Bonita Norris is one of the UK's leading adventurers. She has spoken at hundreds of events over her greatly influential career as a speaker, and has been touted on numerous occasions as one of the most inspiring speakers available for your event. When it comes to taking on seemingly impossible challenges, Bonita Norris is the real deal. Not only is she a great storyteller with thousands of hours of presenting under her belt, she is also a respected mountaineer and juggles motivational speaking around her expeditions to the world's most dangerous mountains. Bonita continues to be a vocal thought leader on self-belief and motivation; in 2024, she appeared on HSBC's popular podcast, Power Up Your Goals, to discuss achieving your goals.
In 2010, Bonita became the youngest British woman to summit Mount Everest. Two years later, in 2012, she became the first British woman to reach the summit of Mt. Lhotse, a testament to Bonita's determination. From an amateur climber to a world-renowned adventure in a staggeringly short amount of time, she now inspires audiences to take their own leap of faith, like she did. Her journey against the odds resonates with audiences, leaving them with an improved perspective of their own potential. In 2022, her memoir The Girl Who Climbed Everest became a mountaineering bestseller on Amazon, detailing her journey from beginner climber at the age of 20 to the soaring highs and terrifying lows of pushing her limits in the death zone.
Bonita is a professional speaker with more than a decade’s experience delivering hundreds of speeches all over the world, and has been touted on numerous occasions as one of the most inspiring speakers audiences have heard from. Whether it’s an after-dinner speech, conference keynote or team sales meeting, Bonita is highly experienced and able to engage with audiences of all backgrounds, leaving a thought-provoking impression. Most recently, Bonita was honoured to be awarded the Best Speaker Storyteller at The Speaker Awards 2024 - recognising her influence as a motivational storyteller and keynote speaker.
From an amateur climber to a world-renowned adventure in a staggeringly short amount of time, she now inspires audiences to take their own leap of faith, like she did. Her journey against the odds resonates with audiences, leaving them with an improved perspective of their own potential. Bonita aims to make every individual reflect upon their own life goals and the challenges they face, as well as equip them with the techniques she used to get through her toughest moments. By retelling the lessons she learnt as an ordinary girl taking on an extraordinary and overwhelming challenge, Bonita relates to audiences on a personal levels - something that makes Champions Speakers take pride in as an official speaker agent of Bonita Norris. Her message of marginal gains, not giving in, and always keeping our minds open to new opportunities and challenges is as relevant to graduates as it is to a board of directors.
Accompanied by stunning photographs from her expeditions to the Himalayas, Bonita's speeches are heart-warming, humorous and inspiring. When Bonita is booked for events, audiences can expect tears and laughter, grimacing and gasping at Bonita's thrilling stories. Your guests will never forget an event featuring Bonita Norris.
Do not miss our exclusive interview with Bonita Norris, where she discusses the strength needed to climb Mount Everest. Most recently, Bonita Norris was inducted into the Best International Women's Day Speakers to Hire, in recognition of her inspirational achievements.
Social Media
Books
The Girl Who Climbed Everest: Lessons Learned Facing Up To The World's Toughest Mountain
Reviews
Bonita Norris received a 5 star rating across 20 events in 2023
Agent Recommendation
"Bonita Norris captivates as a motivational speaker, blending her mountaineering feats with profound life lessons. Her journey from amateur climber to record-breaking adventurer inspires audiences to surpass their limits. With humour, heart and wisdom, Bonita transforms any event into an unforgettable experience."
How to hire Bonita Norris
Contact the Champions Speakers Agency to provisionally enquire about hiring Bonita Norris for your next event, today. To get in touch, simply call an official booking agent on 0207 1010 553 or email us at [email protected] for more information.
** We do not accept requests for autographs, signed merchandise, fan mail, birthday messages or any other non-commercial contact with the speakers or acts. Each speaker on the website may not have necessarily worked with Champions in the past but are known to perform such engagements within the industry.
Bonita Norris' official speaking topics are listed below:
Mountains of the Mind - Inspiring Your Team to Reach New Heights:
What does it take to go beyond your limits? To have an impossible dream and turn it into a reality? For beginner climber Bonita Norris it was to reach the summit of Everest but as she came to learn, the biggest challenge wasn’t Everest itself. Limiting beliefs, imposter syndrome and being a beginner climber with a seemingly impossible goal meant the biggest mountain was not the one “out there”, it was the one in Bonita’s mind. This is the story of how with great support, a growth mindset and a clear vision, Bonita conquered the world’s highest peaks and the mountain of the mind. Accompanied by stunning photographs from her expeditions to the Himalayas, Bonita's talk is heartwarming, humorous and inspiring. She tells of the lessons she learnt as an ordinary woman who took on an extraordinary challenge - and succeeded against the odds. Most importantly, Bonita speaks about how great support is fundamental to success. As Tenzing Norgay once said, “Be Great, Make Others Great”.
In the Death Zone - Utilising Failure for Greater Success:
Are success and failure at odds with one another, or are they inextricably linked? Are excellent teams the ones that don’t make mistakes, or are they the ones that accept mistakes will and do happen? How can we ensure that workplace culture encourages not the making of mistakes but the effective techniques to learn quickly from them, so that they can be avoided in future? How can we better harness the learnings within our failings in order to succeed better and connect better with our teams and clients? These are the questions Bonita Norris explores in her keynote In the Death Zone. Bonita will share her story of going from the top of the world to rock bottom, and then back to the top again. Your team will learn how failure can inspire, educate and strengthen bonds in ways success cannot, Ultimately, being willing to succeed means being willing to fail. And if we’re humble enough to realise it: we often don’t end up succeeding OR failing, we often end up with a bit of both.
Other Topics:
- Marginal Gains - Success by Smallness & Focus Not Fret
- Mindset - It's Not the Mountain We Conquer, But Ourselves
- Failure - Mistakes are Inevitable, It's How We Harness Them That Matters
- Resilience - Resilience Comes from Rest, and Resting Well
- Teamship - Be Great, Make Others Great
Official Feedback from In-Person & Virtual Events
Feedback from In-Person Events:
"Bonita’s presentation perfectly set the tone for the day, she took account of the information I shared with her helping people to draw on her messaging and apply it to their own roles. We were all in awe of what she had achieved and very inspired!. She was very professional and willing to talk to people after the event. We really appreciated the time she gave". – Angela, DEFRA
"Bonita was amazing, so inspiring and had everyone on the edge of their seats. Thank you so much for the support in arranging her, it made our event." - Alexandra, Senior Executive Assistant, Elemis
"Just feedback from me and our F1 Team that Bonita was delightful, interesting, engaging and very inspirational - a great speaker." - Hannah, Junior HR Business Partner - Talent, Alpine F1
"Bonita was a huge hit. She sat in on the earlier sessions and picked up a real feel for what the conference was about and made several references throughout her talk which went down well. Bonita is a fabulous speaker and the feedback we have had is all very positive. Would not hesitate in recommending her and Champions are very easy to work with too." - Jill, Marketing Consultant, Semex UK
"I have to say that Bonita Norris is an outstanding success! She delivered an exceptional, motivational and insightful presentation and absolutely had the audience's full attention. She was amazing and a total success. Everyone was silent listening to her story, totally engrossed in the journey with Bonita to the top of Mount Everest." - Amanda, Director, MSG Marketing & Events LTD
"A brilliant speaker who engaged with the audience and had everybody captivated" - Ramblers UK
"I was lucky enough to see both Bonita and Claire speak, and both were inspirational, impressive and engaging. They also pitched it perfectly for their audiences. The partner who introduced Bonita said at the end as he was wrapping up that he had never seen such a great talk, and he's about to retire so will have seen one or two talks in his time! I thought Bonita was going to be good, but she far exceeded my expectations (which I told her on the day). The way she told her story was thoroughly captivating, the time whizzed by without anyone looking at their watches or phones, which is a real rarity in a business such as ours. Please pass on our huge thanks to Bonita and Claire. I said at the time that both had inspired me to challenge myself – I haven't decided what that challenge is going to be yet, but there will be something…." - Anna, Head of Rewards and Benefits, Clifford Chase LLP
"Bonita was amazing!! Such a lovely and inspiring person and I know that the verbal feedback on the day was very positive. I look forward to working with you folks next year." - Jon, Talent Development Manager, Havas Lynx Group
"Bonita attended our HMRC apprentice celebration event to deliver a presentation on her reaching the peak of Mount Everest. To say her story was inspiring and truly gripping is an understatement. The perseverance and determination to achieve her goal really echoed with our apprentices, due to the challenges they also faced to reach the completion of their apprenticeship. We would recommend Bonita to anyone considering an inspirational speaker to attend their event. Some feedback direct from our apprentices who attended the celebration event includes: 'I was inspired by Bonita’s resilience and her determination to attain her goal. She faced a lot of hurdles but she did not give up and I will always remember this when I face challenges” – Apprentice 1, 'I really enjoyed the talk from Bonita and could have listened to her for another few hours at least! The biggest takeaway for me was around the importance of celebrating the small achievements which we can so often overlook as we focus so much on our end goal and forget the appreciate the many successes that lead to it. It helped me reflect on some of the setbacks I’ve had in my own career progression recently, and to stop and give myself credit for how I’ve carried on in spite of the challenges I have faced' – Apprentice 2, 'I wish my 9-year-old daughter could have seen the presentation to experience what someone with true ambition, drive, enthusiasm and pure bloody mindedness can achieve' – Apprentice 3" - Daniel, SO Apprenticeship Portfolio Manager, HM Revenue & Customs
"I wanted to send a huge thank you for your help in organising an amazing speaker for our event... everyone thoroughly enjoyed the talk, I have had lots of great feedback about how motivational and inspiring it was - in the end we managed to get 384 people on the live stream who watched the entirety of the 45 minutes - so they were clearly hooked!" - Alice, Dyson
"The Greencajt Festival was a success! We are very happy that Bonita and Goran were our speakers at the Festival. They were really inspiring with their performances and visitors were really under the impression of their lectures. I welcomed and met them in person, really an honour to meet them - I believe they enjoyed it! Lovely weekend and festival indeed!" - Ivana, Project Manager, Greenhr
"Bonita did a great job as expected. Thanks for all your efforts in helping to organise this" - Armaan, Senior Consultant, Ernst & Young
"It went very well. She was brilliant and an inspiration to us all. Gave us so much to think about" - Dave, Vanquis
"One of the most inspirational speakers I have met. Totally applicable experience for a leadership programme. Eloquent and modest she totally drew the listeners in. Some of us forgot where we were, we were so enthralled. Absolutely fantastic." - Rachel, Thales Learning & Development
"Bonita’s visit exceeded all of our expectations. She was warm and friendly with an incredible story to tell. The children were hooked from the minute she started speaking (as were all of the adults present). Her amazing photographs added to the story. She talked passionately for an hour – the children did not move. They were truly mesmerised. Overall it was a very special afternoon. Bonita was extremely engaging and her determination to achieve was evident. She was passionate yet realistic. Her motto ‘Aim High’ really resounded with us all. I can honestly say that everyone at our school who was part of this event was touched by Bonita and her incredible journey." - Andrew, Southway Primary School
"I have seen many speakers over the years and less than a handful have been able to capture an audience for an hour without anyone realising that time had passed. She was funny, articulate and somehow humble even given her achievements and whilst the word is used rather too much these days, she was genuinely inspirational." - Lyndon, TT&C
"I sat through her presentation and thoroughly enjoyed it. I spoke today to so many colleagues who also really loved it. She provided the students with so many stories, humorous anecdotes that I am sure they will always remember and most importantly, with tips for motivation. She truly is an inspiration!" - Julie, Invicta Grammar School
"I have taught in London for ten years and then been at Charlton for the last seven. Never have we had, nor have I seen a better speaker. I have seen almost every type of speaker at all functions….Bonita made people sit up and take notice. It was absolutely amazing and afterwards, I spoke to so many students who were so buzzing because of what she said. Kids (and parents) need people like her to raise their spirits, hopes and overall game." - Helen, Charlton Academy
"Bonita is a rare combination of qualities – she is determined yet humble, really human yet clearly incredibly driven – she made our course delegates feel that if she could achieve what she had from such a standing start they could too. She particularly connected with the women in the audience; young, female and super-successful she was a genuine role model for our talented women." - Claire, Marks & Spencer
"I want to say thank you so much to Bonita for the talk that she gave to the 300 young people on Friday evening in Loughborough. Her story and presentation style resonated fantastically well with the themes of the camp and we were able to use excerpts from what she told us about her experiences throughout the weekend. The audience of talented young athletes and coaches were gripped from start to finish and I am certain that they will take away some really significant learning and influence from the session." - Will, Youth Sport Trust
"You have beat me to my thank you to Bonita and yourself!! She was absolutely perfect. Please share our heartfelt thanks (although I assure we did in person yesterday as well). What an impressive individual in every way." - Duracell
"Bonita was absolutely fantastic! We were so pleased with her presentation, it couldn’t have been any more fitting for our conference if we’d planned it. It is always risky organizing for someone to speak at a large event like our conference particularly when they are not directly linked to the focus of the conference and you haven’t heard them present before but both her delivery and presentation were fantastic. Please can you pass on our thanks to her. We would recommend her without a doubt." - Sara, Teaching School Alliance
"Bonita did a fantastic job, I can’t thank her and yourselves enough! I’ve had so much positive feedback about her from both our people and our senior leaders. She did such a good job winding in our needs to her speech and wow is she inspiring!! Please pass on my thanks to her, she really did great." - Louise, Royal London
"The students really enjoyed Bonita's presentation. We even had one student who was about to 'drop-out' of the NCS programme, but after listening to Bonita, decided that she would go, and face some challenges. They are now back from their residential trip and the student had a fantastic time, and so glad she went." - Gill, Harlow College
"The event went very well thank you - with lots of very positive feedback about Bonita's session from many of our guests. Bonita was lovely to work with and I believe we sold around 30 of her books, which is great news. Many thanks for working with us to ensure the event's success." - Claire, Smith Partnership
"She went down a storm and the feedback was excellent so very happy." - Aidan, Proximity
“Feedback has been very positive and Bonita was certainly very inspiring in her delivery. She clearly has a passion for what she does and her determination both before she got to the mountain and then whilst on it was incredible.” - Caroline, Brit Insurance
“In sum Bonita was fantastic, her talk was from the heart and held relevance to the style of leadership that we are trying to instil and expose our Officer Cadets to, she held the whole of the Playfair Library and the relaxed manner of her delivery was exactly what I had envisaged. The whole evening was a total success and Bonita’s talk added the ‘wow’ factor I wanted. Please pass on our heartfelt thanks to Bonita, thanks again for all your assistance.” - Major JM Anderson RLC, City of Edinburgh Universities Officers' Training Corps
"Bonita was absolutely inspirational and incredibly motivational! We were hooked for the whole hour. Fabulous context, fabulous photos which had my knees knocking! She taught us a lot about team work and just concentrating on taking small steps to reach your ‘mountain’. Couldn’t have asked for a better ending to the conference." - HM Treasury
"This was once again a speaker who exceeded our expectations. You could have heard a pin drop in the meeting room as she told a very inspirational story of her Everest climb. All of our delegates took something from this event either by way of personal or professional development. Many thanks once again for your recommendation of Bonita" - Alistair, Lidl
"We had a lot of really good feedback on Bonita’s talk – with a lot of the guests saying that it was interesting to hear a slightly different perspective from someone who wasn’t necessarily in competitive sports but also faces similar challenges to them and she had a lot of really useful insights. Everyone loved her speech and pictures and she really captured the room’s attention. It was also so easy to work with her in terms of her needs and how organised she was ahead of the event"
"Bonita was exceptional and the feedback we have received from parents, governors and students has been outstanding"-Anne Kelly, Higsted Grammar School
"We loved the talk and big thanks to Bonita! I got a lot of good feedback after her talk." - Laura, Edwards
"The group was absolutely thrilled with her presentation and her story. We really appreciate her making the trip here for the day"-Kristen, Planview
"A short message to thank Bonita for her inspiring talk today at the MMR offices in Oxfordshire. People have been buzzing all afternoon! I appreciate her efforts to echo some key messages from the event." - Andy Wardlaw, MMR Research Worldwide
"Bonita was utterly fabulous. It could not have been better. We’ve never done a kick off event before so we’ve well and truly set the bar high. Lots of super positive comments from right across the team and a sense of people feeling very motivated and empowered as a result of the event. Bonita did a great job of weaving in our theme and values but also (by accident) other aspects of our event like marginal/incremental gains" - Alex Coates
"She was just fantastic. Never had such good feedback on a speaker (and we had some very good ones already – as you know). Her story is great, relatable (although none of us is planning an Everest climb any time soon), humbly presented, yet super engaging with all the life lessons learned to be applied to our job world without being cheesy. It was just simply superb." - Frank, PR Director, Duracell
"I just wanted to email to say a big thank you to Bonita for yesterday’s session. She was brilliant and managed to really nail the key points Urgo were looking for without forcing them into her story at all. It was brilliant." - Emily, Mole Digital
Session went great and we've had feedback from the attendees saying they thought it was excellent. - Claire, HMRC
"She was incredible, thank you so much. Everyone loved her and she fitted in perfectly with what we were trying to achieve." - Karin, Beiersdorf
"She was incredible - an amazing story brought to life by a truly inspirational person who has achieved so much. Our team were captivated by her delivery and asked some great questions, with the links about mindset, teamwork and resilience from day 1 being seamless." - Matthew, Assa Abloy
"Bonita was fabulous! Her talk was inspirational and she certainly kept the 450+ delegates engaged and it was so kind of her to also present our MVP awards, there were plenty of them and she kept a smile on her face throughout!" - Jacquey, Jump Consultancy
“This was the second time we’d invited Bonita to speak at one of our Apprenticeship Events and was even better than the first. Her truly remarkable story is awe inspiring; her narrative enhanced with spectacular photographs and video. Her success in conquering a challenge that most people will never do was made eminently relatable in terms of dogged determination, team building and developing team spirit, encouragement, resilience and perseverance, all traits our apprentices will need in pursuing their future career paths. Her message to take things one step at a time and always be aware of how far you’ve come really resonated with the audience, resulting in a lively Q&A session after the presentation. Bonita is a truly excellent speaker.” - Danny, HMRC
"Feedback from our meeting for Bonita was fabulous. An overwhelming success. We did suffer with a technology malfunction and so her slides didn’t show until the end of her talk however she took us all on a journey step by step and it was like we were actually climbing up Everest with her. Amazing. I have never known our members ask so many questions in a Q&A." - Sarah, Women’s Institute (MWFI)
"Bonita has been a great speaker for the audience. She immerged herself in the topics of the event so that she could tailor her speech and ensure it was relevant for the audience, including some personal details related to our brands. Her speech was fascinating and attention grabbing, and she frequently moved from the description of her experience to “tips” for our business challenges. She was available for Q&A and managed to fit perfectly in the allocated time." - Claudia, Executive Assistant, Haleon
"Bonita not only hit every single point we wanted to make, but her story underscored them in a way that would be very hard to beat. There were tears of emotion and admiration around the meeting room. This was THE perfect motivational speech to start this meeting so thanks to you for introducing us to Bonita, and please pass on our heartfelt thanks and admiration to her. Perfect!" - Max, NKD Health
"Bonita was fantastic, the feedback we have had all mention Bonita as the highlight of the day. Presentation was amazing and you could hear a pin drop in the room as she was talking." - Amy, Digital & Events Manager, Bathroom Manufacturers Association
"Bonita is such an amazing and inspirational woman, her storytelling is amazing and very relevant for any business out there. She shared her experience with passion, with strength and with humility. Everyone in the room was impressed and touched by her journey." - OVHcloud
"I just wanted to say that the talk with Bonita went really well. She is an exceptional speaker and is able to move in people a lot of emotions, through an incredibly well articulated speech. It was an absolute pleasure to have her with us and be inspired by her immense journey." - Loewe Hermanos (UK)
"The keynote by Bonita was so inspiring—what a perfect choice!" - Ieva, Structured Credit Investor
Feedback from Virtual Events:
"I wanted to thank you again for your time yesterday, I cannot tell you how many people have said to me how much they enjoyed it - male and female. You are an incredibly eloquent speaker and a great storyteller and had us all spellbound in your journey up the mountain. I loved how you weaved our values into the story - there were so many parallels with start up life. For me the mindset piece was so valuable and I am completely stealing the 'focus don't fret' mantra! One of your closing lines about not being the best mountaineer, not striving for perfection but just focussing on getting better and that consistency I loved. It's very easy to get caught in that comparison trap particularly as a woman and how other people are better than you. It was the perfect way to celebrate IWD and we couldn't have asked for someone more inspirational in breaking the bias than you! Thanks again, we'd love to keep in touch and hear about your next challenge when your daughter is a little older" - Jennie
"Just a quick note to say Bonita's session was absolutely wonderful and exactly what I had hoped for in terms of insights and inspiration on the topic of resilience. Thank you so much for helping to arrange it. Please pass on huge thanks to Bonita - she has left everyone totally inspired..." - Lorna, Edrington
"Bonita was absolutely incredible, such an amazing and inspiring speech! Please send on our gratitude." - Olivia, Stuart Logistics
"Bonita was amazing and absolutely nailed it. We had so much fantastic feedback, everyone was so engaged, inspired and buzzing! Appreciate how challenging it is to achieve that virtually so please pass on to Bonita a huge thank you." - Katie, Comms-Care
"Bonita was brilliant, she met our brief exactly as requested. Lots of positive feedback from the team so please thank her personally from me. Left us all very emotional at the end." - Elaine, Fresenius Kabi
"Just a quick note of thanks for the hugely entertaining and inspiring talk this afternoon. I’ve already had a number of comments from people saying how much they enjoyed it. For me the combination of little gems like ‘Focus, don’t fret’ and ‘Don’t miss the opportunity because you’re afraid you might fail’ with a fantastic story was a wonderful way to spend the time. I must admit that being an outdoorsy, scouty type, I was sold on the story from early on and I can’t wait to share some of the inspiration with my cubs & scouts on Friday" – Dom, Prahs
The session just finished and it was a huge success. Bonita has been passionating, authentic and inspiring. We are very grateful for her intervention and everyone showed great enthusiasm for her. Thank you for introducing us to her and for setting this up. - Clara, Fabernovel
- 2024 - Appeared on HSBC's Power Up Your Goals podcast
- 2024 - Winner of the Best Speaker Storyteller award at The Speaker Awards
- 2023 - Starred on The Screw It Just Do It Podcast "The Power of Visualisation: Achieving Your Wildest Dreams"
- 2022 - Starred on "BBC Ideas"
- 2017 - Author of "The Girl Who Climbed Everest: Lessons Learned Facing Up to the World's Toughest Mountains"
- 2012 - First British woman to reach the summit of Mt. Lhotse
- 2010 - The youngest British Woman to climb Everest
