Meet Lizzie
Lizzie Liebenhals is the founder and CEO of Halls and Halls and Halls and Halls Privé, a boutique agency based in Surrey, UK, working across sport, entertainment, hospitality, and luxury private events. With over three decades of experience behind the scenes of major global moments, she is known for her discretion, strategic clarity, and ability to bring complex experiences to life always guided by integrity, care, and detail.
Where Calm Meets Complexity
There are people who thrive on noise, and then there are people who can walk into the noisiest rooms in the world and quietly steady them. Lizzie Liebenhals belongs firmly to the latter. Her work has unfolded around packed stadiums, global broadcasts, high-profile talent, and luxury brands—but her presence is not loud. It is assured. Measured. Rooted.
Spend time with Lizzie, and you quickly realise that what drives her is not spectacle, but stewardship. She is someone who takes responsibility seriously, responsibility for people, for reputations, for moments that matter. Her career has been shaped less by ambition in the traditional sense, and more by an instinct to organise, protect, and elevate. To make things work seamlessly, often invisibly, for others.
Before the Spotlight, There Was Curiosity
Lizzie’s professional story begins long before apps, platforms, or digital ticketing reshaped the sports and events world. In 1994, during her gap year, she joined Sportsworld Group a time when attending a major sporting tournament meant relying on tour operators and physical logistics rather than technology. She worked on the Commonwealth Games and the Winter Olympics, absorbing the pace, precision, and human coordination required to make global events function.
Those early experiences revealed something fundamental about her. She loved hospitality. She loved sport. And perhaps most of all, she loved the challenge of organising complex experiences bringing together people, places, and pressure, and making it all feel effortless.
That instinct only deepened when she moved to the Football Association, working on the England football commercial programme. Football, with its global reach, financial scale, and emotional weight, became the environment where she truly learned her craft. Her focus was not just on deals, but on peoplespecifically, helping sporting individuals understand, build, and protect their personal brand and identity while playing for club and country.
It was work that required discretion, emotional intelligence, and an ability to balance commercial reality with personal values. Lizzie was learning how power operates behind the scenes and how easily it can distort without the right guidance.
Learning the Hard Way
Her next chapter took her into the world of football agents an environment she describes as brutal, raw, and unfiltered. It was a place marked by competitiveness, ego, and, at times, deceit. Looking back, she acknowledges how harsh that world could be, especially for young people navigating it today.
Yet she does not soften the memory. She chose that environment, knowing it was male dominated, demanding, and unforgiving. And she rose to it. The experience sharpened her instincts and strengthened her resilience. It taught her what she did not want to replicate and what kind of leader she intended to become.
There were moments early on when even basic facilities for women were absent at football training grounds. Each obstacle pushed her further, shaping a professional identity built on endurance, adaptability, and self-belief. These were not lessons learned in theory, but earned in practice.
Loss as a Line in the Sand
For all the intensity of her professional life, the most significant turning point came not from work, but from loss. When Lizzie’s father died, the pace at which she had been living became impossible to ignore. At the time, she was on call twenty-four hours a day for high-profile individuals managing commercial deals, crisis situations, media relations, and the personal needs of both clients and their families.
It was relentless. And it left little space for reflection.
Grief forced her to pause and confront a difficult truth: she was successful, but not always happy. Losing her father clarified what she no longer wanted constant exhaustion, transactional relationships, and a life shaped entirely by other people’s priorities.
As she later reflected,
“Losing my father forced me to reflect on what I truly wanted, or perhaps more accurately, what I no longer wanted. I wanted to work with good people, create fabulous experiences and meaningful deals, but also to be happier in the process.”
That realisation led her to step out on her own frightened and exhilarated in equal measure. Entrepreneurship was not an escape from pressure; it was a different kind of responsibility. But it was hers.
Building Something That Reflects Her Values
Today, Lizzie runs two interconnected businesses. Halls and Halls focuses on PR, talent management, events, and commercial rights across sport and entertainment. Alongside this, she delivers hospitality consultancy for luxury brands and oversees complex sporting events that demand deep regulatory knowledge, logistical precision, and thoughtful experience design.
From this foundation, Halls and Halls Privé emerged a luxury private events business dedicated to creating unforgettable moments. Its reputation rests on meticulous attention to detail, a trusted network of suppliers and venues, and a deeply hands-on approach. What sets the business apart is not scale, but care. It is boutique by design, and unapologetically so.
Behind the scenes, the realities of running a business are constant. Income generation requires strategic alignment between clients and brands. Cash flow must be managed carefully, especially when payment terms from large organisations can strain smaller operations. Perception matters too working with major names while resisting the diminishing label of “small business.”
Lizzie speaks openly about the complexity of these challenges, including managing ADHD, which affects focus, energy, and recovery after major events. A diagnosis later in life brought clarity, but not simplicity. Understanding how her mind works has allowed her to build systems of support most notably through a business partnership formed around year eight. What began as a clunky adjustment has become a genuine collaboration rooted in trust, balance, and shared resilience.
Leadership Without Illusion
One of the less visible demands of Lizzie’s work is honesty. Real growth commercial or personal often requires uncomfortable conversations. Not all clients welcome the truth, especially when egos and expectations collide. But Lizzie has learned that integrity matters more than approval.
She is also candid about imposter syndrome, that quiet companion many leaders carry. Self-doubt has not disappeared with experience, but it has become easier to name and easier to challenge, particularly with the support of a trusted partner.
What grounds her most, however, is reputation. Among the many high-profile events she has delivered opening Wembley Stadium to a global audience, celebrating Muhammad Ali’s 64th birthday, managing Olympic teams what she values most is being welcomed into a room with genuine warmth. Trust, respect, and regard are currencies she has earned slowly and carefully.
Giving Back Where It Counts
Despite the perceived glamour of her industry, Lizzie’s sense of purpose extends well beyond it. Giving back is not a side project, but a priority. She volunteers with Princess Alice Hospice, supporting end-of-life care an area deeply personal to her. She also serves on the board of the Surrey Football Association, helping shape grassroots football, the foundation upon which the professional game is built.
Even her dog plays a role, trained in pet therapy to support dementia patients and autistic children. These quieter contributions reflect the same values that guide her work: care, presence, and meaningful impact.
Redefining Success on Her Own Terms
For Lizzie, success has little to do with external validation. It is a balance of impact, integrity, and joy. It is knowing she has built something aligned with her values, that her work allows others to flourish, and that she can still make time to give back.
As she puts it,
“Ultimately, it’s not just about what I achieve, but how I achieve it, and whether I can walk into a room knowing I am valued, respected and staying true to myself.”
Looking ahead, her goals are grounded rather than grandiose. She wants to grow what already exists, support younger ex-footballers as they transition into new careers, manage her time with less guilt, contribute on another board, and one day own a property abroad. These are aspirations shaped by experience, not urgency.
A Life Lived With Intention
Lizzie Liebenhals has spent her career operating at the intersection of pressure and privilege, ambition and care. She has learned that resilience does not require hardness, and that leadership does not demand volume. Her principles, integrity, respect, loyalty, and purpose are not branding exercises; they are daily practices.
In an industry built on image, Lizzie has chosen substance. In environments that reward ego, she has prioritised honesty. And in a life shaped by complexity, she has carved out clarity.
Be true. Be kind. Be fabulous. For Lizzie, these are not slogans. They are a way of being.
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