Vicki Anstey

Vicki Anstey is a leading well-being expert, TEDx keynote speaker, Human Performance Coach, facilitator, athlete, entrepreneur turned adventurer and a 2x World Record Holder. One of the first women to reach the final stages of Channel 4’s ‘SAS Who Dares Wins’, Vicki also secured a new World Record in 2021 for rowing the mid-Pacific unaided.

In the Summer of 2024, she set a second world Record for cycling 3,000 miles across America as a team of 4 women in ’The World’s Toughest Bike Race’; The Race Across America. Vicki has completed ultra distance races (250kms) across The Arctic in -35 degrees and across the Savannahs of Kenya in temperatures over 50 degrees.

Vicki is also the proud UK Ambassador for Inspiring Girls, an international charity (active in over 40 countries) set up by Miriam Gonzalez Durantez that seeks to raise the aspirations of girls around the world. Vicki fundraises for them in most of her big endeavours.

Vicki speaks about resilience, female empowerment, high performance team behaviours and psychological safety. She inspires audiences to consider the value of self-reliance, the power of our mindset, our hidden capability to face seemingly insurmountable challenges, the difference between winning and ‘winning well’ and the often over-looked power of ’emotional endurance’. Vicki is also a Stress & Resilience Coach, advising teams and individuals on the physiological and behavioural impact stress can have on our systems and how we can change that.

As a Certified Coach of a variety of mindset methodologies that Vicki uses both in her work with corporate organisations and that she applies to her own endeavours, Vicki has become fascinated in understanding and analysing behavioural drivers, neuroplasticity and basic evolutionary reasons why we react and behave the way we do – especially under pressure.

Vicki hasn’t always been an adventurer or athlete – very far from it. She began her professional career in advertising, and set up her own pioneering fitness business 10 years later. It was only when she left a long-term coercive relationship which had left her very disempowered and with extremely low self belief in 2017 (just 6 months before she participated in SAS: Who Dares Wins) that she began to change the trajectory of her life.

Vicki places huge importance on relatability. Using her experiences to create intrigue and points of high drama, but set against an authentic back-drop of being a very ‘ordinary’ person, someone who has herself, in the past, been consumed by self-doubt and fear.

Vicki Anstey’s story is a gripping account of pain, vulnerability, discovery, and reinvention. Her journey from a corporate advertising career trapped by limiting beliefs to becoming a pioneering entrepreneur, world record-breaking adventurer, and certified Stress & Resilience Coach is profoundly inspiring. She is a certified coach in a variety of mindset methodologies, advising global organisations and elite teams on managing stress, enhancing resilience, and maximising performance.

She is also part of an elite advisory team, alongside Aldo Kane & Al Chambers MBE assisting Prof. Andy McCann in his delivery of a new MSc in Psychology of Human Performance at Manchester Metropolitan University. As host of The Pin Drop Podcast and co-creator of the upcoming podcast series Point of Difference, Vicki uses powerful storytelling to uncover the strength hidden in human vulnerability. In 2026, she plans to row the Atlantic—The World’s Toughest Row—alongside sleep scientist Dr Sophie Bostock, further exploring the limits of human capability.

Vicki is also writing her first book “Other People are like the Weather” a raw, powerful journey from conformity to self-discovery; what happens when you stop living the life you were told to want and start becoming who you really are. Vicki has a publishing deal and plans to publish this year (2025). Vicki’s keynotes and workshops translate extraordinary experiences into practical, actionable strategies, empowering audiences across sectors to master emotional endurance, embrace vulnerability, and unlock their true potential.

Keynote Themes & Signature Talks

• Why Fear is a Choice: Understand fear as opportunity, harness neuroscience-backed techniques, and transform anxiety into courageous action
• The Secret 60% – Uncovering Your Hidden Potential: Discover how much more you’re truly capable of, redefine limits, and unlock untapped potential to elevate performance
• From Paralysis to Performance – The Power of Emotional Endurance: Build emotional resilience, navigate uncertainty effectively, and thrive even in challenging situations
• Redefining Comfort – Thriving Beyond Discomfort: Embrace discomfort as a growth catalyst, using practical strategies to break boundaries and achieve peak performance
• Winning Well – Courage, Compassion & True Success: Align your ambition with authentic purpose, and redefine what meaningful, lasting success truly means
• Breaking Barriers – How Resilience Transforms Lives & Teams: Cultivate deliberate resilience, building adaptable, empowered teams ready to excel through adversity

Career Highlights

• World Record Holder: Pacific Ocean (2021) – Rowed unaided (team of 3 women), Race Across America (2024) – Cycled 3,000 miles in record time (team of 4 women)
• Finalist, SAS: Who Dares Wins (Channel 4): One of the first-ever women finalists, enduring extreme physical and emotional challenges
• Elite Endurance Athlete: Completed ultra-distance races in extreme conditions, including the Arctic at -35°C and Kenya’s Savannah at +50°C.
• Certified Stress & Resilience Coach: Expert advisor to global organisations on the physiological and behavioural impacts of stress, leveraging advanced mindset methodologies used by military, elite sport, and high-reliability organisations.
• MSc in Human Performance key Contributor: Guest Speaker/Advisor for Prof. Andy McCann’s MSc in Psychology of Human Performance at Manchester Metropolitan University
• UK Ambassador, Inspiring Girls: Actively promotes global empowerment initiatives for young women through dedicated fundraising, advocacy, and mentoring for young women through dedicated fundraising, advocacy, and mentoring.