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Jessica Buchanan  

Change Strategist, Podcast Host & TEDx Speaker; NYT Best-Selling Author of "Impossible Odds"

On October 25, 2011, while on a routine field mission in Somalia, working as the Education Advisor for her non-governmental organization, Jessica Buchanan was abducted at gunpoint and held for ransom by a group of Somali pirates for 93 days. Forced to live outdoors in deplorable conditions, starved, and terrorized by more than two dozen gangsters, Buchanan’s health steadily deteriorated until, by order of President Obama, she was rescued by the elite SEAL Team VI on January 25, 2012.

Buchanan’s ordeal is detailed in her New York Times bestselling book, "Impossible Odds: The Kidnapping of Jessica Buchanan and Her Dramatic Rescue by SEAL Team Six." Buchanan has been named one of the ‘150 Women Who will Shake the World’ by Newsweek, and her story was the most highly viewed 60 Minutes episode to air, to date.

Buchanan is a highly sought after inspirational speaker and her TEDx Pearl Street talk, ‘Change is Your Proof of Life’ has been the foundation for which she travels the world, inspiring audiences to access their resilience by identifying their own autonomy and chance in the middle of their own life-changing event.

Speech Topics

Surviving Change

Defining your ‘WHY’ to empower you to move you forward into growth and the creation of a more purpose driven life.

Change Is Your Proof of Life

Finding purpose in hardship

You Have the Final Say

Practical exercises designed to help you establish your autonomy by strategically identifying your options.

Being a Change Collaborator

How to work productively with change and leverage choices to your advantageHow

Jessica Buchanan and Erik Landemalm’s Triumph Over Impossible Odds

In this joint presentation, Jessica Buchanan and her husband, Erik Landemalm, share their mutual journey during the torturous three months of her captivity at the hands of Somali land pirates. Together they relate the events prior to the kidnapping, the drama of Jessica’s fight to stay alive, and Erik’s efforts to bolster and support the hunt for her while he acted as liaison between their two families, the FBI, professional hostage negotiators and the U.S. government. Audiences will be inspired by their courage and resolve in facing a life-or-death struggle and their deeply personal story about digging deep into the human spirit and learning you can triumph over impossible odds.

Impossible Odds: A Story of Strength and Survival

Jessica Buchanan shares her story of the impossible odds facing her during her 93 days of captivity by Somali land pirates and her determination and efforts to survive the harrowing and most painful experience of her life. In sharing her story with audiences she provides to use in everyday life to help find strength in any situation or challenge. They will be surprised to find that you can scrape out just enough to get through that day. It may not be more than enough—but just enough has got to be ok, and as Buchanan experienced day after day after day—just enough will do just fine.

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