Rebecca Stephens (born 3 October 1961) is a British author and journalist, known for being the first British woman to climb the

Seven Summits The Seven Summits are the highest mountains of each of the seven traditional continents. Climbing to the summit of all of them is regarded as a mountaineering challenge, first achieved on 30 April 1985 by Richard Bass. Climbing the Seven Summits a ...

, and the first British woman to reach the summit of

Mount Everest Mount Everest (; Tibetan: ''Chomolungma'' ; ) is Earth's highest mountain above sea level, located in the Mahalangur Himal sub-range of the Himalayas. The China–Nepal border runs across its summit point. Its elevation (snow heig ...

Career

Stephens originally trained as a

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...

and pursued that career for some ten years, becoming deputy editor of the ''

Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and published digitally that focuses on business and economic current affairs. Based in London, England, the paper is owned by a Japanese holding company, Nik ...

'' magazine ''Resident Abroad''. In 1989 Stephens accompanied an expedition attempting the North East Ridge of Mount Everest. Exploring the question "why do climbers climb?", she climbed to the first camp at 7,100m and made a decision she wanted to climb the mountain herself. In 1993 she returned to Everest on a British expedition and reached the summit on 17 May, becoming the first British woman to do so. On 22 November 1994 she became the third woman, and the first British woman, to climb the seven continental summits of the ''Messner'' list. She was a presenter on

BBC television BBC Television is a service of the BBC. The corporation has operated a public broadcast television service in the United Kingdom, under the terms of a royal charter, since 1927. It produced television programmes from its own studios from 193 ...

's science series ''

Tomorrow's World ''Tomorrow's World'' is a former British television series about contemporary developments in science and technology. First transmitted on 7 July 1965 on BBC1, it ran for 38 years until it was cancelled at the beginning of 2003. The ''Tomorro ...

'' from 1994 to 1996. In addition to her mountaineering exploits, Stephens has sailed the Southern Seas to the South Magnetic Pole and

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest contine ...

and crossed the

South Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe an ...

island of

South Georgia South Georgia ( es, Isla San Pedro) is an island in the South Atlantic Ocean that is part of the British Overseas Territory of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. It lies around east of the Falkland Islands. Stretching in the east� ...

. With the polar explorers

Ranulph Fiennes Sir Ranulph Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes, 3rd Baronet (born 7 March 1944), commonly known as Sir Ranulph Fiennes () and sometimes as Ran Fiennes, is a British explorer, writer and poet, who holds several endurance records. Fiennes served in the ...

and Mike Stroud, she competed in an eight-day Eco-Challenge, which consisted of running, biking and canoeing across the

Canadian Rockies The Canadian Rockies (french: Rocheuses canadiennes) or Canadian Rocky Mountains, comprising both the Alberta Rockies and the British Columbian Rockies, is the Canadian segment of the North American Rocky Mountains. It is the easternmost part ...

Other

Stephens is a visiting fellow at

Ashridge Business School Hult International Business School (also known as Hult Business School or Hult) is a private business school with campuses in Cambridge, London, San Francisco, Dubai, New York City, and Shanghai. Hult is named for the school's benefactor Berti ...

, fellow of

The Royal Geographical Society The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers), often shortened to RGS, is a learned society and professional body for geography based in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1830 for the advancement of geographical scien ...

, member of The Alpine Club and a trustee of the Himalayan Trust UK.

Awards and recognitions

Stephens was appointed an

MBE Mbe may refer to: * Mbé, a town in the Republic of the Congo * Mbe Mountains Community Forest, in Nigeria * Mbe language, a language of Nigeria * Mbe' language, language of Cameroon * ''mbe'', ISO 639 code for the extinct Molala language Molal ...

in 1994.

Selected publications

*Rebecca Stephens, ''Making It Happen: Lessons from the Frontline of Strategy Execution'' (London: Bloomsbury Business, 2021) *Rebecca Stephens, ''Due South'' (London: Wigwam, 2009) *Rebecca Stephens & Robert Heller, ''The Seven Summits of Success'' (London: Capstone, 2005) *Rebecca Stephens, ''Everest'' (London: Dorling Kindersley, 2001) *Rebecca Stephens, ''On Top of the World'' (London: Macmillan, 1994)

References

External links

Rebecca's WebsiteMount Everest Rebecca Stephens Interview
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stephens, Rebecca 1961 births British summiters of Mount Everest British mountain climbers British television presenters Fellows of the Royal Geographical Society Living people Hult International Business School faculty Members of the Order of the British Empire Summiters of the Seven Summits Female climbers English motivational speakers British women television presenters