Cathy O'Dowd

Cathy O’Dowd is renowned as the first woman to reach the summit of Mount Everest from the North and South sides of the mountain. Completing feats that many mountaineers have never before, Cathy is deemed a true inspiration in the field of mountaineering. With countless other inspirational expeditions under her belt, including being the fourth woman to climb Mount Lhotse, Cathy is now highly sought after as a keynote speaker to share her story. When hired as a keynote speaker, Cathy has two tailored speeches – Think Like an Explorer and Reaching New Heights. Don’t miss her exciting and inspirational story at your next event!

Having been an avid climber since leaving school, both in rock climbing and alpinism, Cathy was destined to achieve impressive results. Passionate about adventure and exploration, some of Cathy’s first expeditions saw her explore Africa and the Andes. Going on to explore the Alps for a year, Cathy returned home to achieve a Master's Degree in Journalism and began a job as a Junior Lecturer at Rhodes University. Having seen an advert for a position in the team of the first South African Everest expedition, Cathy enrolled and soon became the first South African to summit Mount Everest. Just three years later, Cathy achieved her career-defining goal, becoming the first woman to summit Everest from both the North and South sides. She later attempted to summit the Kangshung face, but this was unsuccessful.

Since then, Cathy has completed a variety of other expeditions, including a dog-sledge expedition through the Norwegian Arctic and countless technical rock climbs, canyoning and sea kayaking adventures. The insights that she discovered during her time as a mountaineer have allowed her to become a highly sought-after motivational speaker – having been awarded the Professional Speaking Award of Excellence and Fellowship of the Professional Speaking Association UKI. To further share her incredible story of summitting Mount Everest, Cathy has also authored the bestselling book Just For The Love of It.

Having spent almost three decades as a motivational speaker, Cathy O’Dowd is a fantastic choice when looking to inspire audiences to achieve the impossible. With her story focusing on running successful projects and getting the best out of a team, Cathy is also an expert on performing under intense stress and in the face of challenges - topics expertly covered by Cathy O'Dowd when hired via Champions Speakers as an official speaker agent. Teaching her audiences about why plans fail and how teams can crumble under pressure, Cathy is also hired to share her knowledge on high-risk and high-stress environments. A speaker whose life experiences are perfectly translatable into business contexts, don’t miss your opportunity to hear Cathy O’Dowd’s story of pushing boundaries of possibility.

In honour of her dedication and determination in becoming the first woman to summit Mount Everest, Cathy O'Dowd was recently named as one of the Top 20 Trending Growth Mindset Speakers - read more to discover why you should hire Cathy as a growth mindset speaker!

In March 2024 Cathy O'Dowd conducted a Keynote Speech discussing what you can do to stand out and differ from your peers. Watch this Exclusive Keynote Speech from Cathy O'Dowd here.