Rebecca Stephens

Rebecca Stephens MBE (born 1961) was the first British woman to climb Mount Everest and went on to become the first British woman to climb each of the highest mountains of the world’s continents.

She is an outstanding speaker on both motivation and teamwork and draws from her personal experiences she inspires the audience into seeing that they may well have underestimated their own personal capabilities both individually and collectively.

On every climbing expedition Rebecca demonstrates endurance, courage and a determination to succeed. Time and time again she has driven herself to new limits to achieve her goals.

It was while working as a journalist that in 1989 she visited Everest for the first time to report on an expedition climbing the North East Ridge. Just four years later, in 1993, she returned to Everest and became the first British woman to successfully reach the summit.

In addition to her mountaineering exploits, Stephens has sailed the Southern Seas to the South Magnetic Pole and Antarctica and crossed the South Atlantic island of South Georgia. With explorers Sir Ranulph Fiennes and Dr. Mike Stroud OBE she took part in the gruelling Eco Challenge race across Canada. This included transport by horses, swimming, climbing, canoeing, white-water rafting and mountain biking across different types of terrain.

With a passionate belief that every individual can achieve goals far beyond their wildest dreams, Rebecca lectures to corporate audiences and schools around the world. She also contributes articles to a number of national newspapers and has regularly appeared on television, most notably on Tomorrow's World.

She has written a compelling account of her ascent of Everest, 'On Top of the World', a Dorling Kindersley book on mountains, entitled 'Everest', and most recently 'The Seven Summits of Success', co-written with management guru Robert Heller. She's also been a judge on the Man Booker award for contemporary literature.