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Polar Explorer Ann Daniels is a world record holder and one of Britain’s leading explorers.
Starting out as a mother of young triplets and without any outdoor experience, pure hard work and belief led her to being selected from over 200 more experienced women to take part in her first North Pole expedition. From these humble beginnings, she went on to conquer the South Pole and in 2002, along with her team mate Caroline Hamilton became the first and only women in history to ski to the North and South Poles as part of all women teams. Experiencing temperatures as low as -50C and dealing with various encounters with Polar bears, she has sledge-hauled over 2000 miles, in the most inhospitable environments in the world, completing over 10 polar expeditions and surviving over 400 days on the ice. She understands the importance of good planning, hard work and a positive attitude in the most difficult circumstances. As a Polar guide and ice leader of the high profile scientific Catlin Arctic surveys she is living proof that good leadership, teamwork and believing in yourself does make a difference.
She has worked with NASA, The European Space Agency and many scientific institutions globally, tracking and measuring ice and collecting data at the extreme ends of the planet, to help understand the environmental impact humans are having on the world.
Ann is an international speaker of over 25 years and tailors every presentation to ensure she hits the key messages needed for each event. She takes time to ensure the skills and lessons she has learnt to achieve in the most extreme environments in the world are transferrable and match those of her audience. She has a natural manner and cares deeply about the needs of each and every audience.
Having led teams in the most extreme environments on the planet, Ann understands what good leadership means in a challenging and changing world when the stakes are high. Leadership skills that are as relevant in the Corporate and public world as they are on an expedition.
Ann went from being a former bank clerk and mother of triplets to becoming a world record breaking Polar Explorer. After finding herself in the difficult position of being a single parent of 3 babies without any financial stability, physical support and a terrifying future ahead she replied to an advert asking for women to apply for selection on the first all women’s team to walk to the North Pole. Having never skied or had any outdoor experience before, she competed with over 200 more experienced applicants and gained her place in a history making expedition. She did this with planning, shear hard work, tenacity and resilience. These traits have been essential in her Polar career as well as her personal life. She understands how to achieve something big against the odds.
Ann’s Desert Island Discs started with Kirsty Young saying ‘Ann is not your normal toffee nosed Polar explorer’. She may not agree that Polar Explorers are toffee nosed but when she started out, the exploration world was dominated by men and to some extent still is. There were very few women in the field of exploration and even less who were mothers and came from a working class background in a Northern town. Ann remarried and had a fourth child. She has brought up four children whilst having a successful Polar career and running 2 other businesses.
Ann is an advocate for women and uses her stories and experiences to show what is possible when you push the boundaries and don’t let your inner voice or anyone else’s tell you that you’re not good enough
She knows how to deal with imposter syndrome and get rid of the guilt many women feel when they balance a career with their personal lives.
She has taken part in all women expeditions and expeditions where she is the only female. She has led both men and women at the top of the world and challenges gender bias, inequality and discrimination.
Change and uncertainty ever present on a North Pole expedition. Hauling all your food, fuel and equipment in a sledge over a crust of moving, breaking ice on the Arctic Ocean is fraught with obstacles everywhere. The terrain is always changing, the weather is unpredictable and there is the ever threat of Polar bears, exhaustion, frostbite and injury. There is only a certain amount of time to get to the pole before the ice begins the spring melt.
Adaptability and a willingness to change how we do things is key. In 2002 Ann’s team were the first team to use immersion suits on the Arctic Ocean to swim through the water. They were terrified but if they hadn’t overcome our fears they would not have made it to the North Pole and gained the record to become the first all women’s team to ski to the North and South poles.
Ann has seen first hand the changes that have happened to the fragile ice on the Arctic Ocean. She has seen it disappear bit by bit since her first expedition in 1997.
She has also worked on five different major scientific expeditions helping scientists to understand what is happening at the fragile ends of the ocean.
Ann featured in Stephen Hawking’s ‘The earth for a New Earth’ documentary and has appeared in numerous TV and radio shows.
She has worked with scientists on Ocean acidification and what that means to the marine life in the Arctic and oceans worldwide. She has drilled through the sea ice to measure the thickness, collected data to understand the Thermahaline changes of the ocean and collected water samples along the way so that scientists have real data from inaccessible places to study.
She has worked with scientists globally and understands that how we live our lives around the planet affects every part of the world we call home and how the changes at the very ends of the world, also have a devastating affect on the climate and environment everywhere.
She has worked with NASA, The European Space Agency and International scientists. The expedition findings have been presented at various COP meetings and in scientific papers.
She understand the affects of climate change and uses a full illustrated presentation with video footage of her scientific expeditions to explain in a simple but informative fashion of the disappearing ice and change in the water of the Arctic Ocean. Her presentation is real but with with the emphasis on hope for our future and the future of the planet.
Ann was absolutely fantastic, her story resonated and inspired the leadership team. Reference was made by the leaders throughout the 2 days which was testament to Ann’s powerful story and themes.
Ann was the best speaker we’ve had in the ten year’s I’ve been booking speakers. She was motivational and relevant to the current challenges we face in the workplace today. She inspired us all to strive to achieve so much more, individually and together as a team.
