Debra Searle
Solo Atlantic Rower, Adventurer, Entrepreneur, Award-Winning Speaker
why book debra?
- Remarkable solo row across the Atlantic, enduring challenges like 30′ waves and sharks, earned her global recognition and showcased her resilience
- Founded companies, including MIX Diversity Developers, focusing on innovative corporate programs like the LeasePlan Women’s Arctic Challenge
- Awarded an MBE by Queen Elizabeth II for her spirit of adventure, Debra serves as a trustee for The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award, showcasing her commitment to service
“We greatly appreciate all the hard work and preparation that went into creating your talk which greatly enhanced our program and added value to our members experience in Orlando. Thank you for your part in making our event a smashing success.”
CEO, Million Dollar Roundtable after the MDRT Annual Meeting, Florida
Biography
Debra Searle is an award-winning adventurer, entrepreneur, and motivational speaker with a truly extraordinary story.
She gained global recognition after rowing solo across the Atlantic Ocean in a 23-foot plywood boat. She had started the journey with her husband, a 6’5” professional oarsman.
But when he had to be rescued, Debra continued the 3,000-mile row alone. Despite being a novice rower, she battled 30-foot waves, force 8 storms, and even sharks. The crossing took her 3.5 months—far longer than the expected six weeks.
Since her Atlantic adventure, Debra has led and joined expeditions worldwide. She also competed for Great Britain in Dragon Boat Racing, winning bronze, silver, and gold at the European and World Championships.
Her achievements in sport and exploration continue to inspire audiences across every industry.
Debra has delivered over 1,100 motivational speeches in 40+ countries. She speaks to global corporations, government leaders, and international conferences.
In 2022, Global Gurus ranked her the No.3 Motivational Speaker in the World, just behind Simon Sinek and Tony Robbins. That made her the highest-ranked female motivational speaker globally.
Beyond adventure, Debra is a successful entrepreneur.
She founded five businesses, including MIX Diversity, a consultancy focused on diversity and inclusion. Her insights help leaders drive workplace innovation and inclusion.
She combines adventure stories with practical business lessons—making her a unique and powerful speaker for any event. Debra has presented 40 programs for the BBC and authored three published books.
Her inspiring work earned her an MBE from Queen Elizabeth II. She later received the Royal Victorian Order (MVO) for her services to the Royal Family. She also spent 10 years on the board of a royal charity, gaining invaluable leadership experience.
Now, Hollywood is developing a movie based on her solo Atlantic crossing.
In 2023, a major British newspaper listed Debra as one of the World’s Top 50 Inspirational Leaders. Her journey continues to motivate individuals and organizations to dream big, act boldly, and build resilience.
Topics
Choose Your Attitude – It’s not Magic, it’s Mindset
Research shows that 75% of a top performer’s success can be attributed to positive attitude traits, with only 25% of their success attributed to skillset. Debra helps people tap into that 75% by sharing her amazing personal story of rowing the Atlantic solo after her husband was rescued from their small boat.
Audience takeaways:
- In her keynote, Debra shares the attitude-enhancing tools she relied on during those 111 days alone at sea.
- More than just an inspiring storyteller, Debra leaves her audiences with practical and actionable golden nuggets for work and life success, and ideas around how to stay connected with your team.
- Her ‘Choose Your Attitude Toolkit’ helps leaders and individuals to support themselves, rather than sabotaging themselves mentally when the pressure is on, so they can show up well for their colleagues and clients.
Choose to Challenge
(Ideal for International Women’s Day/Women in Leadership Events or Female Talent Development Programmes)
Debra took on her first board position at 27 years old, working with members of the British Royal Family. As the youngest and only woman on the Board, it challenged her confidence and courage to speak up and be heard. But Debra is no stranger to challenging herself! Debra has founded five businesses, one of which is a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Consultancy, has completed expeditions all around the world, and co-founded The Businesswomen’s Network Forum based out of Buckingham Palace.
In this inspiring talk for women and male allies, Debra uses storytelling to demonstrate how to choose to challenge yourself, how to challenge unconscious bias and how to challenge imposter syndrome to push yourself outside your comfort zone to make major step changes in your career and confidence. This talk is a rare combination of high adventure, while communicating important messages around the value of inclusion and how we can all play our part to overcome bias.
Practical Tools to Stay Motivated and Build Resilience
There aren’t many people in the world who have spent more than 100 days totally alone at sea, and there are probably even fewer who could say that they thrived during those 100 days. Debra Searle MBE spent 3.5 months unexpectedly rowing the Atlantic solo after her husband and rowing partner developed a crippling phobia of open ocean and had to be rescued from their tiny plywood boat.
You don’t survive an experience like that without clear strategies for remaining resilient and carefully guarding your mental and physical wellbeing. In these challenging times of high inflation, hybrid working and geopolitical unrest, Debra presents the mindset and wellbeing strategies she has adapted from her time at sea and that she has successfully brought into daily life.
This session is about hearing an inspirational story of resilience and the practical ways to stay positive and productive during times of adversity. The audience will leave re-energized and ready to go again.
Other Topics Include:
• Teamwork & Positive Relationships
• Strategies for not just coping but excelling during times of change
• Leading through change
• Wellbeing techniques to expand our ability to tolerate the challenges.
• How to keep going when the journey only seems to be getting harder.
• Finding a way to innovate when pushed outside our comfort zones.
• Taking personal ownership as an individual while performing as part of a team.
• Leading through change / Strategies for not just coping but excelling during times of adversity.
• Women In Leadership and how to manage Unconscious/Implicit Bias.
Debra Searle
Masterclasses
You may want to go deeper with your audience. Masterclasses can be tailored and developed to suit your audience needs, be it a 90-minute Masterclass, a half-day or full-day workshop or a full online or face-to-face programme. Please contact one of our expert team to discuss.
Resources
Videos
Books
“Debra not only has a great story to tell, but she uses her experiences to support real business situations and bring alive those everyday moments faced by leaders. She clearly understood our organisation and within an hour had totally transformed the mindset of some of the most ‘fixed’ people in this intimate audience.”
Anthony Price, Global Head of Talent Developments, TMF Group
testimonials
“We greatly appreciate all the hard work and preparation that went into creating your talk which greatly enhanced our program and added value to our members experience in Orlando. Thank you for your part in making our event a smashing success.”
CEO, Million Dollar Roundtable after the MDRT Annual Meeting, Florida
“Just a note to let you know how delighted we were with your keynote session on Friday. I genuinely can’t recall such positive feedback and engagement from our delegates over the many conferences which we’ve run!”
Sam Davidson, Group Human Resources Director, Henderson Group
“Debra’s presentation was perfectly aligned to our event objectives. Clearly Debra’s achievements are amazing and interesting in themselves. More importantly, Debra has the ‘human touch’ and connected well with everyone in the audience. She held the audience from start to finish and balanced humour with more serious messages. She scored 5 out of 5 from every one of the 170 delegates. This is unheard of!”
Client Director, IBM (IBM have booked Debra a further 8 times)
“Her feedback scores were phenomenal – the highest ever. Her slides were the earliest we’ve ever received. She was dressed impeccably. She stayed for the entire event and even incorporated what she’d heard earlier in the sessions making it totally relevant. The most professional speaker we’ve ever booked!”
LCP
“You were a HUGE hit. The sessions have been littered with references to choosing our words, our attitude and extending our comfort zone! So many of the delegates came to find me to tell me how moved and inspired they were by your story and to congratulate me on my choice of external speaker.”
ODEON
“Your story was deeply inspirational to both women and men. We received hundreds of positive comments from individuals across the globe.”
Dell Technologies
““If we had been in-person I have absolutely no doubt that you would have had a standing ovation!”
JP Morgan
“You are a great virtual speaker, your camera framing and way of articulating and using your non-verbals were some of the best I have seen so far”
Microsoft
“I’ve seen other speakers who simply repeat their story without adapting to the audience. Debra really applied the learnings to Costa.”
COSTA
“Debra not only has a great story to tell, but she uses her experiences to support real business situations and bring alive those everyday moments faced by leaders. She clearly understood our organisation and within an hour had totally transformed the mindset of some of the most ‘fixed’ people in this intimate audience.”
Anthony Price, Global Head of Talent Developments, TMF Group
“I have never heard a better speech, anywhere, in any context.”
Alan Farnsworth, Predient, Bausch & Lomb EMEA
“There are good speakers, there are great speakers and then there is Debra Searle. I’ve never seen an audience so engaged, inspired and in touch with the messages that she shared.”
Matt Schofield, People Leader and Business Partner, Auto Trader UK
“We held a conference for 1400 business people with Mikhael Gorbachev, Rory Bremner, Nick Leeson, Murray Walker, John Simpson and Debra Searle as the speakers, and the delegates voted Debra Searle the best.”
Mike Firth, International Business Convention
“The way you translated your experience into actionable day to day practices to change behaviour and get into a positive mindset is very powerful.”
Biogen
“Your insights have certainly inspired the team to challenge the status quo and dig deep within, to achieve what feels like the impossible.”
“Of all the keynote workshops I have ever done, this was the best. The exercises were fun and practical. The people at my table really took these exercises seriously and we had constructive dialogue.”
RBC
“We have lost that preciousability to connect and yet youmanaged to have us allgripped in a virtual world.”
CitiBank
““Your story is remarkable but your ability to connect and relate to others is even more so…. even virtually.”
Tolmar
“The audience was captivated. The “Choose your Attitude” narrative is becoming the new motto withinour circle. Your messages were absorbed by the team and I believe you have really helped us moving forward.”
CSL Vifor
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