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.