Deborah Marlow

From Nine To Noon 23 September 2013

NOTICE: 24 October 2014 - In September 2013 Nine to Noon interviewed Deborah Lee Marlow, who calls herself the "business whisperer" and, "an internationally recognised, award winning serial entrepreneur and popular motivational speaker".

We did check out claims she had made in media articles – and confirmed she had set up businesses such as a chain of Mexican restaurants in Ireland, and had established an organisation called The Business Whisperer.

She was also the New Zealand chapter president of the Women Presidents Organisation, and member of Global Women, whose membership includes senior New Zealand business leaders.

Nine to Noon has now found out that Global Women is investigating Deborah Lee Marlow’s membership of that organisation, after receiving information relating to her business practices.

The Women Presidents Organisation says that as of July 2014, Deborah Lee Marlow is no longer affiliated with the organisation. Its Vice President of Operations at its New York base, Camille Burns says "It is our policy not to share any information about someone we are no longer affiliated with".

The Wellington Employers Chamber of Commerce has written to Deborah Lee Marlow asking her to remove its logo from her website and Linked In page, as she has never been a member of its organisation, despite her claims.

In October 2014, Deborah Lee Marlow announced via the web that she has now closed her latest business, the Kapiti Cantina restaurant in Paekakariki.

Serial entrepreneur Deborah Marlow grew up in the floating logging camps of Alaska, ran away from home at 16 and was divorced with a newborn baby by 19. After working with a re-forestation cooperative for several years she decided she wanted to be rich. She worked her way up through an LA-based IT start up - eventually becoming its Chief Operating Officer. She has lived in the US and Europe, and now is in semi-retirement in Paekakariki, on the Kapiti coast.