Vicki Anstey

Vicki Anstey is one of the UK’s leading female motivational keynote speakers, renowned for empowering individuals and organisations to unlock resilience, courage and high performance. A double World Record holder, TEDx Speaker, Human Performance Coach, certified Stress & Resilience Coach, entrepreneur, author and UK Ambassador for Inspiring Girls, Vicki has built an exceptional career helping others realise that fear can become a catalyst for growth rather than a barrier to success. Her extraordinary achievements, combined with an authentic and relatable speaking style, have established her as one of the most sought after voices on resilience, emotional endurance and female empowerment. Vicki’s remarkable story, from corporate executive to pioneering adventurer, demonstrates the power of embracing discomfort, challenging limiting beliefs and discovering the untapped potential that exists within us all.

Before becoming an internationally recognised speaker, Vicki enjoyed a successful career in advertising, holding senior roles with organisations including IKEA, Eurostar and We Are What We Do before founding The Barre Collective. Her life changed dramatically when she became one of the first women to reach the final stages of Channel 4’s SAS: Who Dares Wins, proving her determination and resilience under relentless pressure. Since then, Vicki has co-founded Woodlark, become a trusted adviser on human performance, joined Professor Andy McCann’s guest speaker advisory team for Psychology of Human Performance at Manchester Metropolitan University and launched both the Pin Drop Podcast and the upcoming Point of Difference podcast. Alongside her coaching work, she continues to mentor leaders and teams, combining scientific research with lived experience to help people perform at their very best.

Vicki’s achievements place her among the world’s most accomplished female adventurers and motivational speakers. She became a World Record holder for rowing unsupported across the Pacific Ocean in 2021, before securing a second World Record in 2024 by completing the Race Across America, cycling more than 3,000 miles across the United States as part of an all-female team in one of the world’s toughest endurance races. She has also completed ultra-distance events across the Arctic in temperatures below minus 35 degrees and through the Kenyan savannah in temperatures exceeding 50 degrees. As UK Ambassador for Inspiring Girls, Vicki is passionate about encouraging young women to pursue ambitious goals without fear of failure. She is also the author of ‘Other People Are Like The Weather’, a powerful memoir exploring resilience, identity, emotional endurance and self-belief through deeply personal experiences.

As a keynote speaker, Vicki inspires audiences to redefine what they believe is possible. Drawing upon her experiences in elite endurance sport, high performance coaching and psychological resilience, she delivers practical, engaging and emotionally powerful presentations on courage, leadership, psychological safety, teamwork and performing under pressure. Her keynote topics, including ‘The Secret 60%’, ‘Why Fear is a Choice’, ‘Winning Well’, ‘Breaking Barriers’ and ‘Redefining Comfort’, provide audiences with actionable strategies that can be applied immediately in both their personal and professional lives. Having delivered keynote presentations and workshops for organisations including Google, Meta, IBM and Avanade, Vicki is trusted by global businesses to inspire meaningful change, helping people move beyond fear, embrace uncertainty and achieve sustainable high performance.