Bonita crushed it. We are still so inspired. Feedback from clients has been incredible- especially about how relatable her speech was, and also the team is using 'focus not fret' every day now.
Bonita Norris
Inspiring audiences to rise up the mountains they face by equipping them with the Mountaineers Mindset for success.
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Bonita Norris
Biography
Bonita Norris is a record breaking mountaineer, best selling author and award winning motivational speaker.
She is the youngest person in history to have reached both 'tops of the world': the summit of Everest and the North Pole and has spent years climbing the world's highest mountains.
As a speaker, Bonita equips audiences with the mindset to thrive in uncertain, constantly changing and highly pressurised environments- together as one team.
Bonita’s keynotes are packed with memorable mindset tools that can be implemented straight away- boosting her audience’s confidence and giving them the inner belief that they can tackle whatever challenges they face.
Bonita came to be an adventurer by chance, after attending a climbing lecture whilst at university. Her journey from an ordinary novice to one of the UK's leading adventurers taught her how important both mindset and teamwork are to overcoming seemingly impossible challenges.
Bonita has shared her transformative tools for overcoming mental barriers with the world's best known brands including in 2025 so far Google, Microsoft, L'Oreal and Hitachi amongst many others, all with exceptional feedback.
In 2022 her book The Girl Who Climbed Everest reached number 1 in the Amazon mountaineering/adventure chart and in 2024 and 2025 she won awards at the Speaker Awards.
Bonita Norris
Featured Keynote Programs
Data over Dogma
The First Ascent of Everest
The inspirational true story of how data transformed mountaineering.
Bonita Norris explores how the first ascent of Everest was made possible by data and scientific rigour after 30 years of failed attempts on the world's highest peak.
The story we all know and love about the first ascent of Everest in 1953 is that of man over mountain: Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay's superhuman effort to make it to the summit. But is that the whole story behind the first ascent? This inspiring keynote tells of the unsung hero of Everest, Dr Griffith Pugh, who unlocked the mystery of how to get the two climbers to the top and back down again - alive, using data.
Today, we are grasping to understand how the data and AI revolution will transform our lives. Within this uncertainty there is a reluctance to change, and a fear of leaving old ways behind. We wouldn't be alone in feeling this way: 70 years ago the pioneers of Everest were grappling with much the same- their belief system, so closely held onto, was actually holding them back from realising their potential.
In this talk, Bonita Norris explores how a reluctance to change stifled the British from the first ascent of Everest for nearly 30 years, until an outsider to the climbing community became the disruptor they didn't want- but desperately needed.
This keynote reframes the story of the first ascent of Everest as a triumph not of man over mountain but of data over dogmatic thinking.
The keynote explores three key themes:
- How reluctance to change holds us back from progress, becoming the biggest obstacle (bigger than Everest itself) and how we can all fall victim to being change haters.
- How it is outsiders that often become disruptors, often at great personal cost
- It is still humans that harness data and AI- as Bonita knows, even with the world's most advanced data and equipment, she still had to push her body to the extreme to reach the summit of Everest. It's the relationship of the two: human and data, that is a potent force.
"Genuinely the most informative and relatable talk I have listened to at these data/ AI events."
Richard Riley, Greene King
"Bonita shared how data played a pivotal role in the first successful summit of Everest in 1953—an eye-opening story that set the perfect tone to the day."
Neil Smith, Stibo Systems
"Had such great feedback on Bonita's keynote. It was truly inspirational and everyone loved it. Talk about a powerful perspective!"
Katy Lennon, Stibo Systems
"Inspiring talk about how data was the untold secret behind the first summit of Everest in 1953 – a brilliant story that set the tone for the day"
Tom Davidson, Stibo Systems
Mountains of the Mind
One Goal, One team
What does it take to go beyond your limits? To have an impossible dream and turn it into a reality?
For beginner climber Bonita Norris it was to reach the summit of Everest but as she came to learn, the biggest challenge wasn’t Everest itself.
Limiting beliefs, imposter syndrome and being a beginner climber with a seemingly impossible goal meant the biggest mountain was not the one “out there”, it was the one in Bonita’s mind.
To overcome the mountain of the mind and climb Everest, Bonita teaches her mindset toolkit:
Success by Smallness
Focus Not Fret
Be Great, Make Others Great
Accompanied by stunning photographs from her expeditions to the Himalayas, Bonita's talk is heart warming, humorous and inspiring. She tells of the lessons she learnt as an ordinary woman who took on an extraordinary challenge - and succeeded against the odds.
Most importantly, Bonita speaks about how great support is fundamental to success. As Tenzing Norgay once said,“Be Great, Make Others Great.”
Note: this keynote also becomes an interactive workshop
“Never have we had, nor have I seen a better speaker. I have seen almost every type of speaker at all functions….Bonita made people sit up and take notice. It was absolutely amazing.”
Thales - 2024
“Bonita was awesome! Such an inspiring storyteller – funny, passionate, and very polished. She took on our messages and wove them seamlessly into her own story. We’ve had so much positive feedback from the team – many calling her the best speaker they’ve seen and the session one of Oracle’s best.”
Oracle - 2024
In the Death Zone
Utilising Failure for Greater Success
Are success and failure at odds with one another, or are they inextricably linked? Are excellent teams the ones that don’t make mistakes, or are they the ones that accept mistakes will and do happen?
How can we ensure that workplace culture encourages not the making of mistakes but the effective techniques to learn quickly from them, so that they can be avoided in future?
How can we better harness the learnings within our failings in order to succeed better and connect better with our teams and clients?
These are the questions Bonita Norris explores in her keynote In the Death Zone.
Bonita will share her story of going from the top of the world to rock bottom, and then back to the top again.
Your team will learn how failure can inspire, educate and strengthen bonds in ways success cannot.
Ultimately, being willing to succeed means being willing to fail.
And if we’re humble enough to realise it: we often don’t end up succeeding OR failing, we often end up with a bit of both.
“Having Bonita at the session was truly a valuable addition—her approach to the relationship between success and failure was incredibly inspiring. We are delighted to have had the opportunity to learn from her!
Bain & Company Italy - February 2025
Bonita Norris
Featured Book
The Girl Who Climbed Everest: Lessons learned facing up to the world's toughest mountains
by Bonita Norris
'What I've learned from climbing mountains is that we can push ourselves far beyond what we think we are capable of, and it's outside of our comfort zones that the most amazing things happen.'
What drives us to go to our limits and beyond? What does it take to make dreams come true over all else? And how can you turn fear into courage?
From Everest to K2, The Girl Who Climbed Everest is the story of Bonita Norris' journey undertaking the world's toughest and most dangerous expeditions. Once an anxious teenager with an eating disorder it was the discovery of a passion for climbing that inspired Bonita to change her life. Drawing on her experiences to capture the agonies - both mental and physical - and joys of her incredible feats Bonita also imparts the lessons learned encouraging you to harness greater self-belief.
The Girl Who Climbed Everest is an honest exploration of everything Bonita has learnt from climbing. Life lessons about ambition, values, risk, happiness, the courage to fail, and what's ultimately important. An indispensable and important book for anyone who has ever doubted their potential or put limits on themselves - whatever challenge you face or ambitions you want to achieve, The Girl Who Climbed Everest will inspire you to take action and live life more fearlessly.
Bonita Norris
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