Debra Searle MVO MBE Profile Picture

Keynote SpeakerDebra Searle MVO MBE

Determined Atlantic rower and entrepreneur, Voted the highest-ranking female motivational speaker by Global Gurus

Debra Searle MVO MBE has an extraordinary story! She first hit the headlines when she set out to row across the Atlantic with her husband – a 6’5” international oarsman. Unfortunately, he had to be rescued so Debra, a novice rower, continued alone without a support boat and rowed 3300... Read more

Biography

Debra Searle MVO MBE has an extraordinary story! She first hit the headlines when she set out to row across the Atlantic with her husband – a 6’5” international oarsman. Unfortunately, he had to be rescued so Debra, a novice rower, continued alone without a support boat and rowed 3300 miles from Tenerife to Barbados. It should have taken them six weeks, but Debra ended up spending 3 ½ months at sea alone and unsupported, encountering 30′ waves, sharks, and force 8 squalls in her 23-foot plywood boat. Since returning from this adventure, Debra has undertaken solo and team expeditions across the globe. She has also represented Great Britain at European and World Championship level in Dragon Boat Racing winning bronze, silver and gold medals.

Debra has spoken at well over 1100 events around the world, across every industry sector but she is more than your usual sports speaker. Debra has founded 5 companies including MIX Diversity, a Diversity & Inclusion consultancy, so is able to speak with authenticity about what it takes to succeed in business. She has presented 40 programmes for the BBC and had 3 books published. Her spirit of adventure gained her an MBE from Her Majesty The Queen and she spent 10 years on the board of a charity with two members of the Royal Family, so has great board-level experience to share. In 2023, a British newspaper listed Debra as one of the World’s Top 50 Inspirational Leaders. Debra has been appointed a Member of the Victorian Order (MVO) for her services to the Royal Family.

In 2022, Debra was ranked no.3 in the World’s Top 30 Motivational Speakers, after Simon Sinek at no.1 and Tony Robbins at no.2, making her the highest ranking female motivational speaker in the world. The movie of Debra’s solo Atlantic row is currently in development in Hollywood.

“We provided feedback forms to all participants and asked for a rating between 1(poor) and 5(excellent). We received 170 completed forms and Debra scored a ‘5’ from every single respondent. This is unheard of! The comments were all super, for example - ‘ Best speaker I’ve heard at an IBM event – outstanding!" Client Director, IBM UK Ltd
“A big thank you for your talks today as part of our Build your Potential week. It was an inspirational ending to the week and employees took away many positive messages about opportunities for self-development both on a personal and work level. Feedback was great.” JP Morgan
"On behalf of the team at XXXX thank you so much for your time, commitment energy and inspiration yesterday. We have been very fortunate over the years to have many wonderful speakers at XXXX but few if any that touched us all in the way that you did. Not only is your story, your life to date and your many, many achievements extraordinary, you are also a quite brilliant communicator. We have lost that precious ability to connect and yet you managed to have us all gripped in a virtual world. Your humility is very rare, particularly for a virtual room of bankers! Perhaps most importantly you gave us all so many practical lessons to help us get through every day, the good and the bad."

Popular Talks by Debra Searle MVO MBE

  • 'Choose Your Attitude' - It's not magic, it's mindset

    A toolkit of mindset and resilience techniques explained through Debra’s Atlantic rowing story

  • Shifting Comfort Zones

    Finding ways to thrive and use the opportunities that appear when we are pushed out of our comfort zone

  • Women in Leadership

    Reducing imposter syndrome and becoming contagiously positive. Empowering Women in the Workplace.

  • Inspire Inclusion: how to positively challenge Unconscious Bias in the workplace to inspire inclusion
  • Practical tools to stay motivated and build resilience
  • Mindset strategies for not just coping but excelling during periods of change
  • Personal motivation ideas for when the journey only seems to be getting harder
  • Innovation under stress - visualising problems to fight the fear
  • Teamwork - even when miles apart
  • How to guard your mental and physical wellbeing when the pressure is on
  • Achieving seemingly impossible goals
  • Staying in your discomfort zone