Jessica Watson (OAM) is an Australian sailor who, when she was just 16 years old, attempted her first solo circumnavigation of the globe. The youngest person to ever sail around the globe, Jessica was deservingly awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia in 2012. Jessica has since gone on to successfully lead various sailing projects and published two books. Proving her ability to overcome adversity and hardship, Jessica is now a highly sought-after speaker and management consultant who is able to share her knowledge of perseverance and how to accomplish your dreams.
Born in Gold Coast, Australia, Jessica was surrounded by sandy beaches and soon discovered her love of sailing after living on a cabin cruiser for five years with her family. This, coupled with her mother reading the book Lionheart as a bedtime story, gave the young Jessica the dream of sailing around the world. This dream came true when, in 2010, she spent a total of 210 days at sea sailing around the globe non-stop and survived seven knockdowns. When she returned she was met by the Australian Prime Minister who declared her a hero. In response to this, she simply said she was just a woman with a dream who worked hard to achieve it. Jessica became the Young Australian of the Year 2011 and was part of a team, which became the youngest ever, to complete the prestigious Rolex Sydney to Hobart boat race. For this boat race Jessica was awarded the Jane Tate Trophy for being the youngest female skipper.
Since her incredible achievement, Jessica has gone on to become a Youth Representative for the United Nations World Food Programme and is the Brand Ambassador of Deckee.com. Openly talking about her struggles with dyslexia on her blog Jessica gained quite the following for her storytelling, she then released her first book ‘True Spirit’ which became an international best-seller. In the book she tells the story of her epic journey around the world and how she overcame her own fears to accomplish this. Richard Branson then narrated the documentary she filmed whilst at sea and an adaptation of her story was released on Netflix. Expanding her academia, Jessica earned her MBA and then released her second book, ‘Indigo Blue’.
With much experience as a Manager for Deloitte’s Human Capital Practice, Jessica is able to advise companies on change, operating models, HR transformation and learning. Drawing on her knowledge from her own experiences as a high-performance athlete, Jessica has a passion for developing high-performance teams and can offer advice on the techniques needed to be able to reach the pinnacle of their sport. If you are in need of a compelling public speaker who will challenge her audience on their own expectations, encouraging them to dream big, look no further than Jessica Watson to hire at your next event today.
