
Born: 1937
Hometown: Auckland, New Zealand
Education: Emergency Medical Technician
Occupation: Motivational speaker, writer, educator, president Adventure Classroom
Expeditions: First woman to do solo unsullied to any of the world’s Poles when she skied to the magnetic North Pole, first woman to walk 4,000 miles across the Sahara and 1,600 miles across the Gobi Desert, kayaked 2,200 miles of the Amazon River, American leaders of the American/Russian Women’s Arctic expedition, camped one year beside an Arctic Circle wolf den to study wolves in the wild
Favorite Place to Be: On any expedition
Best Discoveries: A new orchid flower in the Amazon, documentation of water problems for indigenous peoples, wild wolf behavior
Favorite Items in the Field: Maps, compass, camera
Personal Heroes: My husband Bill, Sir Edmund Hillary
Hobbies: Hiking, rescuing homeless animals, future expeditions
Website: www.helenthayer.com, www.adventureclassroom.org
Advice: Believe in yourself and your project.