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Tracy Edwards Maiden Celebrate
 
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Motivational Speaker

 


Tracy Edwards 2018

Photography | Egor Piskov

    • I believe that key lessons learnt from the world of sport and adventure can be transferred to the business place
    •  
    • Issues about leading teams to maximise their full potential come across powerfully from world beaters who have achieved the absolute pinnacle of their chosen careers


To discuss please contact me by phone or e-Mail:

   +44 (0)20 7636 6565

   josephinethurley@independenttalent.com

Theory about leadership and teams has its place, and countless articles and books have been written about the subject. I realise the importance of bringing examples of practical experience to my talks. I enjoy being interactive with audiences and also relish discussion groups and Q&A. I have found that a practical and participative experience has longer and far reaching benefits to individuals and teams.

A number of key points form the core of my talks and these are listed below:

  • to identify the characteristics of an effective leader, develop personal leadership qualities and to implement these disciplines.
  • to demonstrate how teams are led and motivated towards success by creating the right environment for those teams to reach full potential.
  • to illustrate the different methods that leaders and teams can use to enhance individual and team performance with team action planning and personal development plans.
  • to participate in a learning experience away from the work place that is unique, fun and with lasting benefits to all that take part.
  • the team being aware of the 'phases of success' within the market place is fundamental to gauging their future performance, level of risk and happiness within their roles.


She of the Sea 'The Q&A with Tracy was absolutely amazing, the questions were spot on and so the interaction was meaningful and truly inspiring. I think this is the first time I felt this close to a person I admire. She is a real life symbol, her passion and hard work have no doubt shaped the world we live and work in. I feel I am a direct recipient of her effort, I feel so grateful, now more then ever…'

'Thank you so much for organizing the zoom with Tracy Edwards!! Started tearing up even just during the call. I talk about her to all my students, they really suddenly relate and start to see themselves differently after. ‘

'Tracy Edward’s is magnificent. Fancy that, at 26, champing at the bit to do a circumnavigation in a race! Then being told she could only be a cook!! Then say “I’ll take my OWN boat and crew!!! Truly ballsy. Fun, funny, interesting, lively and very informative. ‘
Roxanne, Event Project Manager for Humana Leadership Development Event Tracy Edwards served as our keynote speaker and shared her leadership journey and personal lessons learned with more than 400 Healthcare industry leaders. Tracy’s story was very timely because we’ve all endured challenging times recently and many of our leaders have had to rechart their approaches to leading people and work, just as Tracy had to do aboard her ship, the Maiden. Our leaders mentioned Tracy as the highlight of our annual leadership development event.
Holly Rollo, CMO - RSA Security LLC “Tracy’s incredible energy and message about risk taking resonated with our security and risk customers. Her ability to translate trials and triumphs from her sailing expertise, to day-to-day business and management obstacles resonated with our attendees. Tracy is an inspiration!”
Adventure Travel Trade Association “Tracy received the highest marks for her keynote address from our audience of adventure travel professionals in Jordan this year. She had the perfect blend of being a captivating storyteller, sharing her strong emotional connection to the destination, and an impactful, inspiring message. Absolutely amazing!” - Alice Gifford, Event Director, Adventure NEXT Near East
HSBC, Gender Parity Group “Thank you so much for speaking at our Inspirational Speaker event yesterday afternoon. This event received one of the highest attendance we have seen for many months!

It was incredibly refreshing to hear you speak so candidly about your experiences. We received very positive feedback on your stories, and overall attendees were really inspired by your honesty and openness. Your energy is infectious!”
Royal Southern Yacht Club “Yachtswoman Tracy Edwards MBE, received two enthusiastic standing ovations from an audience of 150 Club members, at our 2018 Fitting Out Supper. The round the world sailor was guest speaker at the start of season event, she enthralled those present with a vivid account of her early life and the remarkable chain of events that saw her skipper the first ever all-female crew on the yacht Maiden, in the 1989-90 Whitbread Round the World Race.

Tracy brought her audience up to date with an account of the recovery of a near-derelict Maiden from the Seychelles last year, the 58-foot yacht’s extensive and on-going restoration at HYS and plans for a world tour to promote better access to education for girls.

She also highlighted that The Maiden Factor charity project is being supported by Princess Haya Bint Al Hussein, daughter of the late King Hussein of Jordan, who was the original backer of Maiden on her ground-breaking Whitbread participation.”
Lady Val’s Professional Women’s Network “It’s not often that I’m truly inspired by another person or would like to achieve what they have but Tracy Edwards MBE your story, humour & vision really resonated with me.”
“Inspirational, courageous, witty, with vision, now giving back – what a woman!”
Head Girl, Oxford High School “I wanted to thank you again for coming in last week to talk to the school. Everyone really enjoyed your talk - I have seen several albatross impressions around and I have been approached on many occasions by people asking me to recount how you got expelled from school! Even some year 11 girls have told me that they found you inspiring, which is a very impressive feat! Thank you so much for your time and wisdom.”
CEO
Cazenove Capital Management
“Tracy Edwards gave two outstanding presentations as guest speaker at our two Investment Conferences in Jersey and Guernsey. The audience loved her as she bared her heart in telling the story of her achievements, in fabulous contrast to the dry-ish content of the global macro-economics at the heart of the seminar’s topics. Tracy delivered exactly what she said she would, and a significant portion of the audience have become her fans.”
Head Girl
Notting Hill & Ealing High School
“At the Girls Day Schools Trust Young Leaders Conference we all really enjoyed your speech and found it very motivational. Being an all-girl’s school we have had our fair share of female inspirational speakers, however, we all agreed that we have never felt so empowered as we did after listening to you. We thought you were such an engaging speaker and that your determination to achieve in something you loved was something we could all learn from. To hear a woman who has achieved so much in her career, supported a family and also worked so hard to achieve gender equality can teach us all a life lesson, especially as Maiden has come so far in changing the status of women in yachting and in sports. AS a high profile female figure in sport we believe you provide a unique and interesting perspective on women’s place in sports and in society at large. You make an excellent role model.”
Head of Outdoor Education
Greig City Academy
"Thank you so much for today. Your visit has created such a massive buzz around the school. I am so grateful that you did the maiden project in the first place. The entire Outdoor Education project of mine came from watching the Maiden Voyage at 12 years old and then basically replicating the principles at different stages of our project. In essence, literally thousands of disadvantaged inner city kids have had life changing experiences because of a direct result of your work. I never thought I would actually meet the leader of this project and I am truly amazed by this. Thank you so much again. Our staff and students are so inspired and much more so than I had thought they would be."
Human Resources Director
Whitbread Group
"Tracy’s lively and somewhat irreverent leadership messages were brought alive by references to sailing, she made relevant and pointed comments, also lessons about leadership in practice. Thank you for your outstanding contribution to our HR workshop. The Team found you stimulating, the content fascinating and the messages highly relevant."
Partner
KPMG
"Very focused presentation from a very determined achiever, very vivid, practical demonstration of management in action, a fascinating insight into life as an ocean racer, useful and valued reminder of how to succeed."
Marketing Manager
Lucent Technologies
"With your motivational, passionate and also humoristic speech you have really contributed essentially to our most important event in the region. You really made it an unforgettable “Voyage of Discovery" with Lucent."
Count Durham TEC "They all say how much they enjoyed your speech. Your experience in the around the world race was just what was required and I am sure will inspire those who heard it to raise their aspirations in their own lives."
Proctor and Gamble "She provided just the perfect balance of motivation laced with humour and appropriate contextual examples...she managed to uplift us all!"
Partner
KPMG
"Excellent presentation, professionally presented, Tracy held the audience captivated."
Internal Comms
Virgin One Direct
"Inspirational, Informative, motivational presentation. It was light hearted but really took in the focus of business. Great!"
Director
Convergys
"The sheer enthusiasm and drive to achieve goals inspired the audience. A lot of tired people were suddenly very much awake!"
Virgin Cosmetics Company "Enthusiastic, passionate and energetic. Just right for the audience. Left us feeling inspired to face the challenges ahead and we are in awe of Tracy and her team."
King Hussein I of Jordan
Amman, Jordan, June 1990
"I am proud of her for having fulfilled her dream; for having risen to the challenge by no more than her own will and her unbeatable, infectious and inspiring spirit. I am delighted that Royal Jordanian Airlines was one of the privileged few who sponsored Maiden."
Sir Christopher Benson
Chairman Royal Sun Alliance
"Within a couple of minutes of meeting Tracy and shaking her hand I knew this was a very special person. I knew instinctively that our money had been well spent."
Mike Jones
Head of Corporate Communications
Royal SunAlliance
"Tracy’s dedication, professionalism and will to win, inspired everyone around her. While the records set in our colours and the media coverage generated gave the sponsor real quantifiable value, it was Tracy and her interviews, photo calls and staff presentations which really set the seal on the sponsorship’s success."
Richard Kemp
Company Director KITES
(Kemp International Tailored Event Solutions - Switzerland)
"We contracted Tracy for a motivational / team building talk, based around her experience in the Whitbread Round the World yacht race. We were not disappointed! Tracy brought together elegantly the parallels of a managing & running a successful global consumer company to the key ingredients of choosing the right team with a winning spirit and common desire. Tracy was a great inspiration and help in our pre-conference build up, themed to: "Together to New Heights". An engaging and humorous talk by Tracy captivated our audience during the entire allotted time slot. We can thoroughly recommend Tracy and will be doing so for future events that require an inspirational and charismatic personality - Tracy many thanks and our best wishes to you and your team on your next challenge."
Scottish Widows "We asked Tracy to come along to talk to our management team about her experiences, trial and tribulations she had overcome crossing the oceans of the world. Her insights into successes of teamwork and her examples of how she had to find reserve after reserve of courage and self belief were motivational and inspirational. Many of our team managers were refreshed by the talk. Most of all Tracy’s bubbly personality which exuded enthusiasm and fun, gave us all a new perspective."
Barclays Bank "Great demonstration of good things to come out of tough circumstances showing it’s down to you to lead and you cannot show fear in front of the team. Good feedback from the team leaders."
Head of Development
Thomas Cook Group Ltd
"The feedback from the delegates has been excellent - over 90% rated your presentation as excellent. The skill with which you likened your experiences to our business was excellent and the following comments speak for themselves!" "Fantastic - very motivational, passionate and enthusiastic." "Excellent speaker - excited, motivated, inspired." "Very appropriate and motivating." "What can I say - fantastic! Tracy has really fixed me up to believe that anything is possible with a great team (which we have)."
Nationwide Building Society "Tracy’s presentation was extremely interesting, lively and relevant. Given the time restrictions Tracy was able to cover all aspects of team work, change and leadership in a very funny and rewarding way. Perfect for what we wanted. We would very much like to use Tracy again please."
Human Resources Director
Nottingham Building Society
"Initial feedback has been positively overwhelming: you have left a very strong impression with our management team. My one objective was to find a speaker that our managers would be able to identify links from the individual’s experiences to themselves and their own work situation. You not only achieved but also managed to create a situation where we felt the hour passed all too quickly and we wanted to listen to you for far longer."
The Olive Partnership "On behalf of AT&T I would like to thank you for speaking at their UK Kick Off. So far all the delegates have given you the maximum score of 5!!! Comments range from Inspiring, captivating and entertaining to Go on - Sponsor her!"
Director
Royal Bank of Scotland
"Ten out of ten on every count. Her enthusiasm is quite extraordinary and her articulation of the subject was quite frankly stunning."
Norfolk County Council "Shaping the Future Conference – You gave a wonderful presentation which was funny and entertaining whilst delivering a serious business message, which was perfect for our audience. The feedback has been very positive with many delegates reporting that this was the best event they had attended in years!"