POLLY LETOFSKY

• Resilience
• Goal Setting
• Attitude

Polly Letofsky, the first woman to walk around the world, 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. “She spoke to key leaders in our organization connecting her walk around the world to the challenges we face every day in our workplace.”

On August 1, 1999, Polly Letofsky left her home Colorado home and headed west. She traveled across 4 continents, 22 countries, and over 14,000 miles – by foot – to become the first woman to walk around the world. 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 Polly’s five year journey, the world suddenly shifted on its axis when September 11 flung us all into a crossroads in world history. Polly suddenly 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.  She followed 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.”

Your audience will walk away with a renewed commitment to empower themselves, to take on larger, bigger, bolder projects without the walls of fear holding them back. With her multi-media presentation they’ll learn lessons in adapting, attitude, commitment, and turning fear into fuel, will provide clarity to their goals.

Polly’s GlobalWalk has been featured in over 2,000 newspapers, magazines, radio and television stations around the world, including Good Housekeeping, CNN International, The CBS Early Show, NBC’s Your Total Health, and Fine Living Channel’s Radical Sabbatical. Newcastle Productions has recently released Polly’s GlobalWalk, a documentary chronicling her journey.  Her book 3mph: The Adventures of One Woman’s Walk Around the World won Best Memoir at the 2011 National IPPY Book Awards, as well as Best Memoir at the 2011 Writer’s Digest Best Book Awards.

A natural storyteller, since her return, Polly has been speaking to rapt audiences around the country. She richly details her journey with humor and honest reflection, the good times and the hardships. Sometimes serious, sometimes funny, always inspirational, Polly’s inspiring keynote personifies the spirit of commitment and perseverance that will compel your audience to take on life’s biggest challenges – one step at a time. Sometimes serious, sometimes funny, always inspirational, Polly’s program personifies the spirit of commitment and perseverance that will garner a new strength in your team to reach goals.