was given 10 days to live in his thirties, and ended up living another 14 years. Tell me about that time, and how it has shaped your attitude?

This happened to me as a little girl. My parents went from being successful, with their entrepreneurial businesses, to losing everything in a heartbeat, when they discovered a stage 4 adrenal cancer - all around stress. My parents decided to fight it, and turned their focus to nutrition, mindset and belief that he would live. Miraculously, it worked and he kept his cancer at bay for my entire life. He had a very strong motivation and vision: to watch me grow up and live a life helping others. He achieved that alongside my mum, and I now feel it’s my own mission to empower others to remaster their internal belief systems and possibilities. 

You had your son when you were 21 and in university. At the time you were told it would be impossible to do both, but you graduated with First Class Honours. Did the naysayers drive you to prove them wrong?

I did, I actually got married before that! I saved up and bought a house to renovate with my boyfriend, and we went to University together at 18. Then, we had our son (planned but first time lucky!) during my final year. I had to breastfeed in the toilets between lectures and taught myself most of the work, going on to have the highest dissertation grade ever - which was around psychoanalysis. They (all male tutors at the time) told me I had to take a year off, then come back. Obviously, I declined. I think I ruffled a few feathers when I rocked up to receive my First Class Honours with my baby in my arms. I like to challenge perceptions and make people re-think ‘normal’; it’s always been a driver of mine. I truly believe we can do anything with the right support, vision and belief system.

Managing children and a career can be demanding enough, let alone in your early twenties when less of your peers are likely to have children as well. How did you make it work?

I won my first job in a creativity competition with The Guardian in a top Television Production Company called Endemol (now Endemol Shine) and I remember my early twenties being a lesson in mindset!  I missed my son; I loved my job, and so grappled with the mum-guilt. I was fortunate at the time, I had a husband and we could afford to have a nanny so I kept my own identity (which I believe is crucial). I also took my son everywhere with us, and included him in adult conversations - and he would be sitting at the dinner table chewing the fat about ideas.

You went on to have a thriving career in TV, working for the likes of MTV and becoming an exec by 28. What do you put your success down to?

Looking back, it was all about self-belief, grit and manifesting strategies. I unpicked it all and turned it into my Pivot Into Power 7D Process, which has helped other women create job promotions, financial success and even babies! It’s about creating a desire, discovering more about it, deciding to have it, then debunking and ditching what stands in the way (this is the belief remastery and Rapid Tapping part), then doing inspired action that leads to your intention becoming a ‘done deal’. 

Many women find it difficult to advocate for themselves when it comes to promotions and pay rises. Do you have any advice on this?

Yes! If we do not ask, we do not get. It is an old saying but it counts. I was shocked to find out that a counterpart colleague of mine was on half my wage. I couldn’t believe it and coached her on it. Her response was that she didn’t know how to ask, how to negotiate for herself, and didn’t believe she was worth it anyway. This is a huge problem; we need to know the tools to raise our self-worth. I was fuelled by my own self-development and manifesting techniques, and I’d received lots of Exec training and coaching at this point too. I wasn’t prepared to not be paid what I was worth and now I help my clients do the same in their businesses and careers - it’s a huge part of my work. 

Tell me about how and when you discovered tapping.

Tapping is something that my mum taught me, I found it when I was at a very tricky time in my life and it helped me get through a crisis. I then realised it was more than just a self-technique, and trained up over a few years to become an advanced practitioner in the therapy, now developing my own style based around achieving our goals, Rapid Tapping. 

You’ve been called “a master at pivoting” and you proved this when you resigned for your 6 figure TV exec role, to become an entrepreneur. What made you take that leap?

I like a pivot! I had what I call ‘the nudge’ and I just had to follow it. Life is fleeting; I realised that it is not enough to just dream. It’s about deciding to clarify - and then going after your vision, so it becomes a reality. I got myself coaching, did the inner work to conquer my limiting beliefs and got busy ‘burning the boats’! I knew I worked best under pressure, so I gave myself 12 weeks (as a single mum with a house and high outgoings) to match my income. Most of it was down to mindset work, but also I put the hours in to really evaluate myself. On launch of my new business, I tripled my salary and the rest is history.

Pivoting is the buzzword of the moment, and with more and more people having to rethink their careers in the Covid world, what’s your advice on planning a pivot?

Pivoting is about reading the collective energy. What is working, what do people want? As a TV creative pitching programme ideas for two decades it’s given me a real insight into audience trends and human behaviour. You have to be two steps ahead and this translates to business. So as well as looking inwards make sure you look at the competition to check your pivot is relevant, authentic and needed. If it is, make sure your pivot uses all your key skills or your  ‘Sweet Spot’ as we call it in House of Possibility: a mix of your professional and personal USPs. 

You’ve called tapping “the place where neuroscience and spirituality meet”. For the skeptics, can you explain a little about the neuroscience behind the technique?

Yes, we are human. We are programmed from patterns, many of which come from the hippocampus where your memories are stored. You also have another part called the amygdala, which is the emotional centre of the brain controlling your stress response. To keep us safe as humans, we are wired to ‘filter’ experiences and thoughts, but these depend on those patterns. Useful when you’re keeping safe from predators in the wild, less useful when your emotional attachments to trauma, failure and people stay lodged in your memory bank and energy system as a default response. Tapping disrupts this patterning and creates new neural pathways in the brain. This means you get to release the emotions associated with them, and have a new response to a situation. It’s why it’s used in phobias so much. I use it to enhance our lives, go next-level, get over things like public speaking worries and old stress over things like not feeling good enough. It’s quite magical, even though it’s proven in over 200 clinical trials now with exceptional and rapid results.

You’ve faced some devastating challenges in your life, from the loss of your father to the breakdown of your 10-year marriage. How have you dealt with these times, and has tapping helped you to cope?

Absolutely. My thing is all this stuff can happen, but we get to choose our response. Easier said than done though. How can we consciously decide to get over something when we are in the height of emotion? I believe we need to go deeper and look at trauma, not ignore it. We’re so often told to just ‘suck it up’ and ‘carry on’ but that’s not going to change the way we feel if we are in despair! It’s a mask. That’s where tapping comes in; it goes to the root of the problem rather than symptoms. Claire, in The Possibility Club, had not gone outside with her family, or been able to wear a mask for a year and she’s been sending us photos out with her son on holiday without fear or anxiety. This is why I am so passionate about it. It can change lives at a dramatic level as well as keep us feeling higher frequency about life and work. 

Talk to me about burnout, because it’s such a common issue in today’s society, and yet you manage multiple businesses, speaking gigs, book deals - and you say it’s all down to the energetics. How do you make it sustainable?

100% it is down to energetics. Energetics is your energy, your emotional blueprint, your frequency, your innermost feelings about yourself and your potential. I believe we put a preference on action in this society, but what if we decided to favour our belief system? Change that, and you change your output. Transform the way you feel and you up-level your results. My clients are CEOs, celebrities and founders mainly and burnout is often just misalignment. A mismatch between your desires and dreams and your actual reality. My work is not just about managing our energy and time; it’s about completely re-writing the story and manifesting the life we truly want, speedily. Get this right, and I see the burnout drop away and the fire begin, time and time again with clients. 

Why do you love working with women specifically?

Because they’re bloody fantastic. I am passionate about helping women succeed in ALL their desires - because historically, we’ve been on the fringes too long. Settling, compromising, juggling. We need to talk about equality, empowerment, choice, freedom. I want to be an active part of that ongoing conversation. 

What role has manifestation played in your life?

It is a way of life. 24/7. We manifest all the time, helpfully or unhelpfully. I just wish we were taught this stuff as children as I was privileged to be. Once we go deep into this and add the psychology, neuroscience and quantum physics elements into it; the world is our oyster.

Tell me why you don’t believe in being realistic?

Well, where’s the fun in that?! Once you’ve opened the door to possibilities, it’s hard to go back indoors.