Solo Atlantic Rower, Entrepreneur, Top International Motivational Speaker on Leadership & Managing Change
Europe
United Kingdom
Her Majesty The Queen has recognised Debra on two occasions – in 2002 with an MBE and in 2014 with an MVO. Debra has published three books, including The ‘CHOOSE YOUR ATTITUDE‘ Journal, a daily journaling practice designed for anyone who wants to apply the tools of positive psychology to help them to become happier and achieve their goals.
Debra is one of Europe’s leading conference speakers and has spoken at over 1000 events across 38 countries. The movie of her solo Atlantic row is currently in development in Hollywood.
Debra Searle MBE crossed the Atlantic Ocean in a rowing boat alone when her then-husband, a 6 ft 5 top-level oarsman, left the boat after developing an uncontrollable fear of the ocean. The journey that was scheduled to take six weeks took Debra three and a half months alone.
On return, Debra was heralded “…Britain’s latest sporting heroine.” The media went crazy for the story of the 5ft 5 young lady who carried on rowing alone at sea in a 23-foot plywood boat. She battled 30 foot waves, force 8 squalls and sharks while having to dodge tankers that came too close for comfort on more than a few occasions. Worse than all of this, however, was dealing with the loneliness and solitude but focussing on one motto kept Debra using: “Choose Your Attitude” and she certainly did.
Her positivity and relentless belief in the fact that you can achieve anything you want has made her successful in all her endeavours. Debra has proven to the rest of the world that success is up to you and those limitations are all in the mind. She continues to inspire businesses and conferences with her presentations. Searle powerfully illustrates with slides and stunning video footage and leaves her audience in no doubt of their own ability to achieve the extraordinary both individually and collectively. She sets herself apart from other speakers by her level of commitment to each project. This same level of commitment is carried through to the event where she makes every effort to speak with delegates on a one-to-one basis.
Debra speaks from the heart and with great humour about her personal journey of discovery and the strategies she used to keep going and now uses in her business life to help illustrate, in a very human way, what we are all capable of.
Messages include:
Debra’s main strengths as a speaker are focused on Leadership, Motivation and Managing Change:
Leadership
Positive leadership. Self-motivation. Lead yourself before you lead others.
Motivation
Choose Your Attitude! Practical tools to stay positive and achieve targets.
Embrace Change
Move out of your comfort zone. Strategies to excel during periods of change.
Debra is a top-rated speaker on the international circuit. In 2020 she was voted amongst the world’s Top 30 Speaking Gurus.
'Debra (inspires action) and spoke to the audience in a way that captivated them, relating her journey to our business. Absolutely everyone was energised and enthusiastic about what they had heard and what this can mean for them.'
'Debra clearly had a massive impact as people are still talking about it! ''The best thing about the event? Two words: Debra Searle.'' We’ve never had feedback like it for a speaker!'
Internationally Appealing 'I work with a very multi-cultural group (26 nationalities), this story resonates whatever your background. Debra was an inspirational story and a great role model particularly for women in our team.'
'CLEAR VALUE OUTPUT' - Vodafone's Experience "The value output of Debra's speech was clear for us all. Our team weaved Debra's content through so much of their own presentations during the rest of the event, it was obvious that she had made a real impact on our approach to leading the teams. The energy with which Debra shared her story was so brilliant and truly engaging for such a diverse audience (India, Egypt, Romania and UK). It could not have been tailored better to suit our needs."
"Debra scored 5 out of 5 from every respondent This is unheard of at an IBM event!"
"I was delighted with Debra on Friday. She arrived early in order to get a feel for the day and picked up on the themes for the day expertly. She then weaved these into her presentation at different points. The presentation went very well and she held the audiences attention for the whole talk. It was very inspiring and incredibly captivating. All the people I have spoken to after the event said it was by far the highlight of the day."
Italian Double Paralympic Gold Medalist and survivor of a virulent meningitis strain resulting in quadruple amputations
Belgian pioneering wingsuit flyer, BASE jumper, and high-performance psychologist
Italian ground-breaking adventurer who rowed alone the Atlantic, the Mediterranean, and Pacific Oceans
World record fastest women to row solo across the Atlantic
Italian ex-Formula One Driver, horrific accident survivor. Now multi-World Record holder in Ironman & Paralympic Champion
First woman to climb 14 mountain peaks of over 8000 meters in height
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International Motivational, true Leadership, Adversity to Overcome Keynote Speaker
Europe 