Polly Letofsky is the first woman to walk around the world — and she has been speaking to rapt audiences around the country sharing the lessons of her 5-year, 14,000-mile journey with humor and honest reflection, the good times and the hardships.

On August 1, 1999, Polly left her Colorado home and headed west. She traveled across 4 continents, 22 countries, and over 14,000 miles — by foot — as an awareness campaign for breast cancer. Survivors and well-wishers around the world came to walk with her. Every day strangers welcomed her into their homes and shared meals. The world had embraced her.

But in the middle of her five-year journey, the world suddenly shifted on its axis when September 11 flung us all into a crossroads in world history. Polly found herself embedded in a vastly changing world and realized she could never retrace her steps home — they'd vanished in a tide of world events. It's through the lessons of her own daunting journey that she brings the lessons of goal setting to life, following Mark Twain's famous advice: "The secret of getting ahead is getting started. The secret of getting started is breaking down your complex overwhelming tasks into small manageable tasks and then starting on the first one."

Sometimes serious, sometimes funny, always inspirational — Polly's multi-media keynote richly details her journey and delivers lessons in adapting, attitude, commitment, and turning fear into fuel. Audiences walk away with a renewed commitment to empower themselves, to take on larger, bigger, bolder projects without the walls of fear holding them back.

"She spoke to key leaders in our organization connecting her walk around the world to the challenges we face every day in our workplace." — Human Resources Director, Adams County, CO