Adventure as a classroom
Phillippa Stewart is an adventurer, author and former journalist whose experiences offer a compelling perspective on courage, curiosity, teamwork and what happens when carefully made plans fall apart. Known as Pip, she has a habit of saying yes to things that sound like a good idea at the time – a mindset that has led to remarkable journeys, difficult moments and lessons that reach far beyond the world of expeditions.
Among her adventures is a 10,000-mile cycle journey from Malaysia to London, an undertaking that demanded resilience, adaptability and the willingness to keep moving through uncertainty. She also completed a world-first expedition to paddle Guyana’s Essequibo River from source to sea. Experiences like these have given Phillippa Stewart an unusual classroom in which to understand people, pressure and the importance of maintaining perspective when things go sideways.
Her stories are extraordinary, but the ideas behind them are highly relatable. What do we do when the plan stops working? How do teams respond when certainty disappears? How can curiosity help us move through unfamiliar territory? And what role can humour play when circumstances become challenging?
Journalism and storytelling
Before adventure became such a defining part of her work, Phillippa Stewart trained as a journalist. She is a graduate of Oxford University and the University of Hong Kong and has worked internationally, developing the storytelling skills that now form an important part of her presence on stage.
Pip went on to become Red Bull’s Adventure Editor, combining her journalistic background with a deep interest in exploration and the people who push beyond familiar boundaries. Her work has also appeared across the BBC, CNN and other global media.
That combination of journalism and first-hand adventure gives her talks their distinctive energy. Phillippa knows how to find the story within an experience, communicate it clearly and bring an audience into environments far removed from the conference room. Her presentations are highly visual, allowing audiences to experience the scale, unpredictability and humour of her expeditions while connecting those moments to challenges in their own professional and personal lives.
When the plan changes
Some of the most significant moments in Phillippa Stewart’s story arrived without invitation. After one expedition, she contracted leishmaniasis, a flesh-eating parasitic disease. The experience opened an unexpected new chapter in her life and led her into global-health advocacy.
It is a powerful example of a theme that runs throughout her speaking: life rarely behaves exactly as expected. Plans change, circumstances shift and events can send us in directions we never anticipated. Phillippa explores what it means to navigate these moments with courage and curiosity while remaining open to what can emerge from them.
Her experiences allow her to speak about uncertainty without reducing it to a simple formula. She brings vulnerability and humour to the subject, sharing what she has learned through situations in which there was no perfect roadmap. For teams and organisations facing change, complexity or unfamiliar challenges, her stories create an engaging way to think differently about how people respond when certainty is no longer available.
Courage, curiosity and connection
Book speaker Phillippa Stewart for an event when you want audiences to think about courage in practical, human terms. Her talks explore how curiosity can change the way we approach uncertainty, how connection can strengthen us through difficult situations and how teamwork becomes particularly important when circumstances move beyond our control.
Key themes in Phillippa Stewart’s talks include:
- Courage and taking action when the outcome is uncertain
- Curiosity as a way to approach unfamiliar situations and challenges
- Teamwork and connection when plans begin to unravel
- Navigating change and moments that refuse to follow the expected route
- Maintaining perspective and a sense of humour under pressure
- Turning experiences and setbacks into useful lessons for everyday life
These ideas are grounded in lived experience rather than abstract theory. From long-distance cycling to paddling an entire river and confronting an unexpected disease, Pip draws on moments when adaptability, relationships and mindset had immediate consequences.
Book Phillippa Stewart for your event
Phillippa Stewart is the author of Life Lessons from the Amazon and is currently working on her first novel, continuing a career shaped by storytelling, exploration and curiosity about the world.
As a speaker, she brings together the different strands of that career: the eye of a journalist, the experiences of an adventurer and the perspective of an author. Her talks are energetic, honest and highly visual, balancing humour and vulnerability with practical ideas audiences can take away and apply.
Rather than presenting adventure as something distant from everyday working life, Phillippa uses it to illuminate familiar questions. How do we react when expectations collide with reality? What keeps a team connected when conditions become difficult? Where does courage come from when there is no certainty that a decision will work? And how can curiosity help us see possibilities where we might otherwise see obstacles?
Book Phillippa Stewart for your event to give audiences an engaging journey through extraordinary experiences with ideas that remain relevant long after the final story. Whether speaking about courage, curiosity, connection, teamwork or navigating uncertainty, Pip creates a memorable experience that encourages people to approach the unexpected with greater openness, perspective and, when everything goes sideways, a sense of humour.
