Jessica Buchanan
Learn Tools For Change From The Woman Who Survived Being Kidnapped By Pirates
Topic Categories:
- Change Strategist
- Podcast Host
- New York Times Best- Selling Co-Author, Impossible Odds: The Kidnapping of Jessica Buchanan and Her Dramatic Rescue By SEAL Team Six
*Fee ranges are presented as a guideline only. Speaker fees are subject to change without notice. For an exact quote, please contact your Speaker Exchange Agency representative.
On October 25, 2011, Jessica Buchanan and a colleague were kidnapped at gunpoint by Somali land pirates and held for 93 days, enduring the most harrowing and painful experience of her life. On the day of her kidnapping, she silently said to herself, “Some do come out alive, the numbers are small but they do exist.” During her captivity, she was terrorized by her captors, held outdoors in a scrub desert and kept on a starvation diet. With her health steadily deteriorating her husband, Erik Landemalm, was furiously working behind the scenes with the FBI, professional hostage negotiators, and the United States government to negotiate her release. Finally after fruitless negotiations with her captors and her medical state becoming a life-or-death issue, President Barack Obama ordered Navy SEAL Team Six to attempt a rescue. On January 25, 2012 members of SEAL Team Six attacked the heavily-armed captors, and airlifted Buchanan and her colleague to safety. Through this experience, Buchanan learned that the human spirit is indomitable and that we are more resilient than we could ever imagine.
Today she shares with audiences the tools she quickly learned to find strength to face any situation no matter how large or small the challenges or obstacles. She learned first-hand how to remain hopeful, dig deep even when you feel completely empty of any resources and trust your instincts as all can find the inner strength to face any situation. She chronicled the story in the New York Times best-seller and 2013 USA Best Book Award/Autobiography, Impossible Odds: The Kidnapping of Jessica Buchanan and Her Dramatic Rescue by SEAL Team Six (2013).
In this talk, Jessica brings a simple shift in perspective as she outlines the similarities she faced during her kidnapping, to those we may be feeling at such a historical time as this. The commonality of uncertainty will align as Jessica recounts the helplessness she experienced during her 93 days as a hostage. She will examine the loss of control she felt, over even the most basic of needs, and discuss the hardships associated with the KNOWING things are going to end, versus the BELIEVING they will, and how that affects our coping strategies in the midst of crisis.
Through her story telling, Jessica reminds us that we are more resilient than we think we are, and how working our way through this marathon of complication is an opportunity for us to see what we are truly capable of as a collective community.
Jessica teaches her audiences to use humor to help shift perspective, and shares the necessary skill of visualization and referring to the past, as useful tools to successfully manage trauma.
Based off of Jessica’s powerful TEDx Talk (link coming soon!) She is available for both single keynote presentations and multi-session trainings (all can be done VIRTUALLY!) in change management that cover topics such as:
Being a Change Collaborator: How to work productively with change and leverage choices to your advantageHow to work productively with change and
You Have the Final Say: Practical exercises designed to help you establish your autonomy by strategically identifying your optionsractical exercises designed to help you e
Change Is Your Proof of Life: Finding purpose in hardshipFinding purpose in hardship.
Surviving Change: Defining your ‘WHY’ to empower you to move you forward into growth and the creation of a more purpose driven lifein
Remarks generally run 35 mins. – can do Q&A in addition to remarks
- Coping Through Crisis: How 93 Days with Somali
- Pirates Prepared Me for COVID
- Change is your Proof of Life
- Jessica can Tailor a Keynote for your virtual event
In these talks, Jessica brings a simple shift in perspective as she outlines the similarities she faced during her kidnapping, to those we may be feeling at such a historical time as this. The commonality of uncertainty will align as Jessica recounts the helplessness she experienced during her 93 days as a hostage. She will examine the loss of control she felt, over even the most basic of needs, and discuss the hardships associated with the KNOWING things are going to end, versus the BELIEVING they will, and how that affects our coping strategies in the midst of crisis.
Through her story telling, Jessica reminds us that we are more resilient than we think we are, and how working our way through this marathon of complication is an opportunity for us to see what we are truly capable of as a collective community. Jessica teaches her audiences to use humor to help shift perspective, and shares the necessary skill of visualization and referring to the past, as useful tools to successfully manage trauma.
Want to bring Jessica Buchanan to your next event? Please tell us a little about your event, and we will get back to you shortly!